Spin studio rides into downtown
“I work fast.”
So says April Yakaboski, who since 2009 has now opened up three health and fitness locations in downtown Riverhead with the launch of Spin-sanity, a spin cycle room on West Main street.
The studio opened the second week of October in space previously occupied by The Hamptons Furniture Co. on West Main Street, and features 29 RealRyder stationary bikes, which she purchased from a Westhampton Beach fitness studio that closed its doors recently.
Going for a “very Manhattan” feel, mocking the design of an urban street inside its walls, the studio will add to Yakaboski’s Aerial Fitness studio, and hot yoga studio, each of which are also located on West Main Street within a stone’s throw of Spin-sanity. All three businesses – in addition to stand-up paddleboard courses she started offering as well – cater to a niche audience, looking for something a little different when they step up get in shape, Yakaboski said.
“I try to do what the bigger gyms aren’t doing,” she said recently. With Ultimate Fitness opening a new 20,000 square-foot gym downtown, she added, “I hope they don’t try and do it.”
High Gear Fit in Westhampton closed up shop in mid-September, opening the doors for Yakaboski to capitalize on some secondhand goods that still offered high value to her customers. RealRyder-style stationary bikes, says Spin-sanity instructor Roland Walker, “offers more of a core and upper body workout.” The bikes – which go for about $2,000 a piece – pivot from side to side, offering a more real-life experience, he said.
“It takes power to take the bike over to the right or left,” said Walker, a Riverhead resident and state parks policeman who also teaches at a Real Ryder studio in Amagansett. ” You have to engage your core just to get the handlebars straight.”
Courses at Spin-sanity go for $22 a piece just to drop in, and Yakaboski said group rates for 10 to 30 courses can drop the per-course price down to $12.50. In addition, she said, a limited number of six-month memberships will be available starting in November.
