Kamloops residents yearning for ways to drop the added quarantine weight should look no further than a brand new spin studio opening up in the city.
Stride Spin Studio announced that they would be opening their business, located at 369 St. Paul Street, starting on May 30. Stride Spin owner Kristi Fay explained that her studio wouldn't be like any ordinary cycling centre, adding that there would be options for all walks of life.
"I honestly just wanted to bring a fresh new perspective to spin," said Fay. "Kamloops, I've been here for quite some time, and we're a major fitness community. That's the one thing that I've picked up on is that Kamloops loves fitness. I just wanted to bring a new studio that offers just a whole new outlook to spin."
"We definitely pride ourselves on the fact that we are open to absolutely everyone. We really just wanted to create a space where all fitness levels are welcome. Our rides are definitely designed to be challenging, but the modifications are always provided."
The studio was originally supposed to open at the end of March, but a surprise pandemic put things to a halt. Fay noted that the Stride Spin team has made sure to go above and beyond when preparing for health guidelines put in place by the provincial government.
"It's definitely not the open that we were anticipating to have because of course, now with these new guidelines and things that we have to have in place. We had to remove actually half of the bikes from our room to accommodate for safe social distancing."
"So over the past couple of months, working behind the scenes, I wanted to be very proactive in instilling riders with the confidence that when they come into the studio, they're going to be safe and their health is going to be a top priority. We actually do have an entire procedure that will be featured on our website that's designed strictly with our health authorities and, of course, the pandemic."
Featured in the studio are 12 bikes situated on three different levels so everyone has a clear view of the instructor, a variety of different music options from the hits to the classics, and a state of the art ventilation system to keep the area fresh. Fay's goal is to have riders leave her studio feeling ways they've never felt before.
"Our ride is completely rhythm and beat-driven. Our name is actually Stride, and why I came up with that name is because we are working and building on a stride to a pedal, a stride to a connection. So we're not only trying to build our strongest strides, but we're also connecting our strides with a beat. I know it might sound silly, but when you find your connection, and you find that stride with that beat, it gives you the sense of power that just takes over your body."
"We just want to help connect riders into that feeling because honestly, I want people to come in and leave our room going 'wow, I've never felt this way before,' and that has always been my vision."
Fay mentioned one of the strongest things Stride Spin has to offer is an amazing team of eight instructors always willing to help those in need.
"Seriously this group! I can't stress enough! I have eight girls and we all come from various different fitness backgrounds. So we have a lot of our girls that were from basketball, hockey, and major sports. Then we have some that come from dance and have never played a recreational sport in their life, so there's just such a balance between them, but I think that's what makes us so unique is we're all different in our creative outlets, that when we all come together and bring our ideas forward.
"People are not going to get the same experience with one as they did with the other."
Fay hopes to change the narrative that spin is mostly "for girls," and encouraged more men to give this rhythmic cardio a chance.
"I've often been told that spin has this label of coming across as intimidating, and so people say 'oh my gosh, you're opening a spin studio, I'll never try that, it's too intimidating,' and I can't stress enough that I just want to shake in and remove that label because it's totally not the case. It's just supposed to be a fun way where you're getting so much stronger through a powerful cardio workout, but it's also in such a way that you connect with yourself."
"I often get told, 'cardio is for girls,' no it's not, it's for everyone. I really want to get a lot of guys in there, and we're even looking at potentially, down the road, doing more of a seniors class as well."
Stride Spin will be offering residents a choice of purchasing 10 or 20 class passes, a monthly pass, or drop-ins. These options were temporarily put in place as they can be most-easily managed if businesses have to close down again due to a possible second-wave of COVID-19.
The studio will be launching its own website upon opening. For the most up-to-date information on Stride Spin, click here.
