Casey Hilmer, her fiancé and one of their instructors, Nicole Phillips, rented a U-Haul which could hold 10 bikes simultaneously and spent a day and a half delivering 30 bikes.
Miami Township, Ohio – “We closed Power Ryde on Monday, March 16, in the evening due to the governor’s orders,” said Meg Hilmer. Casey, Meg’s daughter, and business partner at Power Ryde started immediately doing free live strength classes daily on their Power Ryde Facebook page and Instagram, which she continues to do today.
Casey also created a Power Ryde YouTube channel and saved the workout videos there as well as on Power Ryde’s Facebook page so people could do them later. Many people, Power Ryders as well as non-Power Ryders workout with the videos and continue to do them many with their families.
“Casey and I decided a few weeks ago to rent our spinning bikes to our clients so we would have some revenue to cover our overhead of rent, utilities, etc,” said Meg. Casey sent an email to all of their clients and got over 90 requests for bikes which she gave out on a first-come, first-served basis. Then Casey, her fiancé and one of their instructors, Nicole Phillips, rented a U-Haul which could hold 10 bikes simultaneously and spent a day and a half delivering 30 bikes. It was no easy feat as the bikes each weigh 225 pounds. “Most people paid us in cash or check so we wouldn’t have a credit card processing fee as well as signed a rental agreement that we had our attorney draw up,” said Meg.
It took working around the clock, with many others, almost a week to get the video live-streaming working to their satisfaction. The first sessions weren’t recorded, but now they are. The clients that are renting bikes can watch live-streaming as well as watch the recorded videos later. Meg says they are still perfecting the live-streaming. “We are using Zoom which was never designed to stream fitness classes.”
Even if people didn’t rent bikes, they can always sign in for a drop-in class of which there are 1 or 2 daily for $10. “Although our RealRyder bikes move side-to-side, we have several people doing drop-in classes on traditional stationary bikes that don’t tilt side-to-side. The instructor just tells them what to do when everyone else is turning or shaking their bike,” explained Meg.
“Our clients have been very patient as we get everything working correctly and have been very appreciative that we have rented the bikes to them. We are so appreciative of them as well as our instructors who are learning to teach classes virtually,” Hilmer said.
Here is a link to a podcast that Cherylanne Skolnicki, a Loveland resident and Founder/Owner of Brilliant Balance, did last Thursday. She featured Power Ryde in her “Making Lemons out of Lemonade” section of her daily podcast, Tea Time.
Meet Meg & Casey Hilmer
We’ve all heard the saying, “When one door closes another door opens.” I don’t know that I ever truly believed this mantra. I used to think people, myself included, said this to make themselves feel better in the wake of failure or rejection. But then I realized when one door closes it allows the opportunity for another door to open. The difference being, we have to be active in opening that door.
This is how Power Ryde came to be. After being turned down from medical school, I was both relieved and frightened. Relieved, because I didn’t know if I was truly passionate about medicine or, if it was a path I had put myself on four years prior and was scared to deviate from. Frightened, because if I wasn’t going to medical school, what was I going to do? My mom was in a similar boat. After working at a Cincinnati Bell for 31 years and being retired for two, she was looking for something to do…but what?
Health and fitness are two things we are both very passionate about. Although my dad was the one who first sparked my interest in fitness through running, I can remember from a young age going to aerobics and kickboxing with my mom on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
I never thought I would own my own fitness studio, although I will admit I had dreamed about it. From the time I fell in love with RealRyder “spinning” in Ann Arbor, Michigan, there had always been a part of me that wanted to share my love for these bikes with friends and family in Cincinnati. But it wasn’t until early October 2012 that my mom and I decided to take a leap of faith and turn that doorknob to see what a future as studio owners had in store for us. So welcome to Power Ryde; we are very excited to share our love for fitness with you.
