TCO 230 | Peloton

230: Beyonce’ Is Back plus our interview with Katie Johnson

Last Updated: May 2, 2023By Tags: , , , , ,

TCO 230 | Peloton

 

John Mills is back to discuss Cody Rigsby and Dancing With The Stars.
NASDAQ.com asks when will Peloton breakeven?

  • Peloton says one of the plaintiffs in the “purge” lawsuit lied about being an attorney.
  • Dr. Jenn – What do when you can’t exercise for months.
  • Bustle talks to Hannah Frankson.
  • Boston NBC affiliate NECN sits down with Emma Lovewell.
  • Alex Toussaint was on the Scott Van Pelt Podcast.
  • Matty Maggiacomo is getting ready for Halloween.
  • Olivia Amato spoke at the HLTH conference in Boston.
  • Tunde wants people to watch the ABC show Queens.
  • Emily Abbate interviewed Adrian Williams on IG.
  • Angelo has tips for balancing long runs with weight loss.
  • Peloton apologizes for not offering a “doctors discount” to a veterinarian.
  • PR Week writes about Peloton’s stand against racism.
  • The Real Deal thinks landlords should think more like Peloton.
  • NPR interviewed Dara Treseder.
  • Motley Fool talks about Peloton’s upcoming fiscal report.
  • Fortune talks about how brands build purpose.
  • AdAge compares Peloton & iFit.
  • Business Insider has tips on how to get hired at Peloton.
  • Former Peloton marketer lands at Oura.
  • Peloton expands focus to West Australia.
  • Beyonce’ is back!
  • Birthdays – Mat Wilpers (10/24), Emma Lovewell (10/25)

All this plus our interview with Katie Johnson!

—

Watch the episode here:

Listen to the podcast here

Beyonce’ Is Back plus our interview with Katie Johnson

People might remember a few weeks ago, I put out an offer for my nerd shirts because I showed the pictures of all the shirts that I was getting rid of. I was like, “If there are any nerds out there who went from 2X to XL, if you want some shirts, let me know.” We had somebody reach out, only one person and they might be regretting their decision to do that. That were a lot of boxes. For the people watching on our YouTube channel, there’s how many boxes it was. There are five moving boxes worth of shirts and a few hoodies that we boxed up and sent to them. I don’t know if they were regretting it or not, but it was Jacqueline Ash. She was like, “If nobody else has asked for them,” and I thought I would even divvy them up but I guess there aren’t that many nerds that fit that hyper-specific category of going from 2X to XL.

Also, that wants somebody else’s clothes.

They were laundered. It’s a smoke-free home. Out of all my vices, smoking isn’t one of them. It’s pretty much black tar heroin. She didn’t tell her husband. He came home to five boxes unannounced on their front porch. He was like, “What the holy hell is happening?” She was like, “I’ve given you a new nerd wardrobe.”

It sounded like he was very happy about it.

Hopefully, his friends are going to be like, “How come you like The Monkees so much, all of a sudden? I don’t understand what’s going on there.” We hope you enjoy them. If there are certain nerd things that don’t scratch your nerd itch, then I can take them to the Goodwill or something and they will repurpose them accordingly. Just paying it forward.

That’s what it’s all about.

What pray tell do you have in store for people?

John Mills is back and we’re going to talk to him about Dancing With The Stars. We’re going to talk to him about a fascinating article that is all about Peloton and lawsuits. We’ll get into it but it is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. Somehow a soap opera has got thrown into this thing. Dr. Jenn stops by and she gives some advice about what to do when you can’t exercise at all for months on end. We have so much news for the instructors. They are back to being everywhere again. We will have all of the places that they are. Angelo from MetPro dropped by. He has tips for how to balance long runs with weight loss from a nutrition standpoint. Peloton is in the news is all over the place. We’re going to talk about artists collaborations.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart, TuneIn, Stitcher. If you can find podcasts there, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode, and maybe leave us a review. We have a new review. It says, “The Clip Out is by far my most listened-to podcast. I started listening to it in October of 2020 while impatiently waiting for my Bike+ to arrive to learn everything there is to know about Peloton. One week after discovering The Clip Out, I had to buy a Tonal as well. Listening to this podcast helps me stay motivated to use both Peloton and Tonal consistently. I’m now going back and listen to all of The Clip Out episodes from the beginning. It’s fun to learn more about Peloton before they went public. Thank you, Tom and Crystal, for this wonderful podcast.” It says @AnnaHock.

Thank you, Anna. That was a sweet review.

Not to get all inception on you, I’m going to do a shameless plug inside of a shameless plug. If you can’t get enough of us and you love your Tonal, The Superset is like this but all about Tonal. Check that out.

They got their first live workouts.

Crystal is very excited. Don’t forget, we also have a Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Sign up for our newsletter so you can get all the links and whatnot sent directly to your inbox every week. You don’t have to go hunting through the Facebook group to find it. You can do that at theclipout.com. Don’t forget our YouTube channel at YouTube.com/TheClipOut where you can watch all of these shows. If you’re at work and you want to listen but you can’t download it to your phone to listen to, you can go watch it on YouTube. There’s all that. Let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

—

We told you he would only be gone for a week.

He’s back

I guess since you were out in our previous episode, that means that you didn’t have to sit through Dancing With The Stars. You did now and it was a greasy week with Dancing With The Stars.

It was good stuff. Generally, I’ll watch some of them and I’ll make sure I catch Cody. This time, I watched the whole thing, me and Erika.

I only did that when Tom was out of town.

I don’t tell anybody else that.

You know you’re telling everybody that right now.

I don’t know if you know this but because of this, Echelon is doing the Grease 2 week. Would you like a weird piece of Grease trivia? When they made Grease 2, the plan was that they were going to make more of them. They saw it as a franchise until they saw the finished product and America said, “No, thank you.” They had already written two more scripts. The script for Grease 3 sat in a desk drawer for years. This is a true story. They finally pull it out and retooled it. That script became the High School Musical.

Are you serious?

As a heart attack, yes.

I forgot about that but you have told me that Grease trivia before.

There’s some Grease trivia for everybody. Back to Cody and Dancing With The Stars.

It was a big week on Dancing With The Stars. For those of you who only care about Cody, I won’t go into detail. Points were being handed out like candy bars up there. It was like Halloween and they were throwing the candies.

It was like Brazilian currency.

It was crazy. Cody went last and the points weren’t as free anymore.

They’ve ran out of points. Every week I go, “Cody killed that. How come he didn’t get the same number of points?” Everybody will tell me, “He was good but it wasn’t like that, John.” I’m like, “What?” I just don’t judge well. This is the first week where I was like, “Okay.” I guess I hear what the judges are saying.

I see it too. He seemed a little stiff.

Not only is he a little bit stiff but they also seemed a little far apart. That was what Len was talking about with the frame.

This is the first time I can go, “I guess you’re right.” I saw it.

You’ll know whenever people dance well when it looks effortless. This one did not look quite effortless.

It also got me thinking. I think they do the calculation based on the percentage of viewer votes, then they take the percentage of the points you got from the overall points of the judges. They put those together, I think.

That is exactly right.

Cody might not ever go home. He’s probably getting 30%-plus of the vote.

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They know that. That’s why they keep putting him at the end of the show. That is not an accident. He has been at the end of the show every single week.

Him and Jojo Siwa almost. I think one week, she let off.

This time she was way early on too but still, it would make sense that you put your strongest. I think she’s a strong dancer. I don’t know that she’s getting the same numbers that Cody’s putting up, honestly. When they start talking at the end about who’s going home, it was a legit shocker because it was Mel C and Olivia Jade. They were like, “Neither of you should be going home.” From a dancing standpoint, if you were going just by judges scores, the bottom two would have been Iman and Cody. That’s who would have been over there, but he wasn’t.

Did you see Mel C’s face? This is like a whole soap opera. I was feeling all bath for Mel C. I was like, “She is hurt up there.” I’m too invested in this show.

I know. It’s a little heartbreaking. Cody’s like, “I made it until next week. Get out of my way,” which is good for him. He’s not doing anything wrong.

It also got me wondering, is this the standard? I guess it is because the show has been forever. Does this happen in other years where there’s some person that has a lot of votes, and then they keep going through?

That’s a common occurrence in reality television shows like this. I know American Idol would run into that. There was a guy named John Stevens who sounded like Michael Buble. He was this nerdy, lanky kid with bright red hair. He was the only person who was doing that kind of music and he was scooping up all of those votes. Even though he wasn’t maybe as good or as sellable as some of the other people, he kept getting pushed forward week to week. People were getting mad about it. The madder people got about it, the more his people rallied. There have been things like that before.

You know that’s what the Peloton community is going to do because we don’t stop voting. It doesn’t matter. We have loyalty to the core. We love our people.

A lot of type A’s are out there in the world of Peloton.

“You don’t like our votes? I was only voting on my phone. Now let me go get every phone in the house and vote for them. I will go online. I will do those votes too.” That’s all they’ve done.

I like the whole drama of it. Just seeing the judges go, “You guys shouldn’t be in the bottom,” and then seeing the comments afterwards of the people that are Mel C fans. I just want to get other people to vote so we can keep this drama going.

That’s where we are because there were some comments that it should have been Cody that went home. It wasn’t anybody else. It was not Iman. It was Cody. Cody should have been the one to go. He’s out there making some people mad.

This is good stuff.

All the Mel C fans are out buying Echelons. They’re like, “We’ll show you.”

Do you know what I also noticed? I feel like Cody has the same impression as I have been having every week. I see his performances and he did well. Before he’s getting judged, it feels like he feels that he just killed that. When the judges started talking, it feels like it’s hitting him a little bit by surprise, which is how it’s been hitting me.

I will say that regardless of technique, he gives it his all from an energy standpoint. They are at a disadvantage because they have been apart for more weeks than anybody else. Everybody else has had so much more time to rehearse together and that makes a huge difference. That’s not the judge’s problem but it is a thing. Cody is absolutely giving it his all. He’s killing it. When I say, “He’s a little stiff. He’s a little this, a little that,” let me be clear that he’s doing a billion times better than I could ever do.

He’s learning those dances so quickly. That’s the most impressive thing to me. I don’t know how in the world they learn these things as fast, and then perform them so well. My eye doesn’t pick up on some footwork problem. To me, it looks like they killed it.

That’s why we’re not judges.

That’s why I’m not a dancer.

Nasdaq.com, the website, not the actual trading board, had an interesting article about when will Peloton break even.

I believe the original statement from Peloton a couple of years ago was it was 2023. This is suggesting that it’s 2024.

Not only are they saying it’s 2024 but if I interpret it correctly, didn’t they also say that that’s only if they grow 49%. If they don’t hit 49% growth then it’s going to be significantly longer. I disagree. Peloton knows what they’re doing here. I feel like they were dead on. They always said 2023. We know 2021 was a weird occurrence. Nobody expected that to happen. Once it did, they were like, “Nope, we’re right back to 2023.” They didn’t skip a beat. Until I hear otherwise at the earnings call, I’m going to go with Peloton.

That’s the piece that was new to me as well. I guess I said it wrong that they will not be going to be profitable until 2024. I guess this is aligning with that. The fact that they would have to grow 49% year over year in order to hit this longstanding intent, that was unusual to me. That’s not what I would have expected but I agree. I’m with what Peloton said. If they say that’s where they are going to go, I believe it. We’ll keep watching.

When you say 49% year over year, are you saying that they have to grow 49% over and above the pandemic year?

Each year, they would have to grow.

That was so unexpected. How could you replicate that?

I don’t know. They’re still managing to do that. The growth has not slowed down. The profit slowed down but that’s because of the treadmill stuff, and because of all the money they spent on R and D, and all the money that they spent on helping people get their treadmills and bikes faster. When you take all that out of the equation, they would’ve still been profitable. The growth itself is still crazy good. With the treadmill that they have sold, the smaller treadmill that is still out there is going to be just fine. We know there are new products coming. These people are also not taking that into consideration. I think 49% is completely doable for Peloton.

I guess the question you were asking, Tom, if you look at their growth from previous years, they were well exceeding. That would be coming down if it was only 49%. From that perspective, you think that it’s probably logical. We know also that there are more competitors now. There are more people in this space now. People are out and about a little more now. We don’t have that pandemic push. They’re probably taking that into consideration. That’s where the question is with regards to whether or not they can persist that. As you said, Crystal, they’ve got new products coming. They’re much more global now. They’re changing how they’re doing manufacturing. I’m still siding with what Peloton has planned.

So far they’ve been pretty right.

—

There’s an update to one of the Peloton lawsuits that’s different.

I know this is behind the paywall. Everybody is going to have to let me do the recap here. This is craziness. Just to give a little bit of background, this particular lawsuit that we were talking about is going way back to Peloton the great purge, when they had all the problems with the lawsuits with the music industry, and they got rid of a ton of classes. Ever since then, there has been a class action lawsuit that has been building. It has been because they use the term “ever growing” in their marketing back then. They didn’t ever grow. They got a little smaller and it was ruled not just puffery. It’s a legal term. I didn’t make that up.

Now we’re going through the process of this class action lawsuit. It got to the point where in September, it was time for the courts to certify the class. That’s what happens in these class action lawsuits and Peloton came back and said, “You should not do that. You should not certify this class because the guy who’s the lead plaintiff has made misleading statements.” He has lied. He said that he was only a plaintiff in one other lawsuit. He claimed that he was an attorney when he reached out to Peloton. He lied about that.

When he was asked about those emails in the deposition, he lied and said that he didn’t say that. None of the things he’s saying about Peloton is true. There’s another plaintiff that is a woman. She knows nothing about any of this. She’s a plaintiff and she doesn’t understand Peloton. She doesn’t have the classes and get this, she applied for a job at Peloton and was denied that job. She’s still trying to be a plaintiff. Peloton was like, “The plaintiffs you have in place are not adequate. They should not be certified.”

It’s like a whole soap opera. I got questions. When they say that he’s the lead plaintiff and that he said that he wasn’t a plaintiff on any other cases, but then they found that he was, are they talking about other cases that are related to the same deal against Peloton?

They did not say that.

No. He is apparently going around and participating in multiple class action lawsuits. It seems to me that that’s his jam. He’s involved or at least someone with his same name was involved with the lawsuit for Kellogg’s for saying that some of their cereals were healthy when they had some sugar in them. He sued Colgate Palmolive over the claims of the charcoal toothpaste. I also found something where he sued Marriott over a data breach.

He tried to lie about it on the stand. How are you the plaintiff and this is your gig, and then you also try to lie about it? You perjure yourself. How is that okay? Peloton said that the plaintiff’s counsel is also inadequate and they’re not keeping their clients informed that this is attorney-driven litigation. The plaintiffs are un-involved, inadequate, have atypical claims and where individual issues predominate.

My second question is it seemed as though that Peloton was very clear about what that secondary plaintiff knew and was informed of because they talk in there. She doesn’t know anything. She’s not being informed. She doesn’t even know how this is working as if they’ve talked to these people.

Maybe they did during her job interview.

My guess is that within their deposition, they probably threw some Peloton trivia at them. They’re probably like, “When you were logging in, did this happen?” She’s like, ”I don’t even know what that means.” She stumped about basic things like that.

It’s something like that but it was clear that they had some communication. I was like, “This is wild.” The fact that he was sending letters to Peloton as if he was an attorney and he isn’t is hilarious. This whole thing is hilarious.

I would be very amused if the whole thing got thrown out because of this.

I can see that happening because all of this is crazy.

TCO 230 | Peloton

 

You’ve got to figure, at the end of the day, the person that makes the decision about throwing this case out, the judge, is still an attorney. If there’s one thing that attorneys all agree on is you don’t get to pretend to be an attorney. That is frowned upon. They’re not going to like that.

Because the drama never dies, the end quote comes from the counsel for the plaintiffs. They say, “We’re putting our remarks together to answer this. It’s due shortly.” To be continued. There is more to this drama.

I’m going to translate that, “Oh, shit.” That’s how I read that.

How do you in legalese recreate the GIF of Homer Simpson slinking back into the bushes?

That’s what it was. That is hilarious. I’m expecting this to go away. I may be wrong.

I would like it to go away. It’s always been ridiculous. That would be pretty poetic justice in my opinion.

The Kellogg’s lawsuit ended with if you went to the website and gave them your name and swore that you had bought some recent brand or something, you got $16.

The lawyer is always winning on these things, not the plaintiffs.

Thank you, John. Welcome back. It’s great to have you again. Until next time, where can people find you?

They can find me on my Facebook group or page, Run, Lift And Live. They can find me on Instagram @RunLiftAndLive. They can find me on TikTok, @RunLiftAndLive or they can find me at RunLiftAndLive.com.

—

Joining us once again is Dr. Jenn Mann, licensed marriage, family and child therapist, and sports psychology consultant. You may know her from her app called No More Diets. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Dr. Jenn.

Hello there.

We’re glad to have you back. One of our Clip Out followers needs some help. This one comes from Pat. She would like to know how to cope when you cannot workout at all for 4 to 6 months. She is recovering from cervical spine surgery. She’s always worked out in some capacity 5 to 7 days a week. Right now she can only walk on flat surfaces, but now the walking hurts her knee. It’s going to be a very long recovery.

Pat, I feel for you. I really do. First of all, I think that you want to check with your doctor to see, can you do a very light stretch class, a five-minute stretch class? Can you do a five-minute yoga class? I think a few of the other instructors but I know Kristin McGee does a chair yoga class. You don’t have to even be able to stand to do it. That could be a good option for you. There are a few issues. One is the issue of if you’re someone who counts on your workout to handle your anxiety, stress, depression or any of that stuff, then that’s a bigger issue.

If you are looking to get your checkmark, that’s a different issue and that can easily be done with meditation in order to stay connected. I also think that we become part of this community. It would feel very strange to not be connected in any way whatsoever. I know there are times where before I go to bed, I’ll do meditation. I’ll look and I’ll be like, “There’s Susan in Iowa. There’s Jane in Germany. I’m not alone. We’re all meditating together.” There’s a sense of community.

I want to encourage Pat to stay connected with the community, whether it’s on Facebook, The Clip Out, Instagram or anywhere like that, to also try to look into the chair yoga, any stretching classes when your pain dissipates. You can do a light walking class outdoors or on the tread and try to stay connected and do things that are light and easy. If you can’t, do a meditation so that you can stay connected.

We were talking to one of the Tonal coaches the other day, Nicolette. She suggested something not about this but might be applicable here. She was talking about how she doesn’t like to do yoga, but she feels like she should. She looks for yoga that’s a little easier. If the suggestion I’m making does not work, please tell me so we’re not giving her bad advice. She says she’ll do the pre and postnatal stuff because it’s a little bit easier.

In this case, I think it still might be too intense because they’re telling her not to work out at all. The most she’s going to be able to do is what Dr. Jenn is suggesting, which is minimal stretching, minimal movement.

As usual, ignore me, but that might be good advice for somebody that’s in a similar but not identical situation, looking for something a little lesser.

Someone who’s pulled a muscle or their arm and can still do some yoga, but they may not be able to lift heavy or do the cardio that they’re used to.

Good advice as always.

Thank you so much for tackling that question for us. Until next time, where can people find you?

They can find me on all social media @DrJennMann, two ends on gen two ends on man. I post all my Instastories, all of my workouts on my Peloton. You can find me there if you want to know what I’m doing, which classes I’m taking. Also, InStyle Magazine, I have a column that comes out every Wednesday called Hump Day by Dr. Jenn.

—

Bustle.com has a nice article about Hannah Frankson. She wants fitness to feel less serious.

Bustle do these little profiles. Hannah Frankson has this way on the bike where she’s playful and fun. She wants to be taken not seriously. She loves to dress up for the classes. There was one for Carnival. She likes to have fun and she’s always posting fun content. She’s close to her mom and she posts things about that. She’s not like your typical fitness influencer where everything is like, “Let me show you how to put on my makeup. Here’s what I’m peddling this week.” I’m not bagging on those people either. I’m saying she doesn’t do that. She operates a little bit differently. This article is summing that up.

The Boston NBC affiliate had a nice piece on Emma Lovewell.

This was talking about how she went from Boston to find success at Peloton. The title is From a Small Island to the Big Apple, and how she became successful at Peloton. She’s always had a bright light so it’s not shocking at all that she’s doing so well.

I’m bad at geography but, is Boston an island? Maybe there’s an island next to it. I’m trying to figure out where the small island comes in.

This was in a Boston news outlet but I believe she’s from Martha’s Vineyard.

That’s an island. Got it.

I’m glad you clarified that because I’m sure somebody would have added me about it.

That’s what people do.

When you live in the Midwest, it’s all up there in the Northeast. We don’t even know.

We’re from St. Louis. We’re too busy worrying about getting mugged every day.

Not true but that is what we make all the lists for.

That is true and we have a free zoo. That’s always our response to everything like, “St. Louis is the murder capital of the world but the zoo is free.” It is an awesome zoo. When we said it was free, you would think it’d be like two ducks and a Chihuahua. It’s an amazing zoo. The only one that’s considered better is San Diego’s and that’s $100. Moving right along, Alex Toussaint was on the Scott Van Pelt. He’s a sports guy and it’s an ESPN podcast and he was on it.

The name of the podcast is SVPod if you’re looking for it.

I think it’s a play because his name is Scott Van Pelt. It’s an oddly named podcast. Is it SV Pod? Is it SVP Pod because that’s his initials? I cannot figure out what they actually call the stupid show.

Maybe we should listen.

It’s on Spotify and I was listening to a playlist. I didn’t want to stop my music to listen to the first ten seconds of the podcast. I would rather complain about it.

When we say things about people adding us, you are one of those people.

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I’m not adding them. I’m just saying I don’t understand. I don’t want to understand because it’s sports and I don’t care, but I’m happy for Alex.

It’s an ESPN podcast. We know that much and we’re happy for Alex. He talks about his new partnership with Puma as well. Have you been curious about that and what Alex’s thoughts are, you can definitely check it out on this podcast. We may not know the name of it but the link will be included when the newsletter comes out. To be fair, that podcast dropped so we didn’t even have that much of a chance. I’m just saying.

To also be fair, there’s no amount of time that it would matter that I would be like, “I will now listen to this sports podcasts.” There’s no version of events where I would listen to it. To be fair, that would be fair. Moving right along, Peloton apologizes to veterinarians everywhere.

I’m glad that they apologized. They said they were looking into it. Can we read the apologies?

I don’t know if the apology is actually included, but to back people up in case people aren’t familiar with this story, there was a veterinarian who was, trying to get the medical discount and they were like, “You’re not a real doctor.” She’s like, “I am a doctor.” I mean that stupid doctor in front of their names. They were like, “No, it’s people who take blood or give anesthesia.” She’s like, “I do all those things.” She hit a brick wall and then it was in OPP and it got some traction.

It wasn’t just there. It was tweeted and Instagrammed about. I’m pretty sure it was on TikTok. It was everywhere. I’ve been tagged in this debacle. I can’t even tell you how many times. I haven’t talked about it. I haven’t posted about it because I knew Peloton would figure it out. It’s one of those things that it’s like on the other hand, and I am not saying this is the point that we stop. Just to be clear. I don’t want to piss off any veterinarians. I love veterinarians. They take care of my puppy. At the same time, at some point, everyone’s getting a discount. I don’t know where that line is. I don’t know where it is to be fair but I’m sure it is difficult to be a company that are trying to give out discounts for first responders, for example. They keep adding things.

All of a sudden, grocery store workers were considered front line and they were. We struggle with this where I work. We do a lot of Christian concerts. We never offer group sales on those. About once a week, I get a call from somebody who’s upset. Everybody is a church group. It’s like 80% of our sales are to church groups. We would just be lowering the ticket price. That’s not a discount anymore. Normally when I explained it to them, they were her like, “That makes sense.”

That’s a little bit of a unique situation because 80% of the people are in that situation. I don’t know where the line is.

If you start doing doctors, nurses, teachers, military and first responders, at some point, who isn’t getting one? I get the struggle but I’m glad that it got fixed for her.

Me too.

Matty Maggiacomo is dropping hints about what we can expect for Halloween. This has become something of a tradition.

He said, “I remembered that the spooky season is upon us.” He is sitting on a couch next to the giant skeleton that he scared the bejesus out of Jess Sims with. It was one of my favorite Peloton moments ever. If you missed it, you need to take Matty and Jess Sims classes if nothing else around Halloween because you never know what Matty is going to do. I love it.

If you can’t get enough of Matty in costumes, whether it be Halloween or Christmas or Pride week, he posted some shots on his Instagram. You can see some of his various adventures.

He cracks me up and he posted this specifically. He said, “It’s true. Sometimes I like to dress up and run on the tread,” then the next story image was, “What should I dress up as this year for Halloween?” I can’t even imagine how he is going to top the last two years. It’s going to be insane.

While we’re talking about Matty, we should also say that he posted that apparently, they’re filming Hocus Pocus 2 near his parents’ home.

In fact, it’s at the school he went to. That’s why it’s 10 miles from his house. They built an entire set and he was showing one from his school. It says “Filming Hocus Pocus at my high school alma mater, LaSalle Academy.” The other pictures he posted was like, “Filming today. Quiet on the set.” All this stuff you see in Hollywood. It was very cool. I thought that was appropriate given that it’s the spooky season and it was talking about Matty. That’s neat. That’s in Rhode Island if anybody doesn’t know. It’s another island up there in the Northeast.

Are you sure it’s an island?

That one I’m sure about.

Speaking of islands, Boston, which we’ve established is not an island, is where you could find Olivia Amato speaking to the HLTH conference.

This was interesting because they had a booth for Peloton corporate wellness. I thought that was interesting because they’re ramping up their corporate wellness. Sometimes we don’t realize how much the instructors are doing when they’re not working out. That’s still considered their job. That’s one of the examples.

What a great position Peloton is in when you think about it. They can go do something like this. They are basically staffed by celebrities that they can send like, “This is a big wellness conference that we want to try and get more business for the app with the different HR departments. We can send an instructor that will be a big name. People will want their pictures taken.” It’s a fascinating position in which they find themselves. Tunde posted on her Instagram about her love of the new ABC show, Queens, starring among others, Brandy.

I thought it was interesting because I don’t know if you had a chance to watch the whole thing. I didn’t post the whole thing because it was long. She did an entire story about how much she’s looking forward to the show. To me, it comes across as an ad. I’m like, wait a minute. Is ABC paying her to talk about this show? I think that they are.

I don’t know. That could very well be. I don’t know if it’s the show she’s excited about because it’s about a fictional 90s RNB group.

She said she loved it. She first sat on her couch and talked about it, then she posted next all the different Queens that are going to be performing at this thing. Also, ABC is the same station that Dancing With The Stars is on. I think this is a bigger deal than it sounds like at first blush.

TCO 230 | Peloton

I was having the same thought. If it isn’t an ad, that’s fine. If it is an ad, it is an insight into how much of an impact they think Cody is having on Dancing With The Stars. They’re like, “We need other Peloton people to talk about other shows. It helps.”

Speaking of that, Cody is out there teaching in the temporary studio. They have him at one of the showrooms in California. He’s teaching from an actual showroom a store. I thought that was cool. What a great way to use that space they already have.

Adrian Williams was interviewed by Emily Abbate.

She was going to interview him. She has her own podcast, which I believe is called Emily Abbate. That’s a pretty big deal because that means whenever she gets a chance to post it, we’ll be able to share that Adrian Williams is doing another podcast.

—

Joining us once again is Angelo here to answer all of your nutrition questions.

It’s great to be back.

We are glad to have you. We got another loaded question for you though. This one is from one of our audience, Chris. He would like to know when to lose weight to reach a target, let’s say 2 pounds per week. How do you balance adding calories for long runs and long rides?

There are two components. For the run component, I want to come back to the 2 pounds a week concept. It doesn’t work like that. I’m going to address that. For how do I manipulate for runs and long rides? What you do is you’re going to leverage your base meal plan. At MetPro, we call that their base meal plan. What my endurance athletes, my long-distance runners, cyclists, triathletes have is their base meal plan. They then have their intro training fuel, their intro training supplement routine where they know that they’re getting many grams of carbohydrates per hour per run when they’re doing their long runs. You don’t need to worry about this for short stuff. I’m defining shorter stuff that’s an hour, hour and a half or less.

Those folks that are up in the two and a half, three-hour-plus range. That routine, we don’t mess with. Your body needs that if it’s going to perform at the time you take it. There is a little wiggle room. Are you doing a lot or a little bit, but basically leave that intact and it will be organically adjusting. In other words, you’re always going to get the right amount because you’re having more if you’re training more hours. You’re having less if you’re training less hours. It naturally adjusts to your needs.

You want to use your base meal plan, ideally, your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, as a rough static base. Manipulate that as your lever for weight loss or weight gain. That’s going to be a little more strategic approach. By the way, I have seen it both ways. You can leverage both but this is the way that I have found to produce the most consistent reproducible results with my clients. It’s to use their base static meal plan outside of their recovery routine to trigger weight gain or weight loss.

To answer his question, what you’re saying is to make sure you’re taking the fuel you need for your long runs. Don’t change that. What you want to do is change what you eat on a regular basis. That’s where you want it.

Here’s the other thing. You don’t lose 2 pounds per week. It’s not that that’s too much. It’s not that it’s too little. It’s that the body doesn’t do consistently the way most people think. What happens is when we look at weight loss, we go, “A study group of 1,000 people who lost X amount of pounds over the course of this many months. They averaged this amount of weight loss a week.” That’s blending a bunch of numbers into a median average. It’s a good general start that you can go, “I’m about on the right page,” but I want to give you a snapshot of what real-world weight loss for our clients looks like. I’m going to use an example of somebody who has 50 pounds to lose.

In week one, after we baseline test and figure out their exact threshold, what triggers weight loss for them, it’s very common to lose 3, 4 pounds in the first week. Double that 2-pound mark. Why? Because it’s new. It’s a contrast between what your body is used to and what you have changed it to. The second week, maybe they lose 3 pounds. The third week, they’re down to 2 pounds. The fourth week, maybe another 2 pounds. In the fifth week, they only lose 1 pound. In the sixth week, they lose nothing. Everyone plateaus. That’s the body doing his job and finding a way to keep you alive.

The sixth week, maybe 1 pound. The seventh week, zero pounds. Your body’s acclimated. Now we adjust their diets so there’s a contrast there again. All of a sudden, the next week, seventh week, eighth week, they lose 3 pounds, then they lose 2 pounds, then they lose 1 pound, and then we have to change something again. That’s where a little bit of the sports, science and art in weight loss comes in.

Wouldn’t it be well if I want to lose 2 pounds a week, every time I’m not meeting this threshold, I changed something with my diet? That works. If you have plenty to take out because here are our levers. We can reduce your calories or we can reduce your carbohydrates. Generally, we’re not going to mess with your protein. We want to find the right base level of your fats. We have a little wiggle room there but basically, the biggest levers are going to be your overall calories and your carbohydrates. If I have enough room in your diet to remove carbs or calories every third week for six months at a time, great. You don’t have that much room.

That makes perfect sense. That matches what we see for what we’re doing and what we’re seeing.

Some people have or let somebody sit at a point where I will accept slower weight loss as long as I do see progress. Sometimes I’ll see where somebody is at based on how much metabolic leverage they have. Even with some slight slowing, I’m going to say, “Time out, we’re going to make an adjustment here because I know we can address this.” Keep in mind, we have a whole other toolset over here. We’re talking nutritionally. You can leverage exercise as well. Sometimes your weight loss has slowed a little bit. I’m not going to decrease calories or carbs. We’re going to add one extra training session or cardio session. You’ve got to earn it.

When you change the venue of your workout, it can make things different. Share on X

Ultimately, know this. You are going to reach this state. There’s going to be a point in time where you have no more exercise to leverage, not because you’re training eight hours a day, but because you have kids, a job, a mortgage, and there are only so many hours in a week. You have maximally leveraged how much exercise you can do. There is no more to take out of your diet.

We’re all like, “That won’t happen.” Unless you have only 3 pounds to lose, that happens to everyone. When you reach that point, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just your body’s acclimated. How do you fix that? We have to reset your metabolism. Go through a performance space, a revving cycle, where it’s all about getting your body used to more food. Get your body used to more intense training if you can’t add volume. Rev, that metabolic rate back up, and then you go for cycle 2 or 3 of cutting, and you can start taking things back out with results again.

If you would like to try and find those results for yourself, where can they find you?

You can come to talk to us at MetPro.co/tco.

—

PR Week had a nice piece about how Peloton took a stand against racism and did their small part to combat it. Not that what they’re doing is small, but in the grand scheme of things.

They’re using their platform for things that they feel very strongly about. It’s most interesting to me that they talk about the series, the Breathe In, Speak Up Series that Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts did. If you think about that, that’s been over a year since the George Floyd murder occurred, and that’s when the series started. I think that it’s interesting that it’s over a year later and it’s still generating press. That that speaks to how different and unique Peloton is in how they are approaching this, and how they are sustaining the approach. They didn’t just do a one-time thing. This is something that they say that they are committed to and they continue to show how they are committed. That is the most interesting thing to me about this article.

On the heels of that, there’s an article in Fortune.com talking about how leaders from Peloton and Chobani earn their purpose and build their brand around things that matter. I thought it was interesting that in the article, they talk about what Peloton does and how they try to consciously ask themselves, have they earned the right to talk about this thing or is it performative, which they get accused of by people who don’t want them to do it. Suddenly, they care about what’s performative. I thought it was fascinating the thought process that goes into what they take up and to what degree.

That’s what I keep saying about Peloton. People act like it’s another company, and it’s not just another company. There are many companies out there that never spend ten seconds having those conversations, let alone months on end. I wish that more people could grasp that it’s not a flash in the pan because they are thoughtful about things like that.

TheRealDeal.com, which is a New York real estate news website, had an article about why landlords need to think like Peloton.

This amused me. I don’t know if you had a chance to read this.

A little bit. It was basically like, “Don’t be a dick.”

It’s not just that, it was also like do more. When they talk about Peloton, they talk about the fact that you have a bike and you ride it, but there are all these other things happening. It’s an experience. It’s not just a bike. It’s about the big moments when they have the artist collaboration or a big celebration for Pride or whatever. It’s all the celebrations that we go through together. It’s not just a bike. It’s the lighting, it’s the sound, it’s all of it. Don’t just be a real estate place. Don’t just be a place that somebody lives like do more. They talked about the fact that this the CEO goes through on his properties.

He has a website for the properties. When you go to it, there’s a whole bunch of hand-picked community events that you can do. He’s trying to cultivate a community around where he lives and where these people live. It’s not just, it’s a home. It’s where I throw my bags down. I thought it was an interesting way to get clicks because they added the word Peloton in. Also, it’s a good example. Back to what I was saying about more companies needing to do things like this. He is and that’s great.

He’s basically saying that he creates engagement so his properties have less turnover, which I don’t always know if all landlords want low turnovers. Normally, when you get new renters, you can charge them more than the annual increase than you can give a regular person.

It’s exhausting finding new renters.

There is also that. Although I don’t know if it’s all that difficult in New York. NPR sat down with Dara Treseder. She’s in charge of making sure you know about things.

She’s the big wig. She’s the Senior Vice President, Head of Global Marketing and Communications.

That’s a lot. Wisdom From the Top is what the show is called. It’s fascinating to see.

She was on an NPR podcast with Guy Raz. He must have a lot of podcasts because isn’t he the one that did How I Built This?

I think so. Motley Fool has an article. They do a lot of Peloton articles but this one was a little bit different. It’s about, can Peloton ride the bike to new heights? All the tweaks that they’ve made and how it will affect their fiscal earnings report coming up in the not too distant future.

It’s November 4th at 5:00 PM Eastern if anybody wants to know. We will be reporting on that.

AdAge has an article, The Latest Data on Beauty Influencers: Peloton versus iFit.

I thought this was very interesting because we’ve talked about this on the show before about how they’ve both done very well in the middle of the pandemic. John has been on many times talking about that iFit has done a lot to up their game. Their spending in May of 2021 was actually close to Peloton. They spent $418 million at Peloton. iFit spent $379 million. The spending is very close to Peloton. However, the revenue is not. They both doubled but the worldwide revenue for Peloton is at $4 billion and iFit is $1.7 billion. It’s fascinating that the ad spend is very close but the revenue is not.

TCO 230 | Peloton

 

The difference is all the unearned media or earned media that that Peloton gets, the news articles, and the Twitter and Instagram primarily of their instructors. They’re a part of the zeitgeists in a way that iFit is not.

It will be interesting to see what happens with their IPO that got put on hold.

Business Insider has an article with tips on how to get hired at Peloton. The first thing you got to do is subscribe to Business Insider because it’s behind a paywall and I can’t read it.

Let me give you the rundown. What’s interesting about this is they changed the title. I don’t remember who they interviewed at Peloton, another big wig. The interesting thing is that they said that there were going to be 3,000 new jobs at Peloton in the next eighteen months. That was actually what the headline was. I don’t know why it changed but it did. Now it’s called How To Get Hired at Peloton.

What they tell you is don’t be a consumer of Peloton and try to get a job at Peloton. In other words, if your big move is “I love Peloton,” look elsewhere. That’s not enough. They’re not impressed at all. First of all, tons of people love Peloton but that’s not even the big problem with it. The big problem with it is that you understand Peloton as a consumer, not as an employee of the company.

They said that for their trucking company, the people who move stuff from point A to point B. I’m terrible with words. I am not thinking of the proper title. At any rate, they make them watch videos to get an idea of what a typical day at Peloton looks like. They don’t want you thinking that you need to look like an instructor, that you need to know the instructors, that you need to come in there and see things as a consumer. They want you to come in and have a job perspective. They’re like, “It’s great to hear about who your favorite instructor is. We all have favorite instructors, but don’t fan out.” That’s not the goal.

I get that. I think, like I got hired to work for the Blues when I was younger, the St. Louis Blues, the hockey team. They said after I got hired, one of the things they liked about me is that I didn’t care about hockey. Many people come in wanting to meet the hockey players and I couldn’t pick them out of a lineup. It’s a long story. I literally introduced myself to one of the team’s legends, not realizing he was one of the team legends. He thought it was funny. The ultimate irony, and if you’ve ever wanted to see Crystal sour face, is that I have a better chance to get hired at Peloton than you do.

They also gave other tips like don’t come in and be super focused on what background you have, what school you went to, etc. Be focused on what skills you have and show that they work. They want provable points. I thought it was also interesting that they said it was harder to get into working at Peloton than Harvard. The average open job position has 400 applicants.

A former Peloton marketer has been scooped up by Oura. These are the rings, which is clever.

I have my doubts about Oura, but I know a lot of people like them. At any rate, that is absolutely fascinating that they scooped up a Peloton person because I know how much they make. We heard about how hard it is to get hired. It’s fascinating that aura was able to do that. I don’t know if they left Peloton before or if they come and headhunt them from Peloton? That seems impossible to me. I’m not going to lie.

It seems hard to believe but you never know. Some people don’t like to stay at a place very long. She did her time and she’s like, “I’m ready to go try something new.”

It’s Karina Kogan if you’re curious, anybody out there. For Forbes, that was a big deal because that’s why she’s in Forbes magazine.

Peloton is apparently getting more aggressive about moving into West Australia.

I was struggling with that WA. I was like, “What does that mean? West Australia. As you know, we’ve been talking about for several weeks now that Australia is the next place that Peloton is growing. Now, they’re moving into West Australia. This will be interesting to see what kind of growth and traction they get there. According to this article, it is going very well over in Australia. That is awesome to hear.

—

There is yet another new artist series. In case you didn’t feel the Earth shift under you, Beyonce is back.

When they announced Beyonce in 2020, they said it was going to be a three-year deal. The thing about this is that it is not just Beyonce, which is great, but it is the number of classes. The last couple of times we’ve had artists collaborations and I’ve been like, “They’re not even doing a run. They’re doing strength and a walk or whatever. There are 72 hours of content.

She had a whole year to make them.

There are three days worth of classes. There are not that many live classes but there are classes every day for three days they are live, and tons of on-demand classes. Every category that Peloton has is covered here. I have to say though that I have been hearing a lot of people be like, “Beyonce, whatever, I did the classes.” I like Beyonce but I did expect that whenever I took a class, it was going to be similar to the playlist from 2020.

You should try different instructors. Go back to them, but also try them in a different venue because you might have a different reaction in a different way. Share on X

She doesn’t have 72 hours of songs, so now what?

The songs were all different. Everything was different. I took Robins live class last night and it was so good. It was awesome. I had no idea that Beyonce, in the middle of one of her songs, does a cover of You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette, for example. That was played that night and it was freaking awesome, and the whole class was. I get that there might be some people who are like, “We’ve already done this. I’m not into it.” Give it a try anyway. You never know. I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Not everything has to be for you. Beyonce is a big deal whether you like her or not. It doesn’t change the fact that she’s a big deal.

—

Finally, we have two birthdays. On October 24th, you can say happy birthday to Matt Wilpers.

Happy birthday, Matt Wilpers.

On October 25th, you can say happy birthday to Emma Lovewell.

Happy birthday, Emma Lovewell.

Now you get it.

—

Joining us is Katie Johnson. Katie, how is it going?

How are you all doing?

Good. How are you?

I’m doing well.

You’ve had your Peloton for a long time, right?

I got it in March of 2018. I’m not early but also, I didn’t get it during COVID.

I feel like those are the real phases now. There’s the OG pre-pandemic and then post-pandemic.

I feel like I’m the Gen X of Peloton. I’m Gen X in life, so it works.

You do all your rides in flannel shirts.

They’re all very emo and I’m angry the whole time.

What made you get to Peloton? How did you first hear about it?

A couple of things. I was not an athlete growing up. Tom, your stories about being on the T-ball team, I was a hot mess. I totally relate to that. That was me. I was on the debate team as a sport when I was in high school. In my twenties, I started running. I liked that because nobody was around me. It wasn’t competitive. I did run races and stuff, but I didn’t want to be last. I was like, “That’s my goal.” In my first 5K I ever did, I did come in third from last.

It’s not last and I have come in at the very end. When I did my duathlon in Alabama, I was the third from last. There was a lady in her 60s who passed me and I was a little like, “What is wrong with me?”

When my kids are here, I’m like, “You’re still ahead of the people at home on the sofa.” I started running when I was in my twenties and then I kept running. It was something I could do. It didn’t require a lot of equipment other than good shoes. I moved to England for a couple of years. My husband is English. I met him and then we got engaged. I moved over to the UK for two years and then we came back, but I could run the whole time. It’s something you can take with you anywhere.

In 2014, I ran my second half-marathon. By the end, I had plantar fasciitis so bad I could barely walk. I made it through the half and then I was like, “I have to figure something out.” I went to a podiatrist and he was like, “You can spin.” I called one of my friends, who is my neighbor who was a spin instructor. I was like, “Dina, what do I do?” She was like, “Come to my class.”

She taught at this boutique studio called Burn Athletic and it was a great place. They had three rooms. They had yoga, including hot yoga, spin and bootcamp. It was a nice offering and then for one price, you could access all of these things. I started going to Burn and got into all the different things. I had never done bootcamp and hot yoga before. I got into the spin. I enjoyed all that stuff and then eventually, I was able to add the running back in. I did that for a few years and loved it.

It was in the summer of 2018, right after I got my Peloton, Burn closed. We were all sad. We were a group of regulars. We were despondent about it, but that’s when I threw myself into Peloton. When we heard that there was a chance that Burn would close, that’s when I started hearing about the Peloton. The first thing I heard was I got a postcard in the mailbox. I’m in marketing, so by nature, I’m suspicious of direct mail pieces.

I was mesmerized by this idea. I went online and saw the bike. I saw it was $2,000. I chatted with the rep and I was like, “It’s just the bike. It’s $2,000. Is that the deal?” She was like, “That’s the deal.” I was like, “I’ll talk to you later.” They had a pop-up store in the mall here. My husband saw it. He came home and he was like, “I’ve seen this thing called Peloton.”

It’s a good thing your husband is British or that would be insulting.

He talks like that. If he were here, he would be like, “I don’t talk like that.” He thinks my British accent is terrible, which is pretty much it.

When he is recounting your conversations, does he do an American accent?

I live in Raleigh, North Carolina, but I’m from Nashville. Richard’s Tennessee accent is the worst Southern accent I’ve ever heard.

I’ve noticed a lot of times, when someone who is English if they’re not good at accents and try to do an American accent, they default to John Wayne.

Does he do John Wayne?

No, he doesn’t do John Wayne. His regular accent, that’s the thumbs up. It’s great to have a husband who has this great accent. It’s wonderful until they say something you don’t want to hear. When he says, “You’re wrong,” it sounds like ten times worse.

It comes across as super arrogant.

You’re like, “You’re just not very nice.”

You’re like, “Benny Hill is not funny.” You get him right where he lives.

That is Blackadder, “Blackadder is not funny.”

I don’t know about that.

Tom, I can’t believe we found a pop culture reference that you don’t want to know.

No, I’m saying like, “Blackadder is funny.”

You guys are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

He saw it at the mall. About a month after this, we’re going back and forth into a conversation. My boss named Laurie pulled me into her office and she told me, “Katie, I’ve got good news. You got a bonus this year.” I’m so excited. I’m married with two kids and a mom and all that stuff. She said, “You cannot spend this money on your children on anything practical. You have to treat this money like it fell from the sky.” I looked at her and went, “I’m getting a Peloton.” Every time I have a milestone, she is the first one to comment.

Does she have a Peloton?

She does not have a Peloton. Like you Crystal, I’ve gotten a lot of referral codes over the years.

Does your husband ride the Peloton?

He did a few times. He plays tennis and golf. He has done the Total Strength Program. He does it once and then he does it again. They’ve got an intro to cycling program that he has started. It’s just a beginner ride. He did a fifteen-minute Robin run and he was like, “That was unpleasant.” He is getting more and more into it. The only thing about sharing the bike is that they mess with your seat height. There’s a whole thing there.

You have to add in ten minutes to put it back.

It’s a lot easier with the Bike Plus, though.

I have not personally had that problem.

Tom is doing it for you.

It’s because I’m a caring husband.

What about anybody else in your family? Does anybody else use Peloton?

My kids will use it occasionally in the house. I’ve gotten several family members to get bikes, although one family member had it before me. I have a cousin, Jeannie. She and I are four days apart. She is four days younger than me. We both grew up in Nashville. If you’re four days apart, they treat you like you’re almost twins. We were together a lot when we were younger, but then we went to different high schools. We went to college in different cities and she lives in Chicago. She randomly posted on Facebook about her bike ride and I was like, “Do you got a Peloton?”

We started riding together and then I had started into Power Zone at that time. I sucked her into Power Zone and now we’re on the same Power Zone team. We went to Homecoming together in 2019. Actually, I met you all there briefly. It has been wonderful to ride the bike with Jeannie. Jeanie and I convinced our uncle and my mother to get one. I have convinced my brother and sister-in-law in the UK to get one. That referral code works over the ocean, so that’s a good thing. My sister got one. I’m doing my best to get everybody in my family to ride.

I feel like there needs to be a family reunion and then everybody brings their bikes and lines them up. You test out the calibration. You had mentioned when we were talking before this that things with Peloton and COVID got a little crazy. Tell us about that.

My husband and kids live in Raleigh, but we don’t have any other family here. My cousin is in Chicago. All my family is in Nashville. My brother and sister-in-law were in the UK. It has been wonderful to have something we could do together to meet my cousin and my mom on the bike. There have been a few times where I’ve gotten on the bike and my brother and sister-in-law are doing the same. I like to ride live with them. They’re five hours ahead but that’s super cool. My mom does the Power Zone Challenges like Jeannie and I do. She is not on our team. She was like, “I don’t want to embarrass you.” I don’t know how she could. You know how these challenges work. We’re on a three-ride team, but that means four rides.

There are eight extra things you also have to do.

They changed it, so now it’s just the four. If it’s a three-ride, it’s four rides. They have adjusted it, but my mom gets max points every week.

Is she saying that you’re not good enough?

Is this reverse psychology? Is she saying you would embarrass her?

I don’t think so.

She is like, “My skill level would embarrass you.”

She loves it. The only person I’ve ever used video chat with is my mother because she’s the only person I would not want but at least allowed to see me. I call her and I’m like, “How are you doing?” “I’m fine. How are you?” We sign off. On those 90-minute endurance rides, that has been great. I didn’t get to see her since 2020 because she had some underlying health conditions, and until the vaccine, I wasn’t able to see her. I would go to Nashville and I was able to see my dad and stepmom because their health is not as compromised as my mom’s, but my mom, I couldn’t see her. It has been great to have that outlet and be able to ride with her.

TCO 230 | Peloton

 

I can’t even imagine how hard that would be. I went a pretty long time without seeing my family, but we were able to do a couple of very quick visits, just Tom and I, a couple of times. We only live a couple of hours away. I’m not sure how far Nashville is.

It’s 525 miles. It’s neighboring states, but it’s still pretty far. It’s just a one-hour flight, but during COVID, nobody wants to do that. It has been a great way to have activities you can still do with your family and things like that. I’ve enjoyed it.

It’s good that she has got something.

She and my stepdad do a lot of mountain biking and stuff anyway. That’s how I knew they would like the bike. My mom’s fitness improved when she did her outdoor ride. She does better now because she is doing all the Power Zone stuff. I got us these matching mugs that say, “Sorry, I can’t. I have plans with Matt Wilpers.”

Do you ride exclusively with Matt? There are all the instructors now that do Power Zone.

I don’t do exclusive Power Zone, either. I still run, probably not as much as I did. Right before COVID, I ran another half-marathon. I had a PR and I was eighth in my age group. Remember, I was third from the last in the first race. This was not something I saw in the cards for me. I didn’t run as much as I had in the past when I trained for races but my endurance was still good because of Power Zone.

I also do a good amount of strength. I ride with a lot of different instructors, not just the other Power Zone instructors, either. I love Cody. I’ve discovered Leanne. I like her. Ben is great. There’s an instructor for every purpose. I haven’t come across one that I’m like, “Please God, no.” For a long time, I thought Jess King. Other people love her, but she is not my cup of tea.

Do you remember the Jess King experience ride with Denis where they wore the matching glitter chaps? I was like, “That’s a bit much.” I did some of her Pilates rides and I’ve done some walks with her. I find her to be engaging and interesting. When I’m doing a Power Zone Challenge, a lot of times, the warm-ups that I do are like the non-Power Zone instructors, so you get a little bit of everything.

That’s a good way to mix it up.

It makes a difference. Also, if you’re doing a lot of strength classes, you feel like a lot of those tread instructors. I’ve only done a handful of tread classes when I was visiting my in-laws and they had a treadmill. I feel like I know Matt and Jess just as much as some of the others because I’ve done so many strength classes with them.

Do you have a preferred instructor?

I default to Matt, but at the same time, I really don’t. I like them all for different things. For some, I certainly take more classes than others. I like Matt, Ben, Leanne, Cody, Denis, and Christine. I think the answer is no.

What about from a social media perspective? Do you hang out in one of their groups more often than others?

I’m in the Menaces and the Power Zone Pack. In my Power Zone team, some are more active than others. Mine has been around since late 2018. I started on that team in January of 2019 and I was a team lead for about a year. I’ve taken the last challenge and I’m going to take this challenge off because I got a lot going on. That’s the group of people that I talk to the most about Peloton other than strangers. My kids are like, “Please, not the Power Zone.” That has been #RideOrDie Team39. Our name is always some variation on that ride-or-die theme. Now, it’s a safari theme. We’re pride or die. That’s where I hang out the most.

That’s nice that you guys have had that long of a run that you’ve ridden together. It used to be that way for the 6AM Crew because the 6AM Crew used always to ride together. COVID changed all that, so it’s not a thing anymore.

I was looking because I like to ride at 6:00 AM. I’m an early morning person for sure. I was like, “This week, I noticed there’s no live 6:00 AM rides at all. There are a lot of encores and stuff.”

Some of that is people being on vacation, but some of it is never great in the morning. The tread classes don’t start until 7:00. You can’t do a live run or a ride, so it stinks.

That is hard. It is what it is. This always seems to come back around. I try not to get too hung up on it or complain about it. I will work it out.

I will accept it. This is how I’ll catch up on all the stuff I didn’t get to do.

During COVID, I’ve been able to work from home. When Robin did the Aretha Franklin ride, I snuck that in over lunch because it was Aretha Franklin.

What is your leaderboard name?

It’s KTHammer, which is my actual name. Hammer is my maiden name. I was so excited when they came and gave me the bike, and I had to do a leaderboard name. I always want to be Katie Hammer, but it’s always taken on every platform, but it wasn’t taken on Peloton. I was very pleased about that. I got my bike at 12:45 and I was on a live ride. My first ride was a live ride with Ally Love at 1:30.

They told me at the showroom at that time because it wasn’t like it is now. Their advice to me was, “Take your first ride live because you’ll probably get a shout-out.” Now, you almost never do that anymore, but then you always did. When I did it, I put my name and it’s all lowercase. Ally did give me a shout-out, but she shouted out, “kthammer.” I changed the capitalization, so it’s KTHammer.

Aside from capitalization, do you have advice for people who are now getting their Peloton?

Some of my advice is the same advice that everybody gets, “You shouldn’t ride with every instructor.” There’s one piece of advice that I got from a past guest on your show that I haven’t heard very often that rung-true for me, which is, “You should revisit instructors that you think you don’t like.” A case in point is Jess King because I thought like, “It’s not all bad.” I took some of her Pilates classes and I was like, “Okay.” The next thing you know, I’m following her on Instagram and watching her maple recipes and all the stuff.

That’s a good point not just to revisit them but revisit them in a different way and your mood but also a different class type. It seems that you connected with the Pilates class, but maybe that gave you a way to open the door to connect with her in other class types where if you just kept taking her on the bike, if that’s where you didn’t connect with her, then that might have continued, but because you changed the venue, it made things different. Robin is a completely different personality on the tread than she is on the bike.

I don’t know about how she is on the tread but I feel like she is different in her strength classes. Robin is wonderful and her classes are great, but sometimes you feel like she is yelling at you a lot. That’s how I feel. With the strength, her tone is a lot more encouraging. She seems to me that she is cognizant that a lot of people follow her on the bike and the only reason they’re trying strength classes is because Robin told them to. She wants in a good way.

They have trusted her enough to try something new. She takes that very seriously and you can see that in the way she coaches the classes. Personally, I like her a lot more on her strength than on the bike. Although that Aretha class, she coached that perfectly. I thought it was amazing. She couldn’t have done a better job with that. It was great.

I haven’t taken a lot of Robin’s strength classes, but I definitely feel that she is different on the tread. Your advice is spot-on that you should try different instructors. Go back to them, but also try them in a different venue because you might have a different reaction in a different way. That’s good advice.

I’m glad she thinks like that because that benefited me when we were dating that you thought like that like, “Maybe I’ll try when I’m in a different mood.”

That’s true because we met on social media twice.

We never told our story.

How did you all meet?

We met on Match.com. He stopped talking to me.

You stopped replying to me.

He stopped emailing me.

I was like, “I guess she was not interested.”

He never answered, so I was like, “What else?”

You stopped answering me.

You were the last one to respond. I can go back and find the email, Tom.

Do you still have your Match account? I don’t because I’m taking away for it.

Six months later, I see him again and his little face. I was like, “That guy, I wonder what happened to him,” and then he talked to me again.

I messaged her. She wasn’t responding timely because she was very popular. She had lots of other boys to talk to.

The good ones always do, Tom.

I still think she wasn’t interested.

I was interested, but you were emailing me and everybody else was texting me.

I don’t know how that works. It was all coming to your phone. I was trying to be polite and not be the creepy guy that was like, “Give me your phone number.”

I was like, “You are so non-creepy. I don’t even know what to do with this guy because everybody else is sending stuff I didn’t ask for.”

I met my husband in 2003. Some of that was out there. I missed Tinder and all that stuff and I’m very glad. When I met my husband, I was living in Raleigh and he was living in the UK. We both worked for the same company. We went to a work conference in Innsbruck, Austria, which is where we met. I was talking to somebody who was talking to him. He turned to me and went, “Who the hell are you?” I said, “I’m Katie Hammer.” We’ve been married for many years.

You should have that engraved on his wedding band, “Who the hell are you?”

I have a friend of a friend. Her husband’s wedding band says, “Put it back on.”

You have to tell him to put it back on.

The thing is, I wonder, “Is it more about just losing it because he is forgetful?” You don’t know.

It depends on the day.

I don’t want to think about other people’s relationships because you never know what happens in another couple’s relationship.

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to join us. Before we let you go, where can people find you on social media if you would like to be found?

On Facebook and Instagram, I’m @KatieHammerJohnson. On Twitter, I talk just about work stuff. I don’t do that much on Instagram.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me.

—

I guess that brings this episode to a close. What pray tell do you have in store for people next episode?

We are going to talk to Andy Medina. I am super excited about it.

Until then, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can find me on Instagram, Twitter, the Bike, 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. Don’t forget our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/TheClipOut. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running.

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