Greenbrier Family YMCA in Chesapeake, Virginia Leads the Way to Engage & Build Members with the Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness
Chesapeake, Virginia
– June 19, 2013 – At
the Greenbrier Family YMCA in Chesapeake, Virginia, the two Expresso Bikes from Interactive Fitness at the facility
weren’t enough to keep up with demand, and they added a third Expresso Bike to their program in
April.
“I’ve been with the Y
for the past 19 years, but I started here at Greenbrier Family YMCA on January
2, 2013,” said Lionel Bacon, District Vice President, YMCA of South Hampton
Roads and Director of the Greenbrier Family YMCA (pictured at left). “I had
never even seen the Expresso Bike
before I started here, but I got on one that first day, just to try it
out. I’m a very competitive person, I played NCAA Division I Basketball
(at VCU), I’m also very competitive with myself, and on the Expresso Bike I can compete every day,
I can compete against others around the world and against myself.
“When
I started out, my goal was to ride 500 miles by my 45th birthday (May
30th), but I got to 500 faster than I thought, then I moved my goal to 750
miles, and I ended up doing 1,000 miles in five months on the Expresso Bike, including 336 miles in
the final month, and 70 miles on the 28th and 29th of May. Other riders here
at our Y refer to me as a ‘Beast’ on the bike,” Bacon said. “They say I’ve started a little ‘cult’ around
the Expresso Bike here at Greenbrier
Family Y, explaining to so many people how it works, why it works, and why I’m
such an avid fan.”
The
Expresso Bike from Interactive Fitness is an exciting new
way to engage members of all ages, including youth and active older adults,
enabling them to meet their health and wellness goals while also enabling the
Y’s to increase program participation, especially with the Team Cardio monthly
“turn-key” program.
“When
I got here in January, we had two Expresso
Bikes, we recently added a third about two months ago due to their
popularity now that members know what they can do on it. We could have
added a fourth if we had the space,” said Bacon. “Our YMCA has led every league for our
association since I started on the bike and explained it to others. Our Expresso Bike users range in age from
about 28 to about 45 years of age right now. We’ve got a core group
of people here who are avid riders of the Expresso
Bike. The word-of-mouth is the reason why we added a third Expresso Bike.”
Y
members, like those at the Greenbrier Family Y who ride the Expresso Bike, are actively engaged
with an on-line ID and profile, enabling them to sustain their exercise routine
longer, and this data is available through our online resources to each
participating Y. Interactive Fitness data simultaneously presents a member
engagement opportunity for Y staff to interact with their members and
personally create a members’ on-line profile, recruiting them to ride for their
Y team in the monthly Top 100.
And
with word-of-mouth a key to building and recruiting new members, especially in
the “Generation Y” or “Millennial” demographic, the social media integration
and monthly challenges on the Expresso
Bike from Interactive Fitness
gives Y programs a new way to build a social media member referral campaign,
with real-time challenges and ride-shares on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, the Expresso Bike from Interactive
Fitness gives Y programs a way to improve their technology as well as their
online presence, with eLive Internet
package and on-line monthly programming from Interactive Fitness. They offer a unique set of on-line tools to
directly increase your technology and your online presence.
“Our
members like how they can track their results, track their routes, and pace
themselves and compete against their fellow members here, and riders around the
world,” Bacon said. “Some of the things
I like about the Expresso Bike are
that I can compete against my best time on each route, and set a new personal
best. I can see every route I’ve done since January 2nd, if I rode, how
many calories I’ve burned, all that information is at my fingertips. Since
January, I can tell you I’ve burned 47,414 calories, and rode 1,049
miles. Anyone who rides the Expresso
Bike, and logs in to their personal account, can do this. My average
is just over 200 miles every four weeks, and approximately 6,700 calories a
month. This information is available to anyone. I can ride a route and compare
my time on that route to men my age around the world, or people in South
Hampton Roads, or even here in my Y.
“I’ve
become a true believer,” added Bacon. “I
would absolutely recommend the Expresso
Bike to any Y director. But you just can’t buy it and put it on the floor.
You have to have your staff there to demonstrate it to members, get them to
give it a try. You don’t just get on the Expresso
Bike and start pedaling. You actually have to steer, shift gears. You know
where your pacer is, and your ghost, and you compete against them.
The
Team
Cardio program, as well as the full line of products including the new Expresso HD Bike from Interactive Fitness, will be on display
in Booth #235 at the 2013 General Assembly of YMCA’s Conference
and Exhibition, Thursday, July 18th and Friday, July 19th
at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
Well
beyond a stationary bike, the Expresso
Bike from Interactive Fitness is
the one product that does it all. It
enables riders to experience full virtual reality, as they ride through over 40
different “worlds,” ranging from a one-mile speed course to a 20-mile mountain
climb. And it replaces “cardio
isolation” by keeping the riders “social” -- every Expresso Bike is connected via the Internet, enabling riders to
share their rides, and compete “virtually”
with riders in other locations around the country, instantly. The Expresso
Bike features state-of-the-art electronics and features designed to
stimulate the mind as well as the body, and enable riders in one location to
virtually race against another rider or group of riders in another
location. These “Virtual Races” are
stored and remembered, tracking progress automatically as the rider becomes
stronger and healthier.
For
additional information on the Expresso
Bike from Interactive Fitness, visit
http://www.Expresso.com/YMCA.