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Watch the episode here:

Listen to the podcast here

Peloton Introduces Competitions to the Bike plus we Celebrate 200 episodes

Happy 200. You probably should watch us on YouTube because there’s going to be all sorts of fun stuff coming up from past guests and friends of the show, different messages, updates and stuff. It will be fun to watch. John Mills made a very special video that’s pretty visual so you’ll want to check that out. We are taking on a little romantic getaway.

Four years, can you believe that? A car ride years ago lead to this.

How nice has everybody been who has sat down and talked to us.

There have been 198 stories, 198 amazing conversations.

There have been more guests than that because on our Homecoming episode, we’ve been through a lot of many interviews. It’s more than 200 guests. We should probably also, before we take in to the episode itself, thank Peloton for 1) existing because what would we be talking about if they didn’t exist? 2) for being so kind to help us over the years, whether it’s letting us come and set up at HRI then Homecoming, letting us host a Q&A with John Foley.

For letting us interview so many instructors.

Just off the top of my head, I apologize for any that I might forget, Matt Wilpers, Jenn Sherman, Matty Maggiacomo, Emma Lovewell, Tunde and Chelsea Jackson Roberts. There have been so many and that doesn’t even count the behind-the-scenes people that we got to talk to, like Jill Foley or Jayvee Nava and so many people. 

John Foley.

I mentioned him in the Q&A. Foley’s getting enough attention. Settle down, Foley. Thank you to Peloton for all of your assistance.

Thank you to all of our audience who continued to tune in to us week in and week out and send us many amazing comments. You guys cracked me up with your comments that you sent me halfway through listening.

We’re doing it in real-time for you. 

The funny thing is you guys are not speaking up during the Clubhouse, which I highly encourage you to do. My vision for Clubhouse is that those conversations you have with us midway through listening, are the conversations that we have on Clubhouse.

Now there’s a place for them to take place.

We hope that you join us there. Anyway, we should get to the actual show. We’ve got a lot to do.

You’re still going to get the regular news this episode. What do we have in store for people?

All of the acquisitions that Peloton made, we’re going to talk through those. We’re going to talk through all of the instructor news. There’s a ton of it.

Shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast from, be sure to follow us so you never miss an episode. While you’re there, if you would be so kind as to leave a review, that’s certainly helpful for the people that come along after you. We have a new review, this is from simplyeve, “I joined the Peloton community this Corona year and became obsessed. I came across this podcast on one of my dog walks and became hooked. I love the content and chats with members.” Thank you so much, simplyeve. Facebook.com/TheClipOut, while you’re there, like the page and join the group. You can sign up for our newsletter at theclipout.com, where you’ll get the links and pictures and all that stuff emailed to you in a weekly digest. Of course, YouTube.com/TheClipOut, where you can watch the show in all of its HD glory. This is a really good episode to do that because there will be all sorts of fun videos. There’s all of that. Let’s dig in, shall we?

We shall.

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Peloton made some very interesting acquisitions. They went on a little bit of a spending spree.

They did. Although, I think these have occurred in the past. We have one that occurred in December of 2020, which was Otari. In February, Aiqudo and Atlas Wearables clothes. These are interesting acquisitions and I feel like we’re starting to see a real blueprint of what the strength product that Peloton keeps hinting at might look like. To give you a little bit of background, Otari is a yoga mat that has a screen in front of it. The screen has AI built-in, the same AI built-in that Microsoft Xbox Kinect had. That’s what Mirror has just to be clear, it’s the exact same AI. That AI allows the mat to be able to pick up on your movements and give you feedback on your form. You have Aiqudo, which is voice-activated hardware.

It’s all AI that is voice-activated. That’s an interesting piece because in theory, you could be able to tell Otari something. You have Atlas Wearables which keeps track of your workouts and it gives you feedback on how well you did on your workout. Take all of that and put it together, I feel like you’re starting to see some kind of strength product that is different than what you see with Tonal and Mirror, but we still don’t know exactly what it is. It still could have some kind of other innovation that we are unable to see or hint at. There was a lot of feedback that came in through different news outlets because John Foley did an interview with Bloomberg. When he did this interview, he talked about that there were new products coming and the interviewer said, “I’ve heard that it could be this strength machine in a rower and as John Mills pointed out in his article.”

He wouldn’t confirm it but also, wouldn’t shoot it down.

We’ve seen this with John before. He gets this adorable little grin on his face that’s what I call a crap-eating grin and he says, “Those are good guesses,” which means that this is happening. We know for a fact the rower is coming and we know that John Foley keeps saying we’ve got to win strength. They’re coming, it’s just a matter of when. John Mills cannot be on this episode because we are not at our usual location and don’t have the ability to add him in, otherwise he would be here. I want to point out that he posted this.

He also brought up the fact that when John talked about these things, John Mills thinks this is going to all be announced at Homecoming. I’m a little unsure of that because I think that it’s crazy for Peloton to do two products at once. There was another article that came out from Pymnts. The deal is that Pymnts is reporting that John Foley said, “These are definitely coming. We’re ready. These are coming out.” Unless there was a completely separate article we all missed, that’s not the case.

If they’re misinterpreting the interview or if they have some other source that they didn’t specify.

We can intuit that these are coming soon. I’m a little nervous to say these are coming at Homecoming just because two product lines at once. They’ve had enough trouble getting one out. I’m worried for them.

I don’t think that they’re going to have quite the same demand for the rower ultimately. It seems like more of a niche product. Not that there won’t be people that want it but maybe they feel like they can’t handle the rower and another product. That’s almost like doing one.

 

It will also be interesting to see if the strength product is as sought after as like say, Tonal. Tonal has so much to it that from what we see so far, Peloton is not going to have. It’s the ability to just add on weight.

Incrementally without even thinking about it. It’s just like, “Here’s an extra pound for you.”

It looks like this is going to be a free-weight option, which is what John Foley has also hinted at. He said, “I don’t want to have some kind of machine, I want to have free weights.” The Otari makes sense. It also is in line with what John Mills has been predicting for a long time, that Peloton would make an acquisition and that they would come out with their own strength products. Everything is in line with what we’ve been hearing and intuiting so I am really curious to see what Homecoming is going to bring this 2021.

While we’re talking about things discovered by John Mills, he once again found something from the international market. 

MoneyDJ, which I believe is the Taiwanese article that talks about all these things. Holtec entered the supply chain of Peloton and they have these little chips, a 24-bit MCU. They are saying that millions of these chips are going to be delivered to Peloton by Q3. John Mills brought up, “Are they going to be shipping to the Taiwan factory or to the US?” If it’s going to the US, that means that Peloton expects that they will be producing the Bike+ in their US factory in Q3.

That would make sense if that is the case because we know that the Precor had happened, we know that deal closed officially and we know that it was always in the plans to be able to start making something in the US. Is it going to be the Bike+? Will they be using that chip here in the US for the Bike+ because it’s used in the pedal force detector on the Bike+? Will it be used for something completely different or will it ship to Taiwan? All kinds of big changes are coming for Peloton this 2021. I think 2021 is shaping up to be the biggest year for Peloton ever.

Which is saying that something is coming off of 2020.

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A bit of a sad story, this broke after we recorded the last episode which is why it wasn’t in the last episode. Peloton and John Foley issued a statement about a child who died in a treadmill accident with the Tread+, I believe. It’s a horrible occurrence. 

We don’t know all the details of the incident. From what we can tell, from people who have done some investigation, we think we found the city in which it took place and the family it occurred to. They have been staying out of the news so we can only glean from that. They want to have their privacy and it’s certainly understandable.

While we don’t have any firm details about the nature of the incident, at least thus far from what we can determine, it would seem to indicate that it was just a freak accident. It’s not a design flaw on the part of Tread+. Treadmills are inherently dangerous items. They’re essentially conveyor belts and they’re going to convey until you tell them to not convey. That being said, we don’t even know that that’s what played a role here because there are 24,025 injuries on average every year because of treadmills in general, not Peloton treadmills specifically.

Mike Tyson’s daughter passed away several years ago. That treadmill was unplugged and she got tangled up in the cord. Even unplugging it is not enough, but that could happen with anything that’s got a cord. Again, we don’t know what happened here. The fact that the family isn’t everywhere pointing fingers makes me think thus far that it was just a horrible accident. If you’ve got a tread in your house, whether it’s a Peloton tread or any brand of tread, exercise equipment isn’t for kids so you’ve got to be careful.

I want to reiterate too, I know you already said this but there’s no evidence, there’s nothing to point to if there was anything special about the Peloton treadmill that caused this awful accident. There’s nothing to make me believe that Peloton had any responsibility here. I also want to be careful and say that there’s nothing to indicate that these parents are not handling their business and that they did something wrong. Sometimes accidents happen but if you do have this in your home, as you said, Tom, please be careful. Keep your kids and pets out of the room. Put up a safety gate around it, whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe. For God’s sake, please don’t do these stupid videos while sitting in a laundry basket and doing that crap. It really annoys me that people take it so cavalierly.

One of the great things about Peloton is the community. It can be a source of inspiration as you go through tough times. Click To Tweet

You’re not in OK Go.

It is interesting to see how many people are talking about this. It does make you wonder if it will raise awareness, in general, about safety for machinery in the home.

In the meantime, our hearts go out to this family.

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Peloton unveiled a new way to compete.

This is interesting. The competition mode is completely designed by Alex Toussaint. It’s called Ride to Greatness. This is interesting for a few reasons, a while back, we had teams that could compete. I don’t know if you remember that we had different houses that could compete.

Hogwarts, Jigglypuff. 

What they did is it was like a whole different ability of challenges. You had to take a certain amount of classes, it had to be a certain amount of things and your team was competing head to head, while this is all on the bike. This is all going to be head-to-head competition per person. You can enter two different teams, but there’s one winner. There are training classes that happen a couple of times a week, and then there are different games and you can pick team activate or team validate. You make that whichever choice, your primary leaderboard tag, then you’re ready to go. You just have to show up. One question that people have been asking a lot, and I don’t know the answer to it, “Can you participate if it’s not live?” I don’t think that you can, but it’s going to be interesting to see what they do with this because obviously you can still take the class. Will you still be in the competition?

Nothing to indicate that you will still be in the competition, but of course all signs point to you, we’ll at least be able to take the classes. I know a lot of people have been worried about the timing of those and that they’re not able to participate. Also, it’s worth noting that the leaderboard is still the leaderboard and there are a lot of jagged bikes out there that are going to change how you can compete head to head. It will be interesting to see what happens with this. One other note, there was an apparel that was released. It was a Ride to Greatness jersey and it sold out very quickly. It was also worth noting that it is reversible. It’s black on one side, red on the other. I thought it was interesting that it was gender-neutral and it sold out so fast, especially since this is the first time Peloton has done anything like this.

It is interesting that it’s reversible. It makes you think that team validate is in black and team activate is in red or vice versa.

All sizes are sold out. I want to be clear about that. They still have it up on the website, which tells me it will be back. If you think that you might want it, go in and get on the email list because they’re very good about emailing whenever they’re in stock again.

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We did a contest a while back and it’s very popular for people’s chance to win a Tonal. The good news, we are bringing that back.

It is back starting April 9, 2021.

I believe April 9th will be your first opportunity to win so watch this space. We want to let people know you’re going to have another chance to win a Tonal. This one is going to be a little bit different. It’s going to be more like our pink Peloton contest, where it’s going to be sweepstakes and you make a donation to a charity we’ve partnered up with Tonal and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Which I’m super excited about.

We’ve worked with Make-A-Wish in the past. We were certified wish granters. That was a lot of fun. We haven’t been able to do that as much because this takes up a lot of time. Now we found a way to merge those two things. Tonal is very excited about it as well. Since Tonal is donating the Tonal and a year’s membership, that means 100% of the proceeds can go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Every dollar you donate goes right to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Watch this space as it gets a little bit closer for more details on how to win. It will run basically the same as our pink Peloton contest, except it won’t be pink and it’ll be a Tonal, and all the money goes to Make-A-Wish.

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Peloton is partnering up with the WWF for Nationwide Meditation for the Planet Day. 

WWF means the World Wildlife Fund. This is going to be yoga and meditation coming from Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, and it’s going to be a nationwide meditation for this year’s Earth Hour. This is going to be a free fifteen-minute guided meditation. It’s going to invite individuals to practice gratitude for the many services that the planet provides, reflect on their personal connection to nature and set intentions for their environmental journey ahead. I love this so much. How appropriate for Earth day? This is so cool.

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Jefferies, which is a global investment bank and talk about perks, they handed out Pelotons to staff.

I wish my company would do that. They said that they bought these for all of their staff members. Is that correct? They could get either a Peloton Bike or an Apple package, which was an Apple Watch, iPad Air and AirPods.

I bet you, if you work at an investment bank, you’ve probably already got all that. I wonder if this is how they can tell the difference between employees they really like, and the ones that they’re just like eh. If they liked you, you got a Bike+. Also, while we’re tracking through Peloton in the news, Parade Magazine featured the most popular 30-minute rides of all time, not counting the tens of thousands of classes.

Also, they’re 30-minute rides, not the 45-minute rides. If they were 45-minute rides, I would say bullcrap. I also think it’s interesting because unless you got this information from Peloton, I don’t necessarily think that’s true.

I don’t even know how they gauge a metric on that. They probably should have just said best. 

Included in it are the Cody’s Britney Spears ride, Robin’s Hamilton ride, the Beyonce ride which was a two for one, it had Tunde and Alex, that was an amazing one. It was one of my favorites. The Prince ride with Emma and Ally, the Top 50 of 2020 with Cody, Lady Gaga with Cody, a 30-minute pop ride with Cody.

Are these the most popular or did the person who write this article just really like Cody?

That’s a great question because I’ll tell you what, there has been a lot of Cody information lately. I feel like Cody is having a moment. Not that he hasn’t been amazing this whole time, but I feel like he’s starting to reach a new level within the news community, the people who report on it.

He’s not just for Peloton anymore.

The people who like Cody, which I’ve told you before, I can’t say too much about this in case certain people read but let me say, sometimes it surprises me who likes what instructors.

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This probably almost was worthy of a breaking news sweeper, Tunde cut her hair. People lost their crap.

It’s not a small change. She had hair all the way down to her waist and she cut all of it off so that she has what I would refer to as a buzz cut, if it were a boy. It’s a little different when it’s a woman and she looks gorgeous, she colored it. It’s like a coppery brown color and then with her signature makeup look. She’s got amazing striking cheekbones and her lip color is on point. She is phenomenal. This is cool because this was inspired by Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes. Whenever Shonda Rhimes was talking about the Year of Yes and she said, “If you’re scared to do something, just do it.” Tunde had been thinking about cutting her hair for a long time. She was very scared of how it would look and how people would perceive her because she said that she feels she has such muscular features that it makes her look masculine. She was afraid to cut her hair because that might increase that. Upon hearing Shonda Rhimes say, “If you’re scared of something, just do it,” she was like, “Eff it,” and did it. I think that is so cool. How inspiring is that?

 

It shows you how much is going on or how important Peloton instructors have become in the pantheon of pop culture and that she cuts her hair and it’s a story on Good Morning America the next day.

It’s phenomenal how much Peloton has infiltrated pop culture. When we think about a few years ago, when Tunde wasn’t even a Peloton instructor then, and here we are now, she’s being featured in Good Morning America because she cut her hair. Congrats to Tunde. She looks gorgeous.

Forbes Magazine featured Jess Sims and discussed her journey from kindergarten teacher to Peloton.

Here’s the deal with Jess Sims though, she’s still is a kindergarten teacher at heart. I mean that in the best way. When she teaches a class, she does listening games, which has inspired several other instructors to include listening games in their classes now. They are one of my favorites because they make the classes go by so fast. What Jess Sims brings to teaching as a kindergarten teacher that she pulls into being an instructor is that she also is positive and has the super sunny outlook and like, “Everything’s going to be okay.” She also is a really good instructor. It’s a nice combination of changes.

For next episode’s Peloton class, you’re going to need four pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and a glue stick.

Why would I need a glue stick?

How are you going to get those googly eyes to stay on the pipe cleaner, honey? Come on, think it through. This is why you’re not a kindergarten teacher.

It’s true. That among many other things, like lack of patience.

Spectrum News Online has different regions of their own local news, like AOL used to have or Yahoo! They had a very nice write-up on Jenn Sherman for that area of the country. 

If you’ve taken classes with Jenn Sherman at all, you probably already know that she is a Syracuse University graduate, but this is new information to some people, especially those who are from the area apparently. They did a very nice write-up on her and her classes and she gave the author a shout-out and they absolutely loved it. They were so excited, which is cool. She talks about Syracuse all the time.

Even I know that.

I’m pretty sure she mentioned it in our interview way back when.

Shape keeps their Peloton streak alive with an article about Kendall Toole and her vision board.

This is pretty cool though. She credits her job at Peloton from her own vision board. Several years ago, she started a vision board and she had a couple of things on it. One was her green couch that she really wanted and then another was a woman on a spin bike teaching a class. Now, she has both of those things. If you’ve ever watched Kendall’s conversations on the green, that is her conversations on her green couch. That’s her signature green couch, which she got as inspired by her vision board. Also, she is now a spin instructor. Back then, she thought it was a cool idea but she couldn’t figure out how to make it happen. Since then she has figured it out.

I would think you would just buy a board and stick things on it. That doesn’t seem all that. 

It inspired a lot of people to start one. Other people brought up to me that Robin already had one and other instructors already had one. I realized that this is not just somebody having a vision board. Here’s proof that it worked for her. I can’t do a vision board because I have too many things I want to be. There are no pictures of things that I want to be so I don’t even know how to make that work.

Emma Lovewell was featured on the cover of Rue Magazine.

Two things are cool about this. This is the premiere print version of the magazine. It’s going to be sold in Whole Foods, Target, etc. It’s on sale on March 26. You’re going to be able to get a copy. The other interesting thing about this is this is documenting her renovation story. You remember, I told you she just bought that house and she’s been working on renovating it. Rue Magazine covered her renovation and put her renovation on the cover.

All I know is I’m adding to my vision board, starting a magazine all about kangaroos and marsupials.

I can’t wait to see what your vision board looks like. I feel like it’s going to be chicken tenders and kangaroos.

I already have chicken tenders. I don’t think I need them on my vision board. 

I don’t know what’s going to be on there besides kangaroos.

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Every week, Shape Magazine writes something about Peloton-related lately. It would have seen. Also, every week, somebody has to write a story about what gyms are going to be like after Corona and how it affects Peloton.

What do you think of this article?

I didn’t even read it either.

Me either.

I feel like I’ve read it a million times.

This is specifically about how they’re going to lure them back. Not just can they get them back, but what are they going to do?

It’s from Ad Age so it’s taken on the more marketing aspect of it, which does sound interesting.

They turned off marketing, obviously during COVID. Now, they’re changing up marketing structures and they’re doing things more in-house, they’re focused on personalization, new messages of safety, a lot of things that you’re seeing just in general in the world. I don’t think they’re really specific to gyms, but as we’ve said, it’s only going to work so much. Once they have everything at home, why do they need it? Another thing they mentioned is that they’re going to have a lot more digital options than they did before. Part of your package will be that you can do classes at home.

I think that’s the future for gyms like, “Sign up here and you’ll also get this thing at home.”

If you don’t have the equipment, what difference does it make?

That’s where you could see some competition for Peloton to where it’s like, “If you buy this NordicTrack bike and we’ll throw in the package that you can use it at home, you can come to the gym and lift weights and swim,” or what have you. I could see people going, “That’s the best of both worlds. Maybe I will do that.” I could see that luring some people.

Back when Blockbuster was a thing, you started seeing they started adding in games subscriptions and they started adding in all this stuff. I do think that’ll be a thing, but ultimately let’s not forget, there’s no more Blockbuster.

Gizmodo had an article basically comparing NordicTrack to Peloton to see how they stack up.

What is the unique spin that they claim?

This is a really weird article because the headline is like, “NordicTrack’s Peloton Rival Has a Unique Spin on Indoor Cycling,” and then the article goes through it, point by point. It’s like, “This NordicTrack bike isn’t bad, but it’s no Peloton.”

It doesn’t have Cody Rigsby.

It says that over and over again like, “If you’ve never experienced a Peloton, this is pretty cool but if you have, you’re not going to want to give up your Peloton for this.”

That is pretty much what I figured.

It’s kind of an odd headline, given the overall tone of the article.

It’s funny to see the NordicTrack with other competitors where they have the instructors wearing their own gear. In the picture of that magazine article, the woman was wearing an iFit sports bra. iFit just doesn’t have the same ring to it as Peloton. It’s interesting to see how much these other companies want to be Peloton. They are having some Peloton envy.

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Joining us is Torrey from Peloton Closet. 

This episode is all about milestones. I’m guessing you have a way to tie in clothes with milestones.

First of all, congratulations on your 200th episode. That’s so impressive. I’m not good at math but I feel like that’s maybe four years.

It is four years. We started May of 2017.

My favorite way to celebrate a milestone is with my favorite thing, fashion. I have a couple of ways that you can celebrate whatever your Peloton milestone might be with some cool fashion ideas. Basically, Peloton conditioned all of us to start thinking about celebrating milestones with clothing because they give out a Century shirt. Your first big Peloton milestone. It’s their idea, I take no credit. They got us all in the mindset.

Just like any good pusher, the first one is free.

Being 200 episodes in and knowing all about Peloton, maybe you can answer a question for me. I know that in 2019, they went to the unisex t-shirt from I think they had men’s and women’s previously. All this talk about those t-shirts running too small, too large. I asked them to send me my free t-shirt in my normal size and it seems to fit perfectly.

I had the exact same experience. I bought my regular size and I was happy with it. It’s very comfortable. It’s loose-fitting, it’s not tight which I don’t want it to be. That’s not what the t-shirt is for.

I do get questions about sizing and I’ve always thought, “Mine fits.” Maybe some of those rumors about the sizing being a little bit off might have been more when they did not have the unisex shirts. It seems like they fit whatever your normal size is.

I would agree.

The first thing you can do is wear your Peloton Century shirt but then just that basic black shirt, a lot of people like to do something special to it. We’ve talked a little bit before, one thing you can do is tie-dye your Century shirts. You can do that DIY, people have done it with a reverse tie-dye with bleach. A tie-dye artist who I’ve worked with, you pay her because I don’t want to even attempt to do something like this myself.

That shirt, you get one of them. You don’t want to roll the dyes and mess that up unless you know what you’re doing. 

I would never try something like this on my own. 

I say, go to the pros for any kind of embellishment, whether it’s tie-dye. Another thing that I think would be fun and people have done is they go to an embroidery place and you could get your leaderboard name embroidered, maybe on the sleeves. You could even have a quote embroidered from one of your favorite instructors, maybe on the back. It’s pretty inexpensive and it’s a fun way to personalize that generic shirt that everyone has. I’m going to confess something to you guys, I’ve spent some time in the world of competitive cheer. It’s a sport.

Schools won’t let it be a sport because the liability is too great. They get injured so frequently. 

Be gentle with yourself. It’s not a race with everybody else. It’s just you on the bike. It’s you versus you. #peloton Click To Tweet

Whatever your thoughts about cheer may be, my foray into that world led me to another type of customization which is bedazzling. Another fun thing you can do with your Peloton shirt is bling it out a little bit. You can either find a professional to do it. You can buy an iron-on in this expensive time in this world so I’m familiar with my bling. You can go to Michaels, Hobby Lobby, whatever type of craft store or you can buy it online and they have these iron-on crystals. Maybe you just want to add a little bit of bling, you can do the 100. You iron them on and they stay, they’re pretty permanent.

It’s another fun way to customize that shirt or you can have a professional do it, which leads me to my second tip, Etsy. That is one of my favorite websites for getting custom-crafty pieces. I just typed in to Etsy, “Peloton Milestone,” and 300 things came up instantly. You can get a custom t-shirt, you can do a sports bra with your leaderboard name, they will bling things out for you. They will embroider for you and tie-dye for you. It’s a fun way to wear something that’s special and it commemorates this awesome occasion.

One tip is that you want to make sure, if you are ordering something customized to wear for that special ride, you are preparing because you do not want that 300th sports bra or pair of shorts to arrive when you’re ready for a ride. This a plan ahead moment. You want to give yourself a couple of weeks especially if you’re working with someone on Etsy who’s an artist, somebody who’s tie-dyeing. The third option that I have learned and I’m excited about is you can get custom leggings. There is a company called Miami Fitwear. Custom milestone leggings, they do make a standard one for 1000th and 100th but you could put any number in that you want. They will customize them with your leaderboard name. You can get a quote down the side of the opposite leg. I love this women-owned brand.

They have collaborated with Peloton for some of the Peloton attire. The quality is great. The leggings are super soft, they’re thick, and they have some sheen to them. Inclusive sizing, which I’m all about, it goes extra-extra small to a 4X. No matter what size you are, you can wear a pair of custom milestone leggings. The price point is $108 for capris and $118 for the leggings. You need to give yourself some time to get that custom piece made so that it arrives in time for whatever ride you are planning to ride it for. You don’t want to wear that 1,000th for the 1,017th, that takes away from the joy.

Since they’re custom, you could get them made to say 1,017th.

Again, you’ve got to plan for that.

It’s a planning situation. I’m excited to share in honor of your milestone and for all of your readers and my followers who are celebrating milestones, Miami Fitwear has agreed to donate a gift card and I’m going to do a giveaway. Please come on to @PelotonCloset on Instagram and you can like, comment and enter a draw to win a gift card to Miami Fitwear to get your very own pair of milestone capris or leggings.

I have to give a little plug for Miami Fitwear because Raquel, who’s the owner, is also very instrumental in Peloton having those inclusive sizes. She did have a lot to do with that, so I want to make sure people know that, who haven’t had the chance to work with her. Her leggings are amazing.

Those are three ways that you can celebrate your milestone with fashion.

Thank you so much and thank you for joining us for our 200th milestone episode. We appreciate that. Until next time, where can people find you?

I am across most channels as Peloton Closet. Instagram, Facebook, my website is PelotonCloset.com. I’m on Reddit, PelotonCloset. I always have to confess, I’m at the bottom of the leaderboard riding my Peloton as #PelotonCloset.

—

Bustle.com has an article about Erin Andrews and her love of Peloton.

She is the sportscaster for Fox Sports. She has, according to this article, reported courtside for more than twenty years, but it talks about how she uses the Peloton specifically for stress-relief. It’s interesting how much people who are celebrities talk about Peloton in that regard. Not just an exercise class, whether it’s the bike or it’s meditation or yoga, it’s stress-relieving.

It’s like Dr. Jenn says, “It’s not therapy, but it’s therapeutic.”

Peloton announced that they are not going to have any classes on April 4th or 5th. Mark your calendar so you don’t crap yourself when there are no new classes on April 4th or 5th, you’re like, “They fired every instructor. NordicTrack is buying Peloton.”

It’s for a pause and reflect day.

It will be over Easter weekend. It might be for that reason too. Also, if you follow along with John Mills and finding out what’s going on with Peloton, interestingly, it also corresponds with how Otari is pausing sales between March 26th and April 6th. It does make you wonder.

They need a second for everything to sync up and then there’s going to be some rollout.

—

There’s an interesting blog post on Peloton’s website about the making of a Peloton outdoor class.

I thought this was neat. They show that it’s different and they explained that the production team gets more involved, that they’re doing everything with you. It’s not super intuitive that it would be different for an outdoor class, but at the same time, when you like stop and read that, you’re like, “I guess that does make sense.”

A couple of new additions for things to do for instructors. Cody Rigsby is now a Therabody athlete. That’s the Theragun thing. It’s something that punches you therapeutically.

It’s all about recovery.

Emma Lovewell is now repping for Sonos.

As part of her new renovation, she’s got Sonos speakers everywhere. You can go to see her stories of where she chose to put everything in her home and why.

—

Peloton announced yet another artist collaboration with The Chicks formerly the Dixie Chicks. If people aren’t familiar with the story, they dropped Dixie. I feel like I need to explain that because a lot of people would be like, “The Chicks, how’s that?” 

They did change that, I believe it was 2020. This is an interesting one because they’re like a country, but they also have this attitude and modern sensibility that is not always synonymous with country music. I’m a fan. I’m looking forward to it.

—

Finally, if you’re looking for someone to wish a happy birthday, you could wish it to Becs Gentry on March 27th.

She’s going to have quite a special birthday because the Olympic Trials in Great Britain that she’s going to, they take place on the 26th. Hopefully, she is in the top, whatever it takes to get there. I think it’s different for every country. That will be an even more special birthday for her on the 27th. Happy birthday to Becs. Either way, we’re proud of you for making it this far, regardless of what happens in the Olympics.

—

Tom and Crystal, it’s Andrea Barber, your favorite neighbor from Full House. Congratulations on 200 episodes of The Clip Out. That’s exciting. I’m honored that I was a part of one of the 200 episodes. To this day, I still have not laughed so hard in a 45-minute period as I did during our episode. There are many great memories. I’m happy for you guys and all of your successes are well-deserved. You guys are not only great interviewers and an amazing conversationalist but you’re good people. Your kindness radiates and your audience is responding to that. That’s in large part why you’re so successful because you’re good people and people want to support that. I’m happy and honored to call you a friend. I don’t know about Tom but definitely Crystal. I’m glad we’re friends now. I’m thankful to be a part of The Clip Out group. Your show makes my every week. Congratulations. I’m sending you much love and I’m happy for you. Happy 200. Bye.

—

Joining us is Susie Beris and you might remember her from Episode 75 if you have Rain Man memory. I don’t, I looked it up.

You remember the episode. You just didn’t remember the number?

Right.

I can remember talking to Susie.

She shared with us her journey with brain cancer and that was back in 2018.

Clearly, I should not even be here to be able to talk to you.

First off, we’re excited that this follow-up is follow-up-able. We were wondering if you could give us a quick update on what’s happened since.

Since we last spoke, I had six weeks of radiation, six weeks of chemo and then you get a month off and then you get a year of chemo, one week a month for an entire year. I’ve already beaten the odds because I’m coming upon more than two years of post-diagnosis and it should only be 6 to 12 months. Maybe 50% make it to a year and probably less than 10% make it to two years. It is crazy. I can’t believe it. It’s funny how you have these things, “I wanted to get to one year. I wanted to get to eighteen months. I want to be able to vote in the election.” The next goal is, “I want to make it to my 60th birthday.” You have these short-term goals and there you go, you live month-to-month.

That also sounds hard though. First of all, it’s amazing that you have these goals. If that’s the way you look at it, that’s positive but it also sounds like it’s a stressful way to think about it.

The stressful thing is the scans. When you have a scan planned, it’s like scanxiety. The last scan I had, I went through a whole bottle of Pepcid. It was awful. The worst part is the scans because it’s weird. In between scans, you feel fine so you don’t think that you have cancer per se. You feel relatively fine. You’re not back to your normal self but you don’t think about it day to day. When the scan is coming, you’re like, “I just had hit it. I tripped. I did this.” You’re sure it’s back when you have a scan coming. For two months, you suffer with, “It’s back. It’s here.”

How often are you getting the scans?

I don’t have one scheduled. My feeling is that based on everything I know about this cancer, once it returns, there’s no good treatment, so why torture yourself? I don’t want to torture myself with the scan. When it comes back, I don’t plan on treating it.

I remember the last time we talked, you felt like everything you had read and the doctors agreed that the vigorous exercise helped with keeping you healthy. Do you still feel that’s the case? Does your doctor still feel that way?

I credit Peloton for keeping me alive this long and my neurosurgeon who did a great job. I love my neuro-oncologist but the radiation and chemo were a standard protocol, except for I was over-radiated because I have the head size of a two-year-old and I don’t think they took that into account. That’s why my hair never grew back and that’s why my balance and gait stink now. As I get tired as the day goes on, I’m tripping and I look like I’m drunk.

What’s fascinating to me and I’m sure to other people is that you can still run on the treadmill.

It’s fascinating to me too. I can’t walk on the treadmill. I can only run. If you ever see me doing a walk around on the treadmill, don’t feel bad because I’m running the entire time. If I stop and walked, I’m going to trip and fall.

Is there any insight as to why that is?

Not really. Someone once said, “Build up your core because walking and running are different.” I can’t run outside either. I can only run on a treadmill. I can’t even walk to the end of the block without my legs feeling they’re going to collapse underneath me and without my gait and balance off so that’s weird. I can’t tell you. I don’t know if it’s muscle memory or if it’s just my quads are so strong. I don’t know. When I run, it does take me 10 to 15 minutes before I feel like I’m in that groove. Although most people probably feel that anyway.

I do.

My balance gets better after about 10 to 15 minutes.

That’s fascinating.

I wish I could figure it out. I asked one million people and no one understands it. I have a few theories about the outside versus inside. One, the inside is a smooth, even surface so there’s no bouncing around. The proprioceptive sense makes it easier on the tread. Plus, from a perspective of, “I stare at the numbers. I can’t look at anything else. I can’t turn my head because otherwise, I’m going to lose my balance.” Outside, you’re looking around and that’s a problem too.

There are no other sensory things to take in.

It’s a vestibular sort of thing. I stare at the numbers and I can even look at the guy who’s running on the screen per se. Listen to them. You just do what you have to do.

I was going to say the same thing. It’s the vestibular thing. She’s a doctor. How frequently are you working out these days?

Every day.

You are a kick-ass inspiration, Susie Beris.

I’ll need knee replacements before I have a brain tumor. The answer to your question starts to kill me.

Here’s hoping.

Be careful.

Before we let you go, remind everybody of your leaderboard name and where they can find you and all that.

ThePedalPusher and on Facebook, I’m just Susie Beris. That’s it. I’m too old. I don’t do Instagram. I don’t do Twitter. I don’t do any of that stuff.

I don’t blame you.

It’s not time to learn now, but I have to learn Zoom.

You crushed it.

Thank you for popping back on to check in with us. We appreciate it.

Thanks for checking in with me. I enjoy your post and your show and the whole thing.

Thank you. We’re happy that it’s going as well as it is for you across. We will be sure and check back in with you on our 400th episode. How about that?

That would be wonderful. How long will that take?

It might be four years.

That’s our goal.

Let’s make an appointment four years from now, Susie.

I can’t do long-term goals. Can we get to 250? Maybe even 225?

Okay. Love to you, Susie. You take care.

Thanks a lot.

—

From Jenn’s Men, we wanted to wish The Clip Out a happy 200th episode.

Congratulations.

We love Crystal and Tom.

Congratulations, Crystal and Tom. Great job. Keep going.

—

Crystal and Tom, it’s Jayvee, Peloton’s VP of Community. I wish you a happy 200th episode of The Clip Out. It feels like it wasn’t too long ago that I sat down with you both to do episode 79 back in 2018, but the Peloton community and The Clip Out have both grown so much since then. Congratulations on this huge milestone and wishing you both all the best.

—

What’s up, Peloton? Welcome to Peloton meditation. I am Chelsea Jackson Roberts and this is a ten-minute calming meditation.

Ready to bring this blood pressure down? Like a doctor says, “Stay calm and relaxed.”

Miss Parker, how are you doing? How are Ralphie and Neil? No, I didn’t catch it. Tom O’Keefe? What did he say?

I heard you don’t even eat chicken nuggets anymore. That is not the child I know. He’s just started on The Clip Out, the show. He’ll be for real? That is fresh.

Here’s the thing. Tom has been secretly working out and not telling anyone.

—

Joining us is Laura Pugerude but you probably know her as Laura Pug. When we had you on, what was your milestone back then?

It was 3,000.

You’re going to freak out when you know how much that was.

It was unheard of at the time. It was a ridiculous amount. It was like breaking the sound barrier or the four-minute mile.

We had her at episode 29. This is November 10, 2017. It’s been a while.

She was the first person to hit 3,000.

How many rides are you at now, Laura?

I’m approaching 7,000.

That’s incredible.

That’s insane.

It’s insane in the best way.

In a way, we’re a lot alike.

We are. We complement each other.

From a consistency standpoint, I don’t know that there are two more consistent people than you and me.

Where are you at now, Tom?

Zero. That’s how consistent I am.

Laura, you had a surprise for me, the t-shirt. I can’t believe that this exists.

It was for my 100th ride. They were creative with it. Home Rider.

Was that from Peloton?

Yes. I had no idea I was getting that. I had no idea that I received it in the mail and I was so excited.

That’s what the Century shirt used to look like? We shouldn’t even describe this for people. You have to go to our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/TheClipOut, to see what the Century shirt used to look like. Let’s say that their fashion since has moved a bit forward. Was Jill Foley in charge of the boutique yet?

I bet this was pre-Jill Foley, wasn’t it?

It could have been. I don’t even know how many people have one of these so it might be worth a lot more than the newer ones.

It would be.

Don’t tell anybody where you live. They’ll come and take it and sell it on the buy-sell-trade group for $1 million.

That shirt is probably why Jill Foley took over the boutique. John came home one night and was like, “We’re going to give people a shirt and it’s going to look like this.” Jill Foley was like, “You can’t do that.”

Do you remember when you hit your 100th ride?

While they were delivering it.

They were frantically making the shirt at the same time. I forgot what month it was but it was within the first year. I did a 90-minute ride for it. It was a Robin and Just Ride. Seventeen minutes into the ride, my screen froze. I was determined to just stick it out and I did. It stayed on until the bitter end and it only registered seventeen minutes for my 100th ride. I rode the hardest that I ever had because I kept thinking, “This is coming back on. It’s got to.” This was before anybody even knew about milestone rides so they didn’t acknowledge all of them.

You were in a milestone before anyone even had milestones.

I didn’t even reach out to anybody to say, “This is my 100th ride,” and then for it to freeze on me? I got this shirt.

It is one of a kind or close to it.

When you got the shirt, it just showed up and you didn’t know it was coming? They were like, “Here’s a shirt.”

Right. Nobody knew shirts are coming.

Do you think that she has the first 100?

She does.

You’re like, “Somebody had 100.” You know it would be cute. Make them a shirt.

That’s amazing. You have a piece of history right there.

This was before anybody even asked, “Where’s my shirt?”

Can you imagine if that set of circumstances occurred now on the OPP? Your ride froze and on the 100th ride, you had a shirt that you didn’t even ask for because then somebody would be like, “How did you know my shirt size? Why did you send that without asking me?”

They sent the right size so it’s all good. It stays tucked away, hidden in a drawer.

You should get one of those shadow boxes to frame it or something.

I could even put my first Peloton shoes in there that was white, now brown.

They’ve got so many miles on them than my car.

They’re going to want to come and buy the shirt back from you. When Ford tried to buy back the first-ever Mustang.

Don’t you let them.

It will have Laura Pug across the front of it. I’ll put Laura Pug in there and they can buy it back.

Everyone will know.

That’s exciting. What else do you have to update us on? What else is going on?

Both of my girls have been out of the house. When you did have me on last time, I was going through a divorce so that’s been interesting. The great thing about Peloton was I’ve gone through tough times but this community is always there. I don’t think I would have made it without Peloton.

They are amazing. I want to say, Laura, you are an amazing source of inspiration for so many and you are a part of that community that keeps other people lifted up. You give back as much as you get so we all thank you for that.

Thank you. All have been great though. Peloton has grown so much since then, like all these classes. It keeps growing. It’s exciting for all of us.

When you were taking classes, not to disparage the class length anybody chooses but they didn’t even have twenty-minute classes. Those 3,000 classes were mostly 45-minute classes, weren’t they?

Yes. I have to say I probably ride less but the number of rides probably remains the same because of the short ones.

Are you still running all the time?

I’m running. I still get outside and run.

That’s amazing. You’re amazing.

That’s a lot of movement.

It’s this community that inspires me so I appreciate it all.

Thank you for taking time out of your ride to join us. Remind everybody where they can find you.

LauraPug on Instagram and Laura Rogers Pugerude on Facebook.

Thank you for joining us.

Congratulations to both of you too, with your 200 episodes. That’s exciting. Who would have thought after all these years you made it this far.

That’s true. Thank you. You’re sweet.

Peloton is all about listening to the community. The more people tell them of things they need to do, the more Peloton gets behind it. Click To Tweet

Thank you for being a part of it.

Thank you. Good luck.

—

Tom and Crystal, it is Dr. Jenn Mann and I want to say congratulations on The Clip Out 200th episode. I am so proud of you guys. It’s such an honor and a pleasure to come on your show every week and give advice and talk about Peloton. I love it and I love you guys. I’m grateful for all that you do for the Peloton community because if it was not for you, I would not know the latest Peloton information, clothing drops. You’ve cost me a small fortune but I forgive you for that. Getting to connect with the Peloton community in a whole other way and give psychological and sports psychology advice is such an honor. I love working with you guys and I love your show. Thank you for all that you do.

—

Peloton, how are you? It’s DiscoDavis and PeaceOutPeddler here. We are here to wish The Clip Out a happy 200 episodes.

That’s fantastic.

 

Who knew that this would be such a popular thing? Thank you, Crystal and Tom, for continuing to do it. It’s awesome. A brief update. I am doing great. I will celebrate four years cancer-free. Nancy is doing good. We’re getting through this COVID mess. We got our first doses. Nancy’s growing around a tail. She stopped cutting part of her hair when we started our first quarantine and she’s not going to cut it off until she’s fully vaccinated. Other than that, we’re doing great and sending you our best. Happy 200th episode.

Congratulations.

Peace out.

—

Joining us is Brendan Dunn. You might remember Brendan from episode 152. In case you don’t remember or maybe didn’t read that episode, he was interviewed by Humans of New York and spoke openly about his struggle with exercise and then it went viral on OPP. It reinvigorated him to get back into his Peloton and we thought it’s a great time to check in to see how’s that going for you. Are you still reinvigorated? Do you need to be re-reinvigorated? Are you just vigorated?

Do you remember that book you were supposed to read in high school called A Tale of Two Cities?

Yes.

Have you read that book?

Yes.

Do you remember the first line? “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” That sums up my Peloton experience. After I was adopted by XXL and with your help as well, I was tearing up the bike. I was doing PeloFondo. I was training for Haleakala with CDE. I did a couple of legs of that straight. I did the Power Zone challenge for 5, 6, 7 days a week sometimes. It was going great and then I got injured. For whatever reason, I’m eighteen and don’t need to stretch after I ride. It was a matter of time before I got hurt. I strained my IT band a little bit and then I thought that I was Superman and didn’t need to see anything about it so I waited a whole month figuring it would heal on its own but it did not. I went to a doctor. I was in physical therapy for probably 2 to 3 months. I’m now mending from that and starting to get back on the bike. I’m starting back at ground zero, day one because of my outputs to where I was when I started. It’s fine because I know what I’m capable of and where I can get back to.

The interesting thing is it will come back even faster this time because of the muscle memory. You’ll get back to where you were faster than you did the first time but be gentle with yourself because it’s not a race with everybody else. It’s just you on the bike. It’s you versus you.

I’ve been telling myself I’m easing back into it not 100% yet but I’m feeling better every day and I’m stretching. The instructor is like, “Make sure you stretch afterward.” I’m like, “Who needs to do that? I’m Superman.” No, I’m not.

We all need to stretch. That’s true. I’ve been there. I haven’t hurt my IT band but I’ve definitely injured myself not stretching.

What is an IT band? I don’t even know what that is.

It’s the one on the inside of your leg.

Is that an exercise thing? Do I need to just not have one?

You have one. Yours is probably still in new condition.

It was strange because I had never enjoyed exercise. When I heard it, I was in a bad mood for a couple of weeks because I missing the bike, which is strange for me.

It has to feel like a good sign though. The fact that you feel like you’re missing exercise means it’s your body’s way of telling you that you’re not just using this as an excuse.

I’ve been excited to get back to the bike, and the XXL community has kept me strong throughout it because, without them, I probably wouldn’t even have gotten hurt in the first place so I never would have gotten back on the bike. Thank you, XLL. They’ve been great for me and I’ve been a great help to them. I was so active on the page that made me a moderator. I’m one of the leaders now in that family. It’s still the best place for me on the internet to experience Peloton.

You have started riding again or you’re still working up to that?

I have but not as much as I want to. My consistency for weeks is when I’ve been back but a couple of times a week. Not as much as I should be but I’m chalking up to the times, Christmas and all the stresses going on. I want to make a commitment to get back to it strongly again.

The holidays are rough trying to fit that stuff in any way so I definitely get that.

The real question, is it just as much fun when you do get on the bike? Are you enjoying it as much as you did pre-injury?

I am. I’m more winded now than I was. My health was better then. I’ve let it slip a little bit but my mental health is the biggest thing. I feel good after I get off the bike. I know that so I’m glad to have that back. I still love getting on the bike and if I get a little more consistent, I’ll be back to where I was pre-injury.

You’ll be there no time.

I’m sorry that you got hurt but I’m glad to know that you’re still in there slugging away. Before we let you go, remind everybody where they can find you.

Your leaderboard name too.

My leaderboard name is StevieG96. You can find me in the XXL Tribe. We’re open to everyone. Please come and join us. It’s the best place to be. If you don’t want to join us there, just find your group because that’s what the Peloton community is. It’s the most important thing.

—

A bike that goes nowhere with a show to boot. A guy who won’t ride it and his wife with a hoot, a giggle, a Twitter, a hi-hi-hi. The noise that she makes that’s just adorable. We agree but who’s going to listen? Who would dare to come on? The losers. The no ones. For the twentieth, I was on but the episodes kept coming and the guest list was packed. They ditched insider secrets that the rest of us lacked and Peloton embraced you. You got Foley on stage, a fight for a pause and Foley left in a rage. The instructors flocked to your mics to be on. Some imposters have risen but in time, they’ll be gone. You two set the example. You two set the bar. The Clip Out is by far the Peloton show star so congrats on 200 and for all that you do. The joys and the laughs that we divined from you. A milestone-significant. Embrace it with pride and perhaps after 200 more, you can report, “Tom took a ride.” Congrats, guys.

—

Returning to us is Kristin Fleschner. You might remember her last time.

She was in episode 101.

She does a lot of work with the disabled community and making different things accessible. She gave us a wonderful look at what Peloton could do, what they have done, what could be better and what is not as good as you’d hope. We were checking in with you to see how that was all going.

You also shared some great stories of your dog, Zoe. I remember that. How are you and Zoe doing?

We’re doing well. It’s been a challenging year for us as most people in the Peloton community and around the world. We do have some good news to report on, which is why I’m glad to be here. I want to start out by thanking Peloton for listening to the community and the wider community’s concerns regarding many accessibility issues but especially for me, the blind and low-vision community. They rolled out the TalkBack feature, which is the screen reader that blind and low-vision people use on Android devices. It reads back to you what all of you see on the screen. This feature made choosing a class, searching for a class, all class metrics accessible to someone who is blind and low vision.

If I remember correctly, before, the easiest way for you to do it was to have somebody online with you to help you choose a class. You told us about a service that was out there that you joined and they would walk you through the class options so this is a lot better.

This is a huge improvement. What makes it an improvement is that someone can do it independently. The ability to exercise on your own, see your own metrics and choose how you train is what makes this feature an incredible tool for our community.

How does that work from an audio level standpoint if it’s reading you the metrics but then there’s the music and the instructor saying things? How does that not all become a jumbled mess?

People who use screen readers frequently are used to getting a lot of input from different places. For example, when I give speeches, I have audio input in my ear that goes through and reads notes to me while I’m talking. To some people, that would be overwhelming but to me, that’s how I get information. It’s not overwhelming. I’m just taking another piece of information. You’re seeing the metric on the device, getting that info and still listening to music and the instructor. It’s a different way we process information.

It’s like being a newscaster because they got somebody telling them stuff all the time.

That’s a great analogy. What a great explanation. Thank you for explaining that, Kristin.

No worries. The other great news that I wanted to bring up was that Peloton purchased Precor. This will have a major impact on the disabled community. It may or may not be something that Peloton is aware of, but higher education institutions and hotels work hard to make their spaces accessible both because it’s the law but also because it enhances their business in many ways. By putting equipment that’s accessible into universities and hotels, people with disabilities will have greater access to being healthy in exercising. As far as I know, there’s no other bike or home exercise equipment that is accessible as the Peloton bike is. If they’re able to make the tread have that same level of accessibility, the benefits to not just the disabled community but the people who work with disabled people like universities will be massive.

It makes you wonder if that was part of the motivation of acquiring Precor or if it’s just a happy accident.

Either way, I’m happy.

If it is a happy accident, we know that people from Peloton check in here from time-to-time. If it is a happy accident and they don’t know, maybe this will let them know. They’ll be like, “We just bought this thing that solves some problems for us. How about that?”

That comparison I have to how this made me feel is a little bit like how I felt when I grabbed Zoe’s harness for the first time. It was this moment of feeling like I was flying. When you’re able to gain the independence that you’ve had in the past and regained that independence to control your life, it’s an unbelievable feeling. When I was able to walk over to the Peloton and pick my class for the first time and get that information to work out better, it’s an exceptional accomplishment of the company.

I can’t even imagine how that must have felt that. That’s fantastic. I bet that was a game-changer for you.

On what can still be done, I do want to note that they have primarily rolled out features that assist the blind, low-vision community and the community with hearing loss and there are always improvements that can be made. When you work in accessibility, you understand that this is an ongoing process of providing new and different tools for people. People with other disabilities need other modifications and those are areas where they can still improve. I would encourage them to work with people with disabilities to ensure that any upcoming products are accessible and to include people with disabilities in that process of making their products accessible. It is exactly what they did with the TalkBack feature.

If there was one thing that Peloton could incorporate or change that they haven’t done yet, what would that thing be?

That’s hard because I don’t want to speak for other communities. I’ve worked hard with them on the TalkBack feature. I’m incredibly grateful. The biggest thing would be that they look at trying to roll out the accessibility features when they roll out products. This reflects that the disabled community is just as important as other customers. They aren’t giving tiered access to their equipment, which is how a lot of people feel. I want to reiterate how much they have done but that would be my big ask. To your community and the rest of the Peloton community, the ask is to give them feedback and continue to encourage them to do this. They have a page on their website on accessibility and that page has their accessibility email address. I also encourage people to keep pushing for these issues.

That’s a good note. I definitely recall when you were on back on episode 101 and we reached out to Peloton to talk to them about it. They indicated then, “Tell us what you need.” Peloton is so much about the metrics and listening to the community. The more people that tell them, “These are things we need to do,” the more that Peloton gets behind that so that’s a good point and we need to remind people to do that. Thank you for pointing that out. How is your training going? 2020 has been such a crazy year. Were you able to continue training in the same way or have you had to change things?

We have the pure cycling track open and raced in Carson, California and unfortunately soon after that, COVID came around and it changed everyone’s plans. It canceled all of the races for the Peloton community and much of the cycling community. A lot of those plans are being made for 2021. As far as me personally, I got sick at the beginning of 2020 with a virus. I’m not sure if it was an early strand of COVID or not. I’m still trying to figure that out but it’s definitely been a humbling year.

One thing the entire world has learned about COVID is that we should be grateful for the ability to choose how we suffer. When you’re sick, you don’t have much of a choice about how you feel but when you’re working hard on the bike or elsewhere in your life, you’re making that choice and it’s a privilege to be able to make choices about how you feel. That’s an important takeaway for our community and the Peloton community. I’m back on the bike now in no place where I was, but I feel privileged to be able to make that choice about my health.

That’s a fantastic point. It’s good to remember. It’s a crazy time we’re in.

Thank you for checking back end with us. We appreciate it. Before we let you go, remind people of your leaderboard name if you would like people to know that and then also where they can find you if you would like to be found.

My leaderboard name is ZoesPack, which is Zoe the Seeing Eye Dog’s Pack. I have a website, which is just my first and last name. I do blog posts and updates on accessibility and the law and other disability issues I’m working on. You can feel free to follow us there on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or wherever you are.

Thank you and thank you for all that you have done for the Peloton community and for the low vision community. I know that it is appreciated that you have been out there being the voice and asking Peloton to continue this mission.

There are a lot of people that have worked on this and people in various disability communities that have played a significant role. Peloton made the decision to make this happen and we’re all grateful.

—

Crystal and Tom, it’s Monica Ruiz, the Peloton Woman. Am I going to always have that name? Anyway, I’m here to congratulate you guys on your 200th episode. Unbelievable. Congratulations. I cannot thank you enough for all of the unbelievable knowledge, tips, tricks, etc., that you gave me when I was on The Clip Out about Peloton. I had my bike for a year and didn’t know anything compared to what I learned with you guys so thank you for that. Keep up the amazing work. People love being on your show because you make everyone so comfortable and you’re fun. I laughed the whole time so keep it up. I hope you get to 2,000 episodes if that’s what you want or 200,000 episodes. Keep it up. I don’t think that there will ever be a lack of information to share. Anyway, it’s great talking to you guys.

—

Joining us is Laurie Besden. Laurie, how is it going?

It is going well. How are you guys doing?

We are good.

To catch people up in case you don’t remember, you were on an episode where you talked about your battles with addiction, what you had gone through and where you’re at. There have been some updates in your world.

Do you have the episode she was on?

It was 106.

Look at you, Laurie. She’s like, “I know. I got that.”

You guys have been on all the episodes. I’ve only been on one.

Now, you could say two.

I love you guys.

You are always so sweet and supportive, and we appreciate you and everything that you do for the community. You’re an awesome person, Laurie. I know that addiction has been a thing for you. You’ve dealt with that but I love seeing how you have turned that into serving others and what you can do for other people. You take that energy and put it into something good. I am impressed by that. That’s wonderful.

Thank you. I know I said this on the last show so I’m only going to say briefly. The service you two provide to the Peloton community is incredible. You provide messages to people that otherwise wouldn’t get them. You provide platforms. I was able to reach and assist people only because of your show. While I’m in recovery, I’m willing to help the next person because somebody helped me. It wouldn’t be possible to pay that forward without people on platforms like yours. It’s not just for people in recovery but for all of the information. You should be on Peloton’s payroll.

Why don’t you just reach out to John Foley?

That’s my personal opinion, not my legal opinion but it may be both.

Catch us up on what’s been going on. Many episodes later, you’ve been a busy lady.

If I’m not wrong, I was around ride 800 in May of 2019. I completed ride milestone 2,050. The disease of more. It can be the bike, drugs, food or whatever it is. I also purchased a tread and one of my hashtags is #IDoNotRun. I never run. In the pandemic, I started walking outside and then it got cold in Pennsylvania and I thought, “I don’t know what am I going to do. Peloton must have a solution.” Yet, tread. I bought a tread and a tread tray and I turned my tread into a walking treadmill desk. That’s what’s new as far as Peloton products. As far as my recovery and I don’t know if I mentioned this on the prior show, in January 2021, God willing, I will celebrate seventeen years sober, only because of the people and consequences that helped save my life. This was not me saying one day, “I’m doing too many drugs. Let me go to a meeting.” That was definitely not my story.

You’ve done a lot of hard work too.

It’s because other people showed me the way. In August of 2017, I filed for a governor’s pardon in Pennsylvania. It’s a lengthy process. You do interviews and you go through all of these character letters. In December of 2019, I had the pardon hearing. I’m going to share this because it’s funny. Ironically, not only did the judge that sentenced me to jail for a year who saved my life and one of my close friends drove to Harrisburg two hours away and stood by my side at the podium in front of the pardon board. As did the president judge in that county who is a Peloton rider. He got his bike and even used my referral code. He’s a good friend of mine and he’s like, “Let’s ride together.”

I knew he was a spinner. I was like, “I do not care what I have to do but I will beat him.” I almost went into cardiac arrest three times and then I decided, “I’m not going to test this Russian roulette. I’m bound to not be able to do it again.” That was it. I ride with him and he’s gone on his journey. I will not ride with him now. It took me a 190-average output. I’m like, “I can’t.” I almost died in my basement by myself trying to prove a point to someone who probably wasn’t even watching my number. Also, at the hearing was another judge, Judge Risa Ferman, who is also a Peloton rider. They both all stood there by my side at this hearing. In August of 2020, I received in a pandemic a full governor’s pardon from the governor of Pennsylvania.

Congratulations.

Don’t struggle with recovery by yourself. Peloton Sober Riders can help you with its incredible community, fellowship and support. Click To Tweet

I don’t share that. This pardon is about recovery, our system, paying it forward and remaining teachable. This pardon is about the whole community of recovery. It has my name on it but I share that because people are like, “Convicted felon, what can you do with your life?” The truth is, get sober, stay sober and you can do anything. In support of the pardon, the chief justice on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania wrote a letter, the only letter he has ever written in his 23 years on the Supreme Court, saying he can’t think of another person more deserving. That’s not me per se. That’s just we get sober, Dave Farrell helps me and now I help other people. I pass on what was given to me. I even have the pardon here. I should have it framed.

You do need to have that framed.

How is that not framed?

She’s been busy, Tom.

I’m lazy. I’ve been on my bike and tread as much as possible, and I couldn’t take the time.

I have wallet-size versions.

That’s a great idea. I should get one shalach and send it to them and make them carry it. That’s exciting. It’s not an easy thing to achieve. I’m not unique. I share that because if it happened for me, it can happen for anybody.

I have to say that it is a little bit unique. I’ve known a lot of people who have been addicts in my lifetime and I know it’s not an easy thing to overcome, but you did take the steps to do it. I feel like you need to pat yourself on the back a tiny bit. There are a lot of people who don’t take any steps.

 

I know that you downplay it because you’re like, “I didn’t arrive at that epiphany on my own. The legal system had to kick me in the butt.” Crystal and I watched a lot of datelines, true crime, documentaries and all sorts of stuff like that. We’ll see these things where they sit in somebody to a recovery program like that. We look at each other and go, “If somebody wants to do it, is it going to have an effect or an impact or change their lives or is this just something we do to make ourselves feel better?” It’s nice to hear that even though you look at it and say, “I didn’t start with the purest of motivations.” It’s also nice to know that when people do step in and say, “This needs to be a thing and you need to go there and take it seriously,” it can kickstart a journey that ends where you’re at now.

I do appreciate you saying that. Every day I wake up, I have a choice but I also had a year’s jumpstart. By that time, I had the legal profession watching. I was on probation there. I had family and everyone is saying, “This is the last time we’re going to help you.” Also, when I was incarcerated, people brought meetings into the prison and I used to think, “They have nothing better to do than bring a meeting into the prison.” I’m doing the same thing now. I’m like, “Yes, I have nothing else to do.”

The truth is every meeting I bring in, I say, “What are the recovery rates? They are 100% for those of us that are willing to do anything to stay sober.” In the rooms of recovery, you have to be able to be honest. If you’re not and you’re deceptive, you’re not going to stay sober. People think of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Insanity. That is like substance use disorders in one sentence. I did it until there were no more options and every possible freedom and privilege was taken from me.

I also feel like people need to know who is reading this and maybe didn’t get a chance to read your last episode that I personally am also so impressed with you. I cannot tell this audience how many times I’ve talked to you that you’re like, “On my way to take somebody to help them get set up,” or “I just got a call from so and so and I’m going to take them to this.” You are constantly working on this in addition to your regular life so I am impressed by that. It’s cool. I want to make sure that people out there know that you are willing to help anybody who’s willing to help themselves.

I’m easily accessible by name on Facebook. When I say sincerely, I realized the Peloton community is huge. I realized the reach of this show is huge. Somebody reading it may share it with somebody else. I don’t care who it is, I will help them. The organization I work for, which I’m not trying to give it any plugs, every state has a similar organization for the legal profession. With the last show, I heard from people over the United States.

I was able to connect them in their respective states, full scholarships to treatment. I still stay in touch with people but only because you provided this platform. When people read this and they think, “I should reach out to her. It’s not as bad.” They may be the only person with the courage to reach out for help for somebody else and you never know the value. What’s the value of saving a life? It’s priceless. It’s not just substance use, it’s mental health. You can’t see them in blood work but they’re there.

People need to understand, just like cancer and diabetes, there are medical diagnoses that with treatment, have a great prognosis for recovery. You have to get to treatment and get help. The fellowships are helpful but sometimes, people need inpatient treatment and there’s nothing wrong with that. People go to an oncologist for cancer chemo and they get better. They get a treatment plan and regime. Substance use and mental health are no different. The stigma needs to go away. That’s why these conversations are important.

When you get on the other side of it, people aren’t going to be like, “How dare you?” They’re going to say, “Good job.” That’s what the end of that process looks like but I know that when you’re in the middle of it or if you’re just starting on that journey, it’s hard to see that.

When I was on my journey in the darkest of my addiction, I truly thought no one in the world is using as many drugs as I am. Nobody understands. I could never embarrass myself and tell anyone the volume of drugs I was doing on a daily basis just to not get sick. Nobody would understand I would have to die to get out of this. In my heart of hearts, I share that because anyone that is struggling will read this and will relate to that. There is a way out. Trust me. There are people that were shooting bundles of heroin in our community that are now clean and sober riding the bikes and on the treads. Recovery knows no bounds. These things do not discriminate but neither does recovery.

With the way the opioid crisis worked, have you read the book Dreamland?

No, I did not.

It is an amazing book. It delineates how the opioid crisis got to where it was and it follows three individual people in three different levels. It follows the pharmaceutical industry, people that end up with addictions and then the drug cartels and how they all converge. A lot of times, it’s on sale on Kindle for $2. It is an amazing story. It will completely change people’s opinion of people who got sucked into this world of opioids and then later, heroin, which I know is just the flip side of the same coin. After having read that book, I know that.

I cannot recommend it highly enough. Many people get put on this journey because they get a legitimate injury at work. One of the things that the book talks about is the quickest way to heroin was high school football for many people. They’d get an injury, the coaches would start handing them the stuff and then the high school is over. Now, what do they do? It gives you a different perspective on the people that struggle with addiction. Even if we know intellectually it’s a disease but at some point, you made that choice. You’ll read in this and you’ll realize a lot of people don’t realize they were making that choice. There was an entire multibillion-dollar industry that was telling them, “It’s going to be okay. Take as many of these as you want.”

I heard a speaker who maybe wrote the book. Possibly, I heard this speaker in Pittsburgh when I was presenting and they presented before me. Eighty percent of heroin users started on prescription drugs that were legitimately prescribed. I went through surgery and I told the docs all about my opioid history addiction. It was an outpatient surgery. Nothing was serious and I was not hospitalized overnight. They were telling me, “No, you should go on a three-day morphine regime. When there are other medications, even narcotics and opioids, that would help and be as impactful.”

Sometimes, in recovery, we need to understand our recovery is our responsibility. With Dreamland, sometimes doctors were pushing this and they didn’t know the whole oxycodone and everything that’s gone on with that. My doctors are telling me, “You’re so successful. You’ll be fine.” In my heart of hearts, I know that I don’t get a 24-hour notice saying, “If you take one pill more than you’re on, you’re going to flip the switch that you will either, if you’re lucky, end up in jail or possibly in a coffin.” Those of us in recovery, it’s scary but we are responsible for our own recovery. When I walked into this surgery and I was going through it, many people in the legal profession are saying, “You’re strong. We know how many years you have sober.”

It’s important to point out because although relapse is not part of my story, it’s part of many people’s stories. Every time I speak, it doesn’t matter at sixteen years of recovery. I say in a room of recovery, “Do you know who has the longest sobriety?” Whoever woke up earliest that day because all of us in recovery are this far away from a relapse. It doesn’t matter if you’re 1 day, 30 days or 16 years. It’s only one day at a time. I say that people relapse and they think, “There’s no point. I can’t get back.” That is nonsense. You can. You also have the information and you know where the safe environment, platforms and community support groups are that will welcome you back with open arms. Relapse is a reason to stay out is not legit.

You brought up platforms and that reminds me there are several groups within the Peloton community that people can join and be part of. Do you happen to know the names of any of those off the top of your head?

Peloton Sober Riders is one of my favorites because Amy started a Zoom recovery meeting for the Peloton community. Within that group, the Zoom coordinates. To join a recovery meeting, the only requirement is a desire to stay sober. That does not mean you are sober. That means you have a desire to get or to stay sober. People think, “I can’t go. I’m still drinking.” I keep seeing a lot of dry January 2021 and I am not knocking that. It’s a great idea to try to give up something. We’re not doing dry January for apples. We never try to control things that we don’t have a problem with.

I put that out there. If people are trying to control something, it may just be something they want to look at. In the Peloton Sober Riders group, people are joining the group and saying, “I’m doing dry January.” We’re like, “We’re trying to do a dry lifetime in recovery.” People are welcome to join, Peloton Sober Riders is amazing. The community, fellowship and support are incredible. Anyone who would like to be in the group or has a desire, please join us or reach out to me and we’ll get you involved. Please do not sit behind a screen or in your homes and struggle. There are many of us in this community that has walked through darkness and understand. Let us help you. That’s why this group exists.

Thank you for checking in with us for our 200th. We appreciate it. Before we let you go, remind people where they can find you. If this message has resonated with them and they feel like they need assistance, what’s the best way for them to look for stuff in their local community?

Your leaderboard name too.

On Facebook, just my name, Laurie Besden. My leaderboard name is AmazingGraceK9 because of my two amazing dogs, Amazing and Grace, that I am in love with and out of control with. As far as local resources, there are alcohol and narcotics support groups in every single community. Anybody can google the fellowship names and your zip code, and you will come up with meetings on the hour. The best thing about the pandemic, although it’s hard to get sober behind a screen, is that now you can join Zoom meetings anywhere in the country on the hour or on the half-hour. The point is you can get to a meeting at any time. Even in the middle of the night, you can get to a meeting. Anyone that is having difficulty finding a meeting, please reach out to me. I will get you a list of meetings in your community. You can join a meeting online and I can introduce you to people. Don’t struggle in silence. There’s no need to do that.

Thank you for all you do, Laurie.

Thank you. You guys are amazing.

You’re sweet. Please heal quickly and safely.

Thank you.

Let us know if we can do anything for you.

You already have by getting the message out there.

Our pleasure.

You take care, Laurie.

Thank you.

Thank you.

—

I guess that brings this episode to a close. Two hundred is in the books and we march on to 200 more. Things can happen so fast and furious around here. We have an update to one of our updates. Susie Beris had a little update with herself. Good news.

She’s still cancer-free, let me just say that. She announced that she has pledged a major donation from her estate, when someday, hopefully far in the future, she passes away. She will be donating to Yale University and that is special in a couple of levels. She graduated from Yale. She also taught there and received treatment at Yale University, and I believe she said she graduated from Yale. I’m second-guessing that, but this goes to a couple of different funds and they are for research and for doctors that are up and coming through Yale University. Another way that Susie Beris is incredible besides being, as she calls it, your twin separated at birth.

Another thing that’s very similar, the two of us. She went to Yale. When I went to school, the combination lock I had in my locker was made by Yale. We’re pretty much practically in the same sorority. 

Susie, on behalf of everyone in the world who will benefit from your donation, thank you for doing that. Thank you to our entire community for making 200 episodes possible. Thank you for all the love, videos, and messages. You guys are amazing.

It was very nice of everyone involved. We greatly appreciate it. Until next episode, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/CrystalDOKeefe. They can find me on Instagram, Twitter, the Bike, and of course, the Tread, @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter, @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/TomOKeefe. You can find the show online, Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Check out our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/TheClipOut. You’re going to want to watch this one, I would think. While you’re there, be sure to subscribe. Sign up for our newsletter at theclipout.com. That’s it for this one, thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running.

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•  https://www.Bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-22/peloton-buys-wearables-ai-hardware-companies-in-deal-flurry
• https://www.Pymnts.com/news/partnerships-acquisitions/2021/peloton-artificial-intelligence-hardware-acquisitions/?fbclid=IwAR0jGdEd7Zlt7Hi2bN669UZri-dfjoN3UEqJ1Ouq_BkYLh6JGVQl-qMORcQ
•  https://www.Facebook.com/millslife/videos/10223425442091814
• https://www.Facebook.com/photo?fbid=10223439175595143&set=gm.3617212958402073
• https://Popculture.com/trending/news/peloton-issues-safety-warning-after-child-killed-equipment/
• https://Blog.onepeloton.com/ridetogreatness/
• https://www.GlobeNewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/22/2197169/0/en/Earth-Hour-2021-WWF-Hosts-a-Nationwide-Meditation-for-the-Planet.html
• https://www.GoodMorningAmerica.com/style/story/cycling-instructor-tunde-oyeneyin-opens-pushing-past-fear-76564593
• https://www.CityAM.com/exclusive-hows-that-for-a-perk-jefferies-buys-staff-peloton-bikes-as-lockdown-bonus/
• https://Parade.com/1182672/kimberlyzapata/best-30-minute-peloton-rides/
• https://www.Forbes.com/sites/amyschoenberger/2021/03/23/from-kindergarten-teacher-to-top-peloton-instructor-jess-sims-is-the-hype-woman-the-world-needs-right-now/?sh=7c27239a55ca
• https://SpectrumLocalNews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2021/03/22/peloton-instructor-jenn-sherman-has-su-ties
• https://www.Shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/peloton-instructor-kendall-toole-vision-board?fbclid=IwAR2DtznePL4IV80g7BSDf-SqklGU8rihr4YfFFuQcPuEjy-4OwGSl48Y8_A
• https://www.Instagram.com/p/CMhW_KPDOMy/
• https://AdAge.com/article/cmo-strategy/how-gyms-are-luring-back-members-following-covid-closures-and-pelotons-rise/2323081
• https://Gizmodo.com/nordictracks-peloton-rival-has-a-unique-spin-on-indoor-1846495098
• https://www.Bustle.com/rule-breakers/sportscaster-erin-andrews-podcast-clothing-line
• https://Blog.onepeloton.com/making-of-peloton-outdoor-classes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&sf140454450=1&fbclid=IwAR01dffQ-ZNFloIAK6VPMUH0hwvRoN-6c1NSzvF6sK8fWnaP5a72chmObNc

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