TCO 242 | Peloton

242: Peloton Denies Halting all production of bikes and treads and our interview with Jim McCaffrey

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

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

John Mills joins us to discuss impending Peloton cost-saving measures.

  • Peloton dropped from the NASDAQ 100.
  • Spokane is excited about being featured on a scenic ride.
  • Afrotech.com writes about how Peloton empowers employees.
  • The Peloton Blog has tips on developing an instructor mindset.
  • Marie Claire reviews treadmills.
  • Angelo joins us with tips for creating consistency.
  • Jenn Sherman has Covid (but she’s doing fine).
  • People Magazine spotlights Adrian Williams.
  • Yahoo talks to Kendall Toole.
  • Shape features Tunde.
  • Robin Arzon has a contest for her new Masterclass.
  • Emma Lovewell will be on Live with Kelly & Ryan.
  • Logan Aldridge has been in the studio rehearsing.
  • Crystal tries out the new Peloton shoes.
  • Kristen McGee did an IG Live with Chef Ming Tsai.
  • Andy Speer and Rebecca Kennedy are switching places.
  • Matt Wilpers, Jess Sims, and Kirsten Ferguson host an IG Live for new runners.
  • Birthdays – Ben Alldis (1/22)

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Watch the episode here:

Listen to the podcast here

Peloton Denies Halting all production of bikes and treads and our interview with Jim McCaffrey

We survive the COVID.

I don’t know if I had it or not.

You technically tested negative three times, but you sure had all the same symptoms that Brian had who tested positive.

I don’t know, go figure. I don’t know anymore, but I do know my symptoms were very mild and so were his. Thank God we were vaccinated and boostered.

I am still dancing between the raindrops.

Keep dancing.

You know me and my love of dancing to the Caddyshack Gopher School of Dance. I got the overbite. That’s my move.

That’s your speed too. It doesn’t matter what music is playing, it’s always that speed.

I am an artist so I don’t let the music dictate the mood. It comes from my soul and we all know, I don’t have one. What pray tell do you have in store for people?

It might have stood out to some people that we have some topics to discuss about Peloton hitting the shitter.

They have had some rough weeks but there’s some rough news out there.

We’re going to, we’re going to dig into that hard. We’re going to talk about it with John. We’re going to talk about the upcoming earnings call that’s coming up pretty soon. Dr. Jenn is not able to visit. We are Dr. Jenn-less but she will return. We are getting a visit from Angelo though. We had a couple of people that wrote in specifically talking about discipline and staying on track. We’re going to talk about that. We have some instructor COVID news that we got to talk through. The instructors have been everywhere. We’re going to talk about that. Of course, we have a ton of little details, In Case You Missed It things that we’re going to hit as well.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and leave a review if you would be so kind. That helps the people that come along after you. We have a new review. This is from Titanium Foot.

I know this person. I cannot put the name with the leaderboard name but I know this.

They don’t sneak up on a lot of people. You hear the Titanium Foot coming at you.

Maybe they wear shoes.

“I got my bike in early 2018 but didn’t start listening regularly until about a year ago. I love my Friday morning commute to hear all things Peloton. Crystal and Tom have infectious chemistry. I enjoy listening in. Thanks to Tom, I’ve learned a few things about pop culture too.” I can’t help myself. “I saw a post on the FB page, which mentioned some of the prior guests. Since then, I’ve gone back and I’m listening from the beginning.” That’s a lot. We used to get a lot of those back when there were 40 or 50 episodes. Now that there is almost five years’ worth, that’s a lot. “It’s so interesting to hear how so much has changed, and yet nothing has changed at the same time. The instructor interviews are certainly worth the listen, and if this New Yorker can get past the mispronunciation at the beginning, so can you.”

People do nice things for people who are struggling. Click To Tweet

Thank you.

If you would like to leave a review, we would love to read it. Also, you can find us on Facebook, Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Sign up for our newsletter at theclipout.com and you’ll get all these things emailed to you, all the links and whatnot so you don’t get to go hunting for them. We have a YouTube channel, YouTube.com/TheClipOut. You can watch all of these episodes in case you want to do it at work when nobody is paying attention to you. There’s all that, let’s dig in. Shall we?

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It has been a crazy week but even crazier in the last twelve hours with Peloton. A story broke that they were halting all production on bikes and treads for at least two months. We recorded a segment about that, and then we have to rerecord it because John Foley sends out an email to all Peloton employees and then later they press release it and posted it on the website saying like, “That’s bullcrap.”

It turns out that there has been a leaker that has been leaking all this content that’s been coming out in the last couple of days. As John Foley put it, it was out of context and therefore, not true. He said that they are right-sizing production, not halting all production. It sounds like we’re still going to see layoffs, unfortunately. It sounds like they’re going to be doing that very compassionately as Peloton tends to do. It also sounds like they’re going to be halting the production plant that you’re going to hear us talk about in the next segment. Instead of 2023, that’s going to be 2024. Besides that, we don’t know what right-sizing production means.

You had an interesting theory when we were talking earlier because, in Foley’s email, he says that things have been leaked and shared out of context. You were hypothesizing that they misinterpreted the ceasing on that plant to mean ceasing on everything, leaked incorrect information, and then created a crap storm for Peloton.

I don’t know if that’s true. It was just a hypothesis but it is interesting to think about. Regardless, it means that one way or another, some production has been halted but not all. We need to remember that with people that are going to be laid off, there’s going to be still a lot of people who are upset, concerned and confused. The headlines have confused a lot of people. Apparently, legal action is being taken against the person who has been leaking this information.

Hopefully, not against the people that get the leaks. Not to give them any ideas.

None of those leaks went to us. The big destructive stuff doesn’t go to us.

The other thing that was interesting is that Peloton is in a quiet period right now, which means that they’re limited in the information they can share. They also issued a pre-earnings press release, which had preliminary Q2 results. I feel like it’s very interesting that all of the numbers are in line with what guidance was at the end of the call last time.

Basically, they called their shot and they hit it. 

You’re going to hear John, Tom and me talking about the fact that we think that some of the changes we’re seeing have to do with the profitability goals of 2023. I still think that and the fact that we see right-sizing of production, we do see changes in how much they’re spending. The quarterly earnings came in right where they said they would be. That all tells me and signals to me that things are not nearly as dire as things have been made to sound.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

The stock was taking back up in pre-market trading.

It was up 27% which isn’t much. It was a couple of bucks.

Considering how far it dropped. The people that pay attention to this stuff we’re starting to come back around a little bit. Another interesting thing to point out from that earnings report is that their churn was 0.79%. Everybody’s caught up in the world of Squawk Box and Mad Money. Everybody wants to be Jim Cramer, which I don’t know why because he’s wrong so much. I think people are losing sight of the fact that people still love their bikes. It’s 0.79% churn. The people that have a bike and have a tread, they love it.

Lost in all these getting off in the weeds of the business aspect of what’s going on with Peloton is that the end-user that is purchasing and utilizing this product love it. They continue to love it and they continue to use it. They’re not giving it up. It’s not like everyone suddenly pushed their Peloton to the curb and called their trash provider for the big pickup day. In terms of the long-term projection, the most important metric to me is, do the people who own it dig it? The answer continues to be yes.

The moral of this story is everyone needs to calm down. Let’s just see what happens. Let it play out. It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry to everyone who will be affected by this though at Peloton.

There’s our insert for this episode. This was all recorded after what you’re about to read. If you see us referencing stuff and it sounds like we don’t know what we’re talking about, it’s because none of it had happened yet so don’t at me. There’s all that, we now return you to your regular Clip Out programming already in progress.

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Joining us is John Mills from Run, Lift and Live. John, how is it going?

What’s going on? What’s happening?

I’m surprised. I did not see that energy coming in because it’s been a rough week for Peloton. This is one of the worst.

I’m looking forward to this. I’ve been up in the corner for most of the day. I brush my teeth and brush my hair for this.

Do you change out of “work clothes” for this call? Do you have to change?

Just the shirt.

I didn’t know if it was like you woke up on a Wednesday and you’re like, “It’s Wednesday. I’m going to put my Grandpa Shark shirt on.”

I got a whole change of clothes in my office now at home. You might have to take a call with certain people, then I got to put on a dress shirt. There are other people that I don’t have to be all formal, then I put on the hoodie. Erica does not like that. Now I have dirty clothes in another room.

We do what we can to just help people. Click To Tweet

That’s fair. I feel that about Erica. I can understand where she’s coming from on that. We’re going to have to get you a little hamper in there.

Let’s start with the beginning of the week, which was reported shortly after our episode came out, which was that the Peloton has been dropped from the NASDAQ 100. That’s an index that gauges how NASDAQ overall is doing. They are no longer deemed indicative of what’s happening in the marketplace.

That’s not all logical to me. I get that it was news. I’m not trying to mean that it’s not news, but NASDAQ 100 is like Apple, Tesla and Google.

They are not at that level right now.

These aren’t little companies. These are large stocks.

Peloton is not little anymore. Peloton is big.

These are $10 billion and above, and they were descending quickly. Now they are under that benchmark. They clearly don’t align to NASDAQ 100. I thought that made sense that they shouldn’t be there.

I agree with you. It wasn’t shocking but it was sad. It felt like a spotlight is being shown in the future. It was indicative of things that are to come, especially as I look back over the last few days because then what happened next, Tom? What’s next on the agenda?

Peloton hires McKinsey to review cost structure, cut jobs and close stores.

Both of these things made sense but they were both sad. This made sense to me too. McKinsey is a firm that helps you structure your management strategy. They do stuff like that. I understand it. We’ve been complaining for a while about, what are these decisions? Who’s making these decisions? What is that?

People confuse me because, on the one hand, everyone is like, “The management needs to go.” That’s how everyone talks.

“They need to do something but not that.”

That’s everyone’s voice.

When I read it on Facebook, they all sound like that, regardless of who types it. Peloton is like, “You’re right. Let’s bring in a consultant and have them review what we should do.” They were like, “How dare they spend this money to have a review about what should be done?”

It’s like, “See, I told you they are failing.” If they address the issues, they’re in trouble. If they don’t address the issues, they’re not in trouble.

My favorite is, “I told you they were too broke. That’s what happens. Take that Peloton.” It’s like every company that’s struggling right now is also too broke. It took on a different tone that time. I’m not sure what happened.

You’re right. That one is getting me too. We’ll start talking and all of a sudden, it turns into, “I’ll tell you what happened. They want it to be all broke.” That one gets me. I keep getting that one on my threads.

All I can say about this is they have to do something to move forward. John, you and I were talking off-air messaging. You brought up the fact that you felt like there are a lot of things that have happened that point to this. It’s showing that this has been going on in the background. Not only is that true, but Peloton is reacting and they are quietly trying to keep their head down and do what needs to be done. Regardless of how we got here or who you blame or who’s at fault, we’re here. Something has to change because their goal of being profitable in 2023 is looming and a year is not that much time. They’ve got to reset.

It’s not even a year. They said they were going to be profitable in fiscal 2023. That’s July.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

That’s a good point. I was looking at it for the full twelve months because they said fiscal 2023. They didn’t say the first quarter.

We know how they delivered that tread to you. It was in the fall and you got it on December 20th.

I remember that. I’m still a little salty over that.

Technically, that’s the fault.

They technically have until July of 2024 or June 30th, 2024 to become profitable. No matter how you slice that, it’s not that much time.

As you were saying, we saw all this stuff. In the earnings call in November, they hit us with what was going on. They had to bring down their guidance. Before that, with the dropping of the bike price. We’ve been seeing all the signs of this. It just wasn’t enough for us to collectively go, “A-ha.” We’ve been seeing all this for a while. To the point that they said they were going to be profitable in fiscal 2023, all these things that we’ve been seeing happening are all related to that goal. That’s why all these things are happening now. They have brought back the delivery fees.

They’re talking about raising the cost of these products internationally. This is all related to that goal of being profitable in 2023. We’re also not seeing as many posts on Instagram and Facebook. I keep picking things up on LinkedIn than on Facebook or Instagram. MLK Day comes by and we don’t get all the instructors posting in the company posting as they had previously done in previous years. It’s quiet. I see all that as indications that they are like, “We got to do something. We’re fixing something right now.” Everybody’s head down.

I also think that they don’t want to be seen as celebrating or as not taking this seriously. I don’t think that they would be celebrating MLK Day. I don’t mean it like that. They don’t want to be perceived in this fun light or this party light right now. They want to be seen as solemn and taking it seriously. Also, their entire social media strategy has changed because it’s not just that they’re not posting those things. What they have been posting is totally different. It’s like, “We have a thing for you to do.” There are these little to-dos every day. Some days I like them and some days I’m like, “What are we doing?”

I get the one about if you’re cursing at the instructors, and they had a bar of soap. I get that if you’re cursing, your mom might have put soap in your mouth. Didn’t they stop doing that in 1982 or something? Do people still do that?

I thought it was a weird thing too because the instructors cuss.

Are you going to put a bar of soap in Jenn Sherman’s mouth? I’d like to see you try.

My mom did that to me once. It was 1975.

I don’t know when it officially stopped because we’re in the Midwest. Everything takes longer here. I know I got threatened with that a lot when I was a kid, but I don’t remember it ever happening. Either I blocked it out or I slid through. I’ve always been a rule follower.

That post was successful though because we got a lot of laughs out of it. It was a good post.

If you’re talking about it, it’s successful because they want the interaction.

To some degree, I suppose. It’s interesting with them re-introducing the fees on the bike and people going crazy about that. Anyone who pays attention to Peloton enough to recognize the change, they already have their bike or tread. They’re not going to be paying those fees because they’re good. You got your equipment. The only people that are affected by this for the most part are people that never knew it was like that in the first place.

You have to appreciate what your body is able to continue to do. Click To Tweet

Another thing that’s weird to me is it used to be like that. If you want to go back in time and you want to talk about what’s unfair, I paid way more than that for my first bike because I had to pay for the delivery fee. I had to pay a delivery fee for my tread. Only the people in however long it’s been, John. You thought it might be about a year or so. That’s how long people haven’t had to pay.

They did that like, “Let’s test the waters to lower the price and see if that gets us more people,” but it was also right in the middle of the pandemic so it wasn’t a real number. They were like, “Let’s go ahead and take it down all the way while we know how that turned out.” I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as people are making it sound like it is. You brought up an excellent point, John, the price is being raised in other countries. That is a different story.

It’s a similar thing to what you guys are saying though. If a new person is coming in to buy a bike, I don’t know how much that deters them. I’m not sure about these other countries. Maybe it’s all good there as well. I don’t know. What’s also interesting to me about this whole McKinsey thing is I saw them put some numbers in there. They said that in late 2020, Peloton had 3,200 employees, and then in late 2021, they had almost 7,000. When the executives start talking about cutting sales and marketing staff by 41% and all these things, I start to think about all the moves they made during this pandemic era that bloated them.

There’s Precor, the new lines, all the new research, new instructors. You’re absolutely right. You also asked at one point where the 41% number comes from? My theory is it’s to get it back to pre-pandemic levels to match what the stock price is. That would make sense. If it’s getting rid of almost half the workforce, that’s because they have doubled in 2021. Now it’s like, “Let’s take it back down.”

That makes a lot of sense. I had no clue. It looks like a random number. Where did they get that from? That adds up. Maybe that’s what it is.

I’m wondering. Do they need all the stores? I know that they are talking about closing some stores. There was a period of time when people wanted to be able to test the bike. I feel like the bike has gotten to the point, maybe not the tread but the bike has, to where if you want a bike and you want to try it first, it seems highly unlikely that you don’t know someone where you could go sample it. You just come over to their house if it came to that. I wonder if maybe that’s driving it too. I’m not saying they are going to close every single store or that they should, but maybe they don’t need 123 stores. That seems like a lot.

It is a lot and they grew fast. I remember even talking at the time like, “Yikes,” because it wasn’t that long ago when there were 65 stores and then COVID hit. It didn’t help because there were months that they couldn’t sell anything with all those stores they had opened. I guess fifteen stores are on the “cut line off.” That hurts.

I feel bad for the people in the stores. I’m not trying to be mean or callous but that seems like that number should honestly maybe even be higher.

I know I do because I’m trying to support my local showroom, but I am right with you on that. Are people going, “I’m going to go out to the showroom to buy the bike?” They probably tried it out at a friend’s house or somewhere else. They are probably ordering online or doing as I did. I bought it sight unseen.

That’s what I did. I call and get it. I call and order from the store because I don’t want to go to this store because it’s not quick. It’s not convenient. I feel bad but I want them to get their credit so I still order from them.

I don’t think most people think like that. I wonder how much of the store traffic are people who already like Peloton going to the store. Maybe they’ll buy a shirt or whatever. I feel like most of the chatter I see about stores are people that already have Peloton talking about going to the store for some reason. With that being said, that’s not necessarily a fair paradigm in which to judge it because the people that don’t have a bike yet, I’m not going to see those conversations. It’s a false dichotomy, but it’s hard not to wonder how important the stores really are.

I remember back in 2018, I was down in Florida and I went to one of the showrooms at a mall. I don’t remember what city I was in, maybe Boca Raton. We were in the mall and we went in and asked if we could do a ride. Alex had a ride going at that time. They were like, “Yeah, sure.” Erica and I got on the bike in the showroom. We’re riding and people were coming up to us asking us, do we work there? How does that bike work? As if we were salespeople. We were just truly these fanatics of Peloton enjoying a ride at the showroom. It was one of those stand-ups that they put in the middle of the mall. That dynamic, the pandemic killed that. That had to have been a helpful component.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

It wasn’t that long ago when we were in our store and I asked about coming in for a ride. They were like, “You can’t. If you have a bike, you can’t ride here. You can only ride if you’re new.” I get it because they’re trying to limit it from a COVID perspective. There are only so many spaces open to be able to do that. I don’t begrudge that decision but it has absolutely changed the vibe and what we did.

It also lessens the overall value of the retail locations through no fault of the retail locations, but it’s the reality of the situation. In the middle of all that, leaked audio comes out backing it up. I’m sure they were very excited about their leaked audio.

Who is sharing Slack messages?

It’s not who is sharing them, but why aren’t they sharing them with us?

Why didn’t you send that to me? You could have sent it to Business Insider too. I would have been cool with that. I don’t need an exclusive. In all seriousness, there are many people that are gunning for Peloton right now. If you are a disgruntled employee, there’s a lot to talk about. Whether you’re right wrong or otherwise, there’s a lot to talk about. How can you not be worried about this if you’re an employee on any level?

Is it normal though? It’s probably normal for a big company that has a lot of popularity. I worked with these big companies that have had a crisis, but they weren’t all popular like this. I never had where news people would ask you questions. I never had where people actually said stuff and it showed up.

I worked for a company in 2021 that I cannot say the name of. It was also not popular. Right in the middle of COVID, this particular place had a lot of customer service reps and their response to COVID was tough. You had all these people in these shared spaces and they kept them there. They were coming in different shifts. You never had the same workplace. You didn’t have your own area. It wasn’t cleaned. It was everywhere. If you Googled the name of that company and COVID, it was everywhere. There were articles by Business Insider requesting for employees to reach out to them. It’s a thing.

Has Business Insider always been like TMZ or Business World? I didn’t know this.

I don’t know if they have always been that way but it’s in their name.

You’re right about that. I haven’t pieced the two things together. I was reading some of that stuff and it’s wild.

I didn’t get to listen to it, John. Enlighten me.

I didn’t listen to it. I’m just reading from the text of what they transcribed from it. They talked to an employee and the employee is like, “Morale is at an all-time low and everybody is afraid that they are going to be the one that gets cut and it felt so depressing.” It makes me wonder about the inner workings at Peloton now. What is that?

Don't judge the bike by just one ride. Click To Tweet

That’s why their head is down. I think you hit the nail on the head.

The juxtaposition if you’ve been an employee of Peloton for a while in terms of like morale is at an all-time low. Before, you were basically working at Atari circa 1981 where you would go to the bathroom and you could wipe with $100 bills.

They were on top of the world for real. I don’t think you could have gone higher in the fitness industry.

This is going to be a rough patch. I do think that they’ll navigate it. As painful as some of these moves are, I feel bad for the people that are no doubt going to lose their jobs. Whether it’s 41% or not, it’s certainly going to be something. Ultimately, it’s probably something that they need to do. I know that’s easy to say when it’s not your job on the chopping block. I don’t mean to be callous, but I think that maybe they need to pair back down. It’s got to be a little bit of whiplash if you’ve been there for the full run.

It’s going to feel more hurtful than your average job. The job that I was talking about that I was in 2021, what my top was probably Peloton’s low right now like always. I’m not even joking. Everybody was miserable all the time. When you’re comparing subjectively that high to low, it’s going to hurt a lot more to go from where they were to now than the average company.

Another thing that was interesting about this and what they are describing here is they’re saying 41% of sales and marketing. In my group, I posted this video from 1995 where Steve Jobs is talking about the descension of Xerox and the reasoning behind that. He talks about how they had a monopoly. Because of that, how do you progress when you have a monopoly? Your sales and marketing people create more sales. The sales and marketing people became the more powerful folks. They got all the promotions, and then the product people got pushed out, then there was less product innovation, and then other companies came around and overtook them. He’s describing this paradigm. When I read that they’re starting with sales and marketing, my mind instantly tied to that Steve Jobs’ 1995 interview. Am I reading into this that Peloton is thinking something similar or am I thinking that way too far?

It’s hard to say because there are other factors at play. Don’t forget that they didn’t start there. Way back in November, they cut the commissions of the sales from all of the showrooms. When the first articles came out, it was the retail stores, then the retail lines. Now it’s sales and marketing. I don’t know where it is or how much. People keep saying that it’s all the executives’ fault. It’s all the top level. I don’t know that I agree with that because the people at the very top get protected from bad news. I’ve watched this play out in companies.

Middle managers are so scared and protective of their people in the cultures. This is typical culture. I’m not saying this happens at Peloton. I’ve never worked there, but typical cultures. Middle managers tend to be very scared of going to the top with real problems, discussing things and digging in deep. Because of that, the top-level hears things like even when it’s bad news, it’s this rosy version of bad news. In my opinion, it might be more that the middle management needs to go, not the top. I know that some people are going to have to go because there’s not enough money for everybody to go around. I think that’s something to consider.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

That’s an interesting perspective but it makes a lot of sense. I hear you. I’ve seen that before, that same paradigm. Maybe it’s closer to that. I did find that whole connection interesting.

It is interesting, regardless. Whether you’re dead on or you’re not, I have no idea. Time will play out.

In my group, I just pose questions. I could be way out in the left field.

I think that you make good connections to things.

Here’s my new suggestion. Change the price of the bike to $400 million. If you sell two of them, you’re good. Your welcome, Peloton. I’ve solved all your problems.

For all the people out there being experts at home, and I’ve seen a lot of people being experts, I doubt that we can judge accurately who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong because we’re not there. People are being cruel across the board. It’s been sad to watch people that I have respected in the past that have no idea what’s going on there, and who I know for a fact have had their own issues in their own career say terrible things about the leadership. I know for a fact that the leadership has genuine good meaning. Whether they are right or wrong, they mean well. It hurts my heart.

We were early on. We met a lot of these people and we got to know them. You care for these people and you see them. I was seeing some of these people every week for a while. You genuinely care about these people. You feel as though you know their heart. I’m with you. It hurts in my mind as well to see this, and have this concept, the inner workings there, this morale thing and what they may be struggling through.

The Schadenfreude bandwagon is real. Speaking of, our final story for this segment, just a little hit piece from CNBC about Peloton insider selling their stock before the big drop. For the most part from what I can tell, it’s not like they sold it 45 minutes before the big drop.

It says they sold it in the fall of 2020.

The headline makes it sound sleazy. You have to actually read the details because people do that. I remember when Foley unloaded a bunch of stock. It was around $100 a share at the time. It wasn’t like when it got $170, he was like, “I’m going to sell all my stock now. I’m going to institute O’Keefe’s idea about a $400 million bike and I’m out.”

We even covered it on the show because it was news then, but it was positive news. It was just a little blip and nobody paid attention to it. We talked about it on the show because I wanted to put it in the record like, “See, there’s nothing crazy going on here.” They clearly had a number set up that when it gets to a certain number, go ahead and sell.

It’s a scheduled thing. It’s not like somebody woke up one day and said that. That’s another component. I saw this information like this insider. You can piece some things together and you could derive something that’s a story. I saw this similar to something that you could derive with a story and I don’t know if it’s much of a story.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

I agree that it’s not. As Tom said, it’s the Schadenfreude bandwagon and there are a lot of people on it right now. As a person who’s watched a lot of history with Peloton and I know you guys are right there with me, it’s hard to watch. I don’t think that people are just sitting there in the upper management going, “Let’s see how we can screw it up. Let’s hire a bunch of people so we can fire them.” There is none of that happening in my opinion, but then people will tell me, “You don’t work there.” That’s true. I’ve met these people and I get a good feeling from people and I don’t believe that, but you believe what you want to believe.

It will be interesting to watch how it plays out. It will also be interesting to see if it works.

They grew too fast. They’ve got to contract. I believe that they will get it in line. It will take a while. By 2023, we’re going to be like, “We can all breathe now.” You got all that out of your system. It’s like a teenager. You got to pull them back in.

I think they gained under 200,000 new connected fitness subscribers in the last quarter of 2021. That is nothing to sneeze at. I know they burned through a lot of cash quickly, but they still had under $1 billion in cash. You lose all that when you’re getting all this news hit you.

I’ve said this before. It’s not like people have wheeled their bikes out to the corner for the trash man to come to pick them up. They still have the most popular fitness instructors. They still have equipment people. They still have all these subscribers. It’s still an enormously popular product.

I don’t think their days are over. I don’t think the instructors are going anywhere, which is another big thing that I’ve seen like the sky is falling. I don’t agree with that. Do they want to go to Echelon? Are they going to Apple Fitness? Are they going to go to Body and sell nutrition and dance on Instagram instead of actually teaching something? I don’t think so. They’re going to be here. I’m not saying no instructor will leave for good reasons. Everybody has things that will come up, but they’re under contract, number one.

There isn’t a competitor that’s at the same level in terms of exposure for an instructor. This is the top tier. It’s not even a close call. There’s no Coke to this Pepsi yet. You might have an RC Cola maybe.

The only time I could see an instructor leaving is if they get an amazing entertainment deal. I don’t think Cody is headed anywhere. I’m just using him as an example if some amazing entertainment thing popped up as a result of his Dancing With The Stars.

“We want you to host Entertainment Tonight,” stuff like that. John, thank you so much for joining us. Until next time, where can people find you?

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

—

We should also point out that the earnings call has been set for Tuesday, February 8th. Apparently, they don’t even get to do Thursdays anymore. They have been downgraded to Tuesdays.

I’m glad. It works out so much better for us, so thank you. I’m looking forward to it because I think we’re going to get some insight either way.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

This will be an interesting call. I’m sure Foley can’t wait to be on the other side of this event.

Sometimes he shows up and he looks really tired. I think it’s not going to be his most awake moment. He’s going to look a little gray and haggard and I feel bad.

I don’t blame him. Moving onto more mundane Peloton news, The Spokesman-Review that’s giving you all the news that fit to print for Spokane is very excited because Spokane joins the exotic list of exclusive Peloton trail rides.

I’m jealous of them because look at their beautiful scenic trail. What did we get in St. Louis?

We got the murder bridge.

Nobody wants to see the murder bridge.

We bag on St. Louis a lot. We make a lot of jokes at the expense of St. Louis. Many of them deserve it, but there are beautiful areas. You don’t need to come and do a scenic ride on the murder bridge.

There are a lot of places you could pick. I love this article because I love how happy and proud they are that it made the freaking newspaper. That’s amazing.

Spokane, hats off. I guess you don’t have a murder bridge.

Maybe their outdoors is pretty enough. It’s distracted from their murder bridge.

In St. Louis, instead of the murder bridge, you have a salt bridge. They could have done that. They could have gone to the bad check highway. They could have done something there. We have all sorts of nice places that aren’t the murder bridge. I’m just saying. AfroTech.com has a nice article about how creativity is the cheat code, how Peloton empowers its teams to shake things up.

They give examples about how the instructors are able to say fun things on the rides, and how whenever they do partnerships with different artists collaborations that they have lots of creativity there. I totally agree with all that. This is one of the articles that John was talking about that was found only on LinkedIn. Peloton did not post this anywhere but I found it in all my normal spots because I don’t go to Facebook to find it. I thought it was interesting. I feel like they’re trying to send a message but they’re trying to send it subtly.

It’s more targeted. Peloton blog has a nice post about how to develop an instructors mindset.

I haven’t included a Peloton blog forever. I liked this one because many of us look up to the instructors and we appreciate what they have to say and it motivates us. Alex Toussaint and Callie Gullickson put together what keeps them moving on days when it feels good and on days when it doesn’t. I realize that there’s a whole lot of people out there that it’s their job and that’s the way that people think about it. It’s different when you’re on. I say that as a person who we do this show once a week, and it’s a tiny fraction of what these instructors go through. It’s a teeny bit but there are days that no matter how much I love Peloton or how much I love the audience, I’m not feeling it and it’s hard to push through. I appreciate seeing in print like, “Here’s what the instructors do.” I thought I would share that because a lot of people out there can relate to that. A lot of people have jobs where they’re on all the time.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

Finally, Marie Claire has a review of the eight best treadmills for home, and the Peloton Tread made the list.

So did the Echelon.

Hopefully, it was at least number eight.

It’s already up there. They were above Peloton.

I don’t think this is a ranking.

It’s not. I scroll down to see what the cons were. I can’t remember what they said, just a little bit, “If you aren’t into classes, this treadmill may not be worth the investment because it’s worthless. You can only do the Just Run. That’s it.” That’s fair.

If you don’t like the content then just get a regular old and boring treadmill and you’ll be fine.

There are a lot of treadmills that are going to do the job.

—

Joining us is Angelo from MetPro here to answer some nutrition questions for people.

Thanks for having me back.

We’re glad to have you back. We have some Clip Out members that need you. We had two members reach out with the same issue. Ashley Washington and Billy Lenore both are struggling with consistency and discipline. I hear from Billy and he says, “Story of my life,” and Ashley says that she does good for a few days, then she falls off the wagon.

Ashley and Billy, you are normal. Everybody deals with that. A little bit of background info, this is actually a very relevant conversation at MetPro. We help create custom strategies for people based on meeting them where they’re at. Here’s part of that determination process. Most people lose weight, burn fat, have more energy when they consistently follow any clean eating routine, especially right out of the gate in the first few days. The challenge is they struggle to do so consistently. That’s one bucket.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

Another bucket is I’m already, within reason, eating clean. I’m already exercising regularly. My body simply isn’t adapting or moving or progressing any further from where I’m at now. That’s a different scenario. We call that metabolic because what we actually have to do is help somebody redirect their metabolism, rev their metabolic rate to change how their body is functioning at that point in time. When somebody is simply struggling to be consistent with food, I’m going to tell you the trick. It’s going to surprise you. It’s not what you think. It’s not going to be like taking more vitamin XYZ. It’s about speed. I know that may seem like, “What? Why would say speed?” A better word would actually be brevity.

When you have the strategies that enable you to prepare meals or have a routine in place that’s consistent and quick, you’re going to do great. Your frequency, regularity, habits, consistency, momentum and nourishment is going to carry you in the right direction. The problem is a lot of people tell me, “I’m supposed to do food prep. I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how to prepare three days worth of a snack. I don’t know what I should eat. I went to the grocery store and this was half of my afternoon.” If that’s been your experience, that’s normal also but it shouldn’t stay that way. You should have it down to minutes to where now it’s literally a twenty-minute project and you’ve got multiple days dialed in with at least snacks, maybe lunches, etc. and it’s quick.

Most people don’t know those lifestyle techniques. What I recommend, and this is what I’ll recommend for you, Ashley and Billy. The first thing I want you to do is to get a routine of consistency with breakfast and an afternoon snack. If you do just that one thing, you have created a disruptive behavior in your daily schedule that will work for the positive.

Breakfast, you have a leg up on because typically most people wake up and are at home. If you wake up and you don’t know where you’re at, that’s a different conversation altogether. Most people are already at home when they get up. All you have to do is have the grocery shopping done and healthy ingredients in your house. Most people can do that.

The second thing is going to be preparing an afternoon snack because if you get an afternoon snack, then what’s going to happen is you’re not going to make it all the way from waking up to mid-afternoon. You’re going to eat. You’ll have breakfast. You’ll have lunch. You won’t overeat at lunch, whatever you choose, because you have a healthy snack already set up and ready to go. If you get it in the middle of the afternoon, it’s going to stabilize your blood sugar. It’s going to curb cravings.

Statistically, if you look back over 30 days, I promise you your average dinner composition, how much you eat and what choices you make will have improved by consistently getting a healthy afternoon snack. Don’t overthink it. Get a balanced macronutrients snack, maybe fruit, nuts, things along those lines where you’re getting a little protein, a little bit of carbohydrates. Pick something you like that travels well, that’s convenient to make, and add that into your routine. What you’ll find is that will dovetail into all different aspects of making better choices, more consistency, better discipline throughout your day overall. I think that will help.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

It is good to have that stuff ready. I was racing home to do this interview and it was time for my snack. It was in my little cooler. As I’m driving, I’m reaching over, grabbing half an ounce of beef jerky and eating a rice cake, which now I’m probably wearing the rice cake because they’re so crumbly. Rice cakes are made out of male egos. They crumble when you touch them.

That was the best one yet. We’ve been doing these conversations for a while. That’s officially my favorite.

I got my snack.

Crystal, you’re at home so you can do this. You have access to the food. A lot of people are a little overwhelmed by the concept of food prepping because they envision it. We all have that buddy that goes to the gym and maybe he’s a physique or figure competitor or someone like that. They have all their glass jars and all labeled meal 1, 2, 3. Don’t start there. Start with literally brown paper sacking a simple snack. Make several at a time and start simple. What you’ll find is it’ll get easier and easier. All other meals around it will naturally be better and better choices because we become a function of our environment.

If I asked someone who’s trying to be healthy, would you rather have this healthy, grilled chicken salad for lunch or this greasy cheeseburger for lunch? When given the choice, sometimes maybe willpower is a little lacking. The cheeseburger gets the best of you. I get it. A lot of times someone will pick a good choice, but life doesn’t give you those options. If you can have this cheeseburger, it’ll be ready in 45 seconds and cost you a nickel or you can drive home, put on your apron and start chopping vegetables. Now, which one do you choose?

I’m getting a note from our legal department and they’re saying, “Avoid hamburgers that cost a nickel. That’s not cow.” Aside from beef recommendations, if people want advice from MetPro, where can they find you?

They can go to MetPro.co/tco. Thanks, guys.

—

It was reported that Jenn Sherman got the Corona.

She did an Instagram Story and she said that she was out of her house for the first time. She had the sniffles. She’s doing well and excited to announce that she is going to be back on the bike on Thursday evening. That is great news. We’re glad to have her back. I’m glad she’s doing okay.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

That’s what my son, Brian, experienced as well with his COVID. It was the sniffles. If he hadn’t tested positive, we wouldn’t have even made the list of things to worry about.

It seems like it was a mild cold.

As you said earlier, thank goodness for being vaxxed and boosterfide. There’s some good exposure for Adrian Williams. He was featured in People Magazine.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are mad at them now. It’s hard to be mad at Adrian Williams. He’s so funny and sweet. Here’s the controversy. He meditates in the shower. I guess he lays down in the shower and gets absorbed in that meditation. People who are in areas where there are droughts are a little frustrated with Adrian for this major waste of resources.

If he took a shorter shower, would they ship the water to the areas where there were drought?

It’s the point that they have to take five-minute showers and he’s there laying for God knows how long.

There are places in the world that don’t have power. I enjoy watching television. Nobody’s like, “How rude of you to enjoy watching television that takes electricity?” I get it if he’s in an area where there is a drought and there are limited resources and he’s watering his lawn like those people who are D bags.

They felt like he was not sending a good message in that. He’s a person who sets the stage for other people and then he’s showing this. Maybe people that live in those areas might say, “If it’s okay for him, it’s okay for me.” I’m just telling you what they said.

At some point, there are many corners to see around. I don’t know how realistic it is to be able to do that. You can at me. I’ll ignore you.

They won’t at you. They’ll at me so don’t.

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Also, Yahoo featured Kendall Toole.

This was originally in Women’s Health. I saw it a few times so I just wanted to point that out. Kendall was in there and she’s talking about her favorite foods and how you can use them for self-care. Her body reacted badly to ingredients like gluten, dairy, soy, yeast and all kinds of things. She had to clean it up and figure out what worked for her and what didn’t. It even affected her mental health. It’s something that is very near and dear to her. It’s very important that people know that, and that food can affect your wellbeing on a lot of levels.

Shape.com sat down with Tunde.

She provided confidence tips. I’m laughing because who else should you get confidence tips from? This lady exudes confidence on every level.

It’s easy for confidence to tip over into cockiness. She does not do that.

I use the example of when she cut her hair. She was scared of doing that for a long time. One day she was like, “I’m tired of that being a thing.” We had to point out, this is by Michelle K. She had it again, back to Shape. This is a great article. I so adore Tunde. I loved seeing her featured here and she has fabulous tips for confidence. We can all learn from her.

Robin has a masterclass on the app/website, Masterclass.

This has premiered in 2021.

I thought we had talked about this for a while, but there’s a contest going on that’s associated with it.

You can enter now. One winner is going to get coached by Robin in a 60-minute virtual one-on-one coaching session. It’s worth it right there. She’s going to help you develop a personalized plan to accomplish your goals in 2022. Also, there is a wellness kit, a handpicked selection of Robin’s favorite products. You share your goals and you have to be a Masterclass subscriber and you do these things, and you can be part of this. You could be a winner.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

Emma Lovewell is going to be or will have already been on live with Kelly & Ryan.

She was super excited about it. She posted it in her Story. She actually posted it fifteen minutes before she goes live. She was nervous because it was in her house. She has a cat and they had done the rehearsal before she went live, and the cat totally bombed her thing. I didn’t get to watch the full thing. I hope her cat did not bomb but if it did, I’m sure that the cat was adorable.

They have identified her as a fit-fluencer.

Isn’t that interesting? Talking about Peloton, a fit-fluencer. I think it’s because that was their theme. I noticed on Thursday, they have another fit-fluencer and they probably don’t want to name one company over another.

Logan Aldridge has been in the studio rehearsing.

It’s going to be very soon that he is teaching classes live. He was there and Becs ran into him and Jess Sims in the green room and they took a selfie together. By the way, Becs just cut her hair and she added bangs and she looks freaking amazing. Yes, that’s news. This is going to be exciting to see Logan Aldridge teaching classes. I’m excited.

—

Tom, would you like to know what my favorite thing is about the Sonos Roam? I love the way it fills up the basement with sound. It sounds so good.

How is one thing making all this noise?

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

It looks the size of a soda can cylinder and it sounds like a huge home stereo coming out of that thing. You can pick it up and take it anywhere. I’m very impressed. It’s an ultra-portable smart speaker that allows you to bring the Sonos experience everywhere you go. Roam weighs less than a pound and its premium, durable design makes it perfect for the home and on the go.

When you’re home it connects to your WiFi network and the rest of your Sonos system. It automatically pairs with your phone on Bluetooth when you’re on the go so you get a seamless experience.

It is easy to use and the best. If you would like to learn more, go to Sonos.com and learn all about it.

—

You got the new Peloton shoes.

I did and I got the new cycling shoes. I talked about how I wanted to get them because the white ones are not the most attractive. I’ve had them for a very long time. I was nervous because I’ve heard a lot of people saying that these things are so narrow. They don’t stay on your heel. I don’t know if they took the feedback that they got from people and they corrected it or if I happened to have the right size feet, but I did not experience them being too narrow.

They felt a little bit snug on the outer edges of my feet, but after I had them on for about five minutes, I didn’t even notice it. As I was riding, I was perfectly comfortable. I didn’t experience any numbness, but my favorite part about them was how soft they were. I don’t know how to explain it. They felt so light and easy on my feet. They weren’t as clunky as the other ones. I thought they were comfortable. I was very impressed and surprised after some of the negative things that I’d heard.

Kristen McGee did an IG live with Chef Ming Tsai.

They cooked together and they had a whole thing that was like a cooking demo. You could get the recipe and you could cook along with them.

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Andy Speer and Rebecca Kennedy are switching places.

They were excited about it. They posted on their stories, which they post a lot of stories together. I guess that’s not that shocking, but they are switching places. Normally Rebecca does a Friday 45 at 10:00 AM. Andy does the Sunday Sizzle at 10:30 AM and they switched.

It’s a freaky Friday but on a Sunday also.

It’s a Freaky Weekend.

If you want to know more about running, if you’re a beginning runner, then you need to check out IG live because Matt Wilpers, Jess Sims and Kirsten Ferguson have tips for you.

They went live together on Tuesday and I got to watch a little bit of it. There are some amazing tips about things that every beginner does like don’t go out too hard. Jess Sims always says, “No ego, amigo,” but starting way easier than you think. Also, something that most runners are guilty of. Not every run needs to be a hard run. Not everyone should be a hard run and how you can put your schedule together. All three of them are on the schedule in 2022. Peloton has put into place like there’s going to be a certain bootcamp in place every day. Every week, there’s going to be a beginner class. There’s going to be an endurance class. They have done this on purpose to build it up for people who are new to running. You know that you can expect these things. It’s some excellent tips. If you are new to running, I highly suggest you go check it out. If you missed it live.

I was also thinking, keep your ego in check. Don’t go at it too hard. These are also things learned in the aforementioned film Freaky Weekend.

Also, stay hydrated. It works on both levels.

—

Finally, a happy birthday to Ben Alldis who is celebrating on January 22nd.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

Happy birthday, Ben. 2021 has gone by so fast. It honestly feels like we just told him a happy birthday. I can remember having this conversation. That’s crazy. It goes by fast. He’s growing up.

—

Joining us via the magic of ZoomTube is Jim McCaffrey. Jim, how’s it going?

How are you doing?

We’re good. I always start these with finding out where people originally found out about Peloton and how you got in the Peloton world. I’m curious to start there.

My wife and I always joke. We have all these different inroads where people start with small talk and it gets to real talk real fast with us. Unfortunately, I learned about Peloton while we were living in the city, while my daughter was in treatment for her childhood cancer. We had to get creative with the ways that she and I stayed fit because exercise is a very important thing to her and me. When you go through a struggle, you got to find a way to do it.

One of the things that we did there was some of the different places we stayed at gyms and they had bikes that we could ride. We started hearing the buzz around New York about Peloton. Fortunately for us, somebody very nice bought us a bike, which was our inroad in because people do nice things for people who are struggling. Once the bike was delivered to our house and we were able to come back home, I started riding. It’s a fun and great community to get involved in.

In 2021, Andrea did this amazing ride where she rode 24 hours straight to raise money for Infinite Love For Kids. You are the VP of Infinite Love For Kids. For people who may not have heard of it, this is their first introduction. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

The event was something that we had come up with. We were looking for creative ways to raise money in virtual environments. One of our biggest fundraisers that we usually had was a gala, in-person sit-down and give people open bar, have a good time, raffle off a whole bunch of stuff that people want and you make a lot of money.

It sounds like it’s positive from another era at this point. You might as well be The Great Gatsby.

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We were sitting there like, “Why don’t we ride a bike for 24 hours?” We were looking for creative ways to try to engage our audience and continue to inspire people. That’s where it started.

For people who may not be familiar, Infinite Love For Kids raises money for kids that have childhood cancer. That goes towards research and also helping the families themselves.

We have a dual purpose. Raising funds for cancer research and children is very important to us. Anyone who gets involved in that community knows that only 4% of the national budget for research for all cancers goes to childhood cancer. For us, we wanted to bridge that gap and do what we could to fund research. That’s our primary mission. A good percentage of our funds go towards that. We raise annually.

We also help families in need, whether it’s to help offset the financial burden by paying bills or doing something nice for the family by building a ridiculous tree house or something for them. We do what we can to help people and personalized. Honestly, that’s how I got to know Ang because my daughter was diagnosed. She brought us in and gave my daughter some amazing experiences. We knew we had to give back from there.

That’s awesome that you went from like, “I’ll give back. I’m VP.”

You get moved by something and it took me a little while to get involved. I view her as like an older sister. She is somebody who reminds me of my family. I have two sisters. I look up to my older sister. I completely and thoroughly respect my younger sister and all that she does and how strong women, both of them are. A great fusion of the qualities that I respect most in them, it was an easy thing for me to get involved in. She’s my energy and we’re a good team together.

If you want to keep working with her, you might want to start calling her sister instead of older sister.

We didn’t have a lot of love from New Jersey, so that’s one of our nice little things.

I heard that you’re planning to join her on the ride. When is the ride, first of all?

We’re kicking ourselves off on January 29th, 2022. It’s a Saturday in the morning. We aim for the 9:00 ride. Peloton doesn’t release their schedules too far in advance. We’ll find whatever that 9:00 AM live ride is on Saturday. We’ll go after the instructor on social media, let them know what we’re doing and try to flood that ride with as many people that want to get involved as possible. You can sign up to do the 30-minute class with us or a 45-minute class, whatever it ends up being at 9:00.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

We’ll send out a handle for everybody to put on their leaderboard. We’ll do what we can to enjoy the sub-community that happens with the Peloton ride. That will kick off our ride. My crazy idea is to keep myself engaged. I’m not going for the big output numbers but I’m going to try to do every live ride that debt being them all to keep myself entertained and going.

What are you going to do in between? There are not 24 hours of content for anybody new to Peloton. What are you going to do the rest of the hours?

I’m looking for suggestions from people too, but I’ll do some on-call rides, some of my favorite ones that are out there. I like all the rack rides, so those are where I go. Anything that I can put the earbuds in, listen to some music and go from there, I’ll do. I’ll try to do Facebook live together while we are in it. We tried to do one on Facebook and failed miserably with me and getting her in New Jersey. We’re going to try to do that together. If I throw a scenic ride on while I’m doing that, we’ll be able to interact as we go.

Since you’re doing this for a second year, I’m assuming it worked well for you in 2021.

I thought you didn’t ride in 2021.

The event, in general.

The event was a whopping success. It was one of these things where you go on with goals. Initially, the event was going to be we were going to tag team. She was going to be 12 hours and I was going to do 12 hours. We’re going to relay it out. We had the event scheduled for early December 2019 or 2020 at that time. Unfortunately, two weeks before the event, I have diagnosed with stage one adenocarcinoma. I need to have lung surgery.

It was something I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do twelve hours a ride. Ang is an inspiration. She said, “I’m going to do all 24.” She did it. That completely inspired me out while doing it. It was amazing. I did get to be a part of it. I did the 9:00 AM live ride with everybody. It felt good to be at least a little bit of a part of it. I went on with the rest of my day and kept checking in on her.

You were diagnosed with what? What does that mean to the average person?

I had a tumor on the upper part of my right lung. You have 5 different parts of your lung, 3 on your right side, 2 on your left. The tumor was on my right lung on the lobe. I found this mainly because I have a syndrome called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which we learned about through genetic testing after my daughter’s diagnosis. My daughter was diagnosed in 2016. She had a form of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. I had a courageous battle. I say it all the time, whenever I do an interview that my baby girl beat cancer every single day. It, unfortunately, took her 364 days after she was diagnosed.

It was tough. The loss and grief you feel from losing a child are impossible. We have a son, James, who was twenty months younger than her. We were approached by Dr. Walsh at Memorial Sloan Kettering. He’s a geneticist. He advised, “You guys should do some genetic testing and try to get to the why.” When you’re in childhood cancer and you see your child battling, it’s funny to me because in life, why is the most important question I have, in teaching and everything I do. I have a strategy for teaching this book. Why do I want to do that?

How is this helping kids? When it came to that, why was the last thing you were worried about at that time? We were like, “What can we do to combat this head-on and try to figure out how we can try to beat this?” We eventually started asking why and we found out that a lot of this had to do with this syndrome. It’s a genetic mutation. It’s chromosomal that puts me at a higher risk of getting cancer. I had a 50-50 chance of passing it onto my children, the same chromosome mutation through a lot of different genetic research. As we went back through my family and tried to paint a picture, I was an anomaly. It’s not present in any of my family.

It’s something that happened during conception. You can’t control it. It’s not something that you normally test for. This isn’t something that during one of my physicals when I was a kid, they wouldn’t be able to see. Some people could be walking around with this that don’t know they have it. The fortunate end of this is that my little girl has helped my life. As a parent, I wish the opposite, but also as a parent, I have a son that we’ve had after Mia and were able to take the steps that we knew we could take through science to ensure that I didn’t pass that gene onto him.

It’s a lot to unpack. Our stories are complex. We’re in chapter two. It’s something that I feel fortunate to know that I go through scans once a year to make sure that this is something that we’re getting early. We were able to surpass stage one adenocarcinoma. I didn’t need any radiation or chemotherapy. They just had to take 1/5 of my lungs.

How does that work for you moving forward? When you say it increases your risk of cancer, is it a specific type of cancer or it could be anything?

There is a Li-Fraumeni syndrome society that spreads awareness and things like that. There was a report that came out about it having a higher risk for more invasive prostate cancer. The lung is the other one. The issue with it is that it’s hard to have baseline statistics on something that people aren’t regularly getting evaluated. You have to temper the numbers that you hear because it could drive you crazy. You sit there and say to yourself, “What does high risk mean?” Baseline statistics, 1 in 3 people will get cancer. How do you then take that number and apply it to somebody who’s at a higher risk?

In the end, what it does for me though medically, is I’m a fully insured individual through my genetic testing. I have this, so the scans are funded. I’m able to go in and get these regular scans without it destroying my bank account. It’s something that we do keep close to the chest but it’s one of those things. My son, James, who was born after Mia, has a chromosomal mutation as well. We didn’t do great with higher our statistics going in but he goes through regular testing as well. He has been clear so far.

My first scans produced baseline things that they were following. I had my thyroid removed because there was something on that and that was right away. The lung was something that followed. I’m lucky to have an amazing team of doctors. I get an even more amazing family. My wife and I have been through so much together and we go right after it. She is a tremendous support system for me in doing what we can.

It’s humbling to hear. You’ve taken it all in stride and you break it down but I know that was a long time of you processing. I can’t imagine. My brain is still trying to catch up with everything that you said that’s happened and that’s a lot.

I’m still broken. I’m talking to my wife when we were at a wedding having a little bit of a good time. Sometimes when you’re introducing a couple of depressants into your life, it triggers some things. I have moments that we go through. I’m not always composed and able to talk about it without getting caught up in it all. With that said, I try to look at its relativity.

TCO 242 | Peloton

 

I’m an endurance athlete. I’ve run fifteen marathons. I’m a runner. I coach running here at the high school. I competed in the New York City marathon this past November 2021, not even twelve months after lung surgery. That’s not inner determination and strength. That’s respecting the power of science, doing what you can to build yourself back up and then having an incredible team to support you and having community with you. That’s what it’s all about. I’m going to ride for 24 hours.

How long did it take after your surgery before you felt like you could get back to riding a bike and running?

I did my surgery at Sloan and on day three, I tested positive for COVID. That’s December 3rd, 2020 when we find out that happens. My wife and I are both teachers. My son is in elementary school. The hospital is as clean as it can be. You never know. It was hard to sort out some of the symptoms that I was having that were connected to recovering from lung surgery and also having COVID. Let’s put it this way. That’s December 3rd, 2020. On December 26, 2020, I went for my first run.

Coming home from the hospital, we have a treadmill down in our basement right next to our Peloton. The first walk I tried to go on since it was in quarantine and it’s winter, I decided to walk on the treadmill down there. It was a 20-minute pace for me to do a 0.5 mile. That was early on. Within two weeks, I’m out there pushing myself. I’m not the athlete I was. We all set standards for ourselves as athletes.

That’s what I love about Peloton. You can set your own goals. You have the outputs that you’re aiming for. Some people are impressed by what you’re able to do but you were able to set your own goals based on that. Running is the same thing for me as well. I was able to compete in the marathon. I did it in 3 hours and 30 minutes. My record going into that was 2:51.

I couldn’t complete a marathon in three hours. If somebody were going to give me $6 billion at the end, I could not do it.

These are the things that you have to look at with relativity. You have to appreciate what your body can continue to do and enjoy it as much as you can. Stay in the moment. I said that to myself over 1,500 times while I was running because I kept getting caught up in it all. When you do anything for a long time, what you think about in your mind is important because if you start getting lost in something, it can trigger you to lose pace or go into a dark place. You have to have a mantra that you keep coming back to, “Stay right here. Relax. Enjoy what you’re looking at.” That’s what I can tell myself and it worked. It’s going to have to summon a little bit of that going into this 24 hours.

You had a support team in 2021. Are you going to have a support team in 2022? I remember your daughter brought her those things to put on her legs when her knees were hurting and stuff. Do you have plans or do you have a backup?

I have a great support team around me. I always talk about how amazing my wife is. Within every marathon that I’ve run, she’s been with me. I have a distinct memory of an experience with her in every one of them. I’m going to have to do a little bit more. I’m sure my son James will get involved. He’ll be down there as long as he sits and plays Fortnite while I’m doing it. He’ll go on some gaming marathon while I’m riding the bike.

I’ll have a support team there. This is where I’m going to throw this out on Facebook at some point here. I’m trying to figure out where I want to do this. My basement is not as attractive as a side room. As beautiful as my open floor plan is in our house that we have here. My wife and I were humble. We’re both teachers. Fairfield County, it’s the richest county in Connecticut. I would disrupt the flow of my entire household if I rode where that is. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do, where I’m going to set my bike up and do it all. I will have some support with me.

There are a lot of Connecticut writers I know for a fact. Some of the readers might be able to help you. Some people on Facebook can help you out because there are a lot of people that have spaces and resources.

When you do something for 24 hours, I’d love to meet some new people. It’s nice to talk to people and get to know them. I have no problem.

Besides giving you a place to try and find you a place to do your beer bike ride, how else can the Peloton community help out? What things can we do?

First of all, we’d love you to get involved in rides. If you Google Infinite Love Pedal, we’re one of the first hits to come up. You can register through our bike sign-up page. You can register in two ways. You can do the individual ride, which is to sign up and ride for 1 class with us or 2 classes, whatever you want to do or you can sign on and be one of our 24-hour riders, too. We are closing that registration earlier because we don’t want people to decide on a whim. As somebody who does endurance stuff, you can mess up a month of life after if you decide to do this without too much preparation or thinking.

We welcome people to join up. You could even join the 24-hour club and do it as you could design your relay to. There is not going to be an option for that in the sign-up but you could get a whole crew together and do it that way. Beyond that, do that individual. Get on that first class that we have. You can follow us on Facebook, Infinite Love For Kids Fighting Cancer. We’ll advertise what class we’re going to do it in, as soon as we know. At that point, you can start hitting social media at 9:00 AM, tag whatever instructor it is and see if we can get a shout-out.

Shout-outs are precious. Saying somebody’s name or what we’re doing is what we’re aiming to do. The annual fees to be on one of these bikes aren’t cheap but we’d love for that community to get involved and donate. Donate to the cause. We aim to raise $1,000 in 2022. We can do it. If we do that, that’s two fully-funded research grants. That’s amazing. That’s what we want to do.

Is Andrea going to ride it all again or is she going to pass that mantle to you because of her advanced age?

Her age has nothing to do without bonkers. She is doing it then. It wasn’t even a question. When we said we were doing the event again, she’s like, “I’m riding for 24 hours.” I’m like, “I guess I have to ride for 24 hours.” I’m doing it. She 100% was on board again. She even recruited somebody. I wish I had that person’s name in front of me. It’s one of Andrea’s friends that’s doing it. We already have a third person involved in this whole madness. It’s going to be fun, painful, emotional and one of those things. I’m sure Ang always has a way of surprising me. I’m sure there’s something else that she’s going to throw at me too while we’re on the button. You haven’t gotten to the goal by the end. Who knows what she’ll pull off at the end?

Have you been training? Have you been getting prepared for this?

One of the big things that I do with running is what we call a street runner, not in fact that I do it without my clothes on. I coach a high school track and field and cross country here. I coach the girls the same thing they always joke with me about. I say, “A run doesn’t count unless it’s 3 miles.” I run 3 miles every day. I’m going to start ramping up the Peloton intensity. I’ll do at least three classes a day. I’m going to be aiming for high output on each of them to try to help get the legs to get moving. I’ll keep the running going too. I’m more of a runner than a rider but I have a lot of respect for the Peloton, so use it a lot.

Maybe you should run for 24 hours. You do the tread. She does the bike.

It’s going to happen at some point in my life. I will be on a track somewhere for 24 straight hours. I picture bands playing in the middle, all that stuff. One section of it we can combine. We can add the kids gaming in the middle too.

Do you have a preferred instructor?

I’ve always liked Jenn Sherman. I always did all her rides. The output she was trying to get out of us at the cadence that she was telling us with the adjustments was always exact for me. It was exactly what I was always looking for. That was always a big thing with the ride. I’ll be hitting some Jenn rides while I’m out there. Jess King goes out to kick your butt too. You never know, maybe I’ll fill one of those in.

I feel like you could hit all of the instructors multiple times in 24 hours.

I’m looking for some things to do, so open to suggestions and we’ll do it. If there are rides that people like, throw them out to me. I’ll hop on and give me a high five. Maybe I’ll get some sign-up genie gallons with glasses. People can sign up and join me for a ride.

Since you teach people how to run and you’re a big Peloton, do you have any advice for people that are entering the world of Peloton, whether it’d be with a bike or tread?

I almost speak to exactly what I said. Number one, start with the beginner rides. Get used to manipulating everything and using the bike properly. Make sure you have the fit right and all that stuff but beyond that, as a starting point, it’s all about starting slow and setting up little stops for yourself throughout. Week one, what was I able to do during a 30-minute ride? Next week, I’m going to do all these other rides but I’m going to revisit that 30-minute ride and see if my outputs are similar. Try to find that instructor that you feel speaks to you.

When it comes to motivating anybody to do anything, if you’re looking for an antagonist and you’re looking for somebody to yell at you, there is an instructor out there for you. If you’re looking for somebody to show you some empathy and build you up as you go, there is an instructor out there for you. Don’t judge the bike by one ride. You’re going to find your groove and an instructor in there who you like. It’s the same way when I went on the roads. If you judge running by a 1 or 3-mile run that you do, go find a flatter route and maybe put them by the beach. It’s a lot nicer there.

That’s not an option in St. Louis.

The snow.

St. Louis has got a lot of great places. I was out there for a convention, the NECT, National English Teacher’s Convention. I got to go out there. St. Louis is a nice place to run around. You got to make sure you’re running the right place.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. Before we let you go, remind everybody where they can find you, if you would like to be found and where they can find your charity and sign up for your event, if they would like to do that as well.

My leaderboard name is Miake It Amazing, which is named after my daughter Mia. Miake It Amazing is what we try to do every day. It’s what motivates me every day. Follow me on the leaderboard there. You can also find the Infinite Love Pedal-Thon. You can find that by following us on Facebook, Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer. You can visit us on the internet, InfiniteLoveForKidsFightingCancer.org. There you’ll be able to see our events, everything that we do and hopefully, get involved. We’ll get some people out there on a bike having a good time.

We’ll be cheering for you guys. I’m sure I’ll do at least one ride, maybe more. I’m not going to do 24 hours.

Thank you so much for having me and allowing me to share my story with you page by page. It was great chatting with you.

You take care. I hope that 2022 is a little bit easier for you.

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

We’re going to have the creator of the PeLatino’s group, Victor Cornejo on. I am so excited about our chat with him.

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, and the Tread @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Wherever you’re getting your podcasts from, be sure and follow us so you’ll never miss an episode. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running.

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