Read how Vicky Evans set up City Fit – the first ever Vibe Centre in the UK!
Vicky says, “I had worked in the fitness industry for over 10 years in various health clubs, gyms and spas. Whilst on maternity leave in early 2012 I trained to be a Vibe Cycle Instructor Level 1, organised by my employer. I had a great time on the course, Delvin Clarke was so great, inspirational! The Vibe Cycle concept was the best I had seen, I was very quickly hooked and started teaching regular Vibe Cycle classes on my employer’s timetable.
I worked hard to improve my Vibe Cycle skills and took a lot of advice from my fellow Vibe Cycle instructors Kelly Evans and Carole Harding. Carole & Kelly are both amazing Level 2 Vibe Cycle instructors and I aspired to be as good as them one day so I worked at it, as hard as I could. My confidence up front improved, my skills were getting better each day, I just LOVED teaching Vibe Cycle! The 4 classes a week at the gym I worked at just weren’t enough.
A couple of months later I attended the biggest VIBE day ever in Canary Wharf presented by Delvin, Lisa, and Jo and it was simply amazing! Lisa Cuerden really stood out to me on the day and I came home from London knowing even more how GREAT Vibe Cycle really was!
In my home town of St.Asaph people were starting to take an interest in the hearsay about ‘VIBE’ and would stop me in the street to ask what the symbol on my clothes meant. I would encourage them to travel to the gym I worked at to try Vibe Cycle but few did as it was far to travel.
I was told on the grapevine that a local leisure centre was selling a set of indoor cycling bikes and what with the interest from people of St.Asaph and surrounding areas I thought ‘why not?’
I bought the bikes with a bit of saved money (which was meant to be for a holiday!) and in July 2012 I started City Fit.
At first I was mobile, I had a van and a sound system and off I went to local village halls and leisure clubs to provide them with a bit of Vibe in their lives. Then the wear and tear of having mobile bikes was too much so I rented space in a rundown building. With a set of 16 bikes myself and Carole Harding put on 7 classes per week in and around our other commitments. The popularity of our classes was more than I could have imagined and within two weeks we were providing back to back sessions just so everybody could ‘Feel the Vibe’!
St.Asaph was going VIBE CYCLE CRAZY and by August I had to increase my bike number to 25, even then classes were rammed full with a waiting list! In September 2012 Kelly Evans and Kate Winter, both excellent Level 2 instructors, joined City Fit adding more and more classes to the timetable. With a lot of behind the scenes campaigning, advertising and promotion by myself the word on the streets of North Wales was City Fit & VIBE…It was incredible!
I knew City Fit would go from strength to strength whilst it was flying the VIBE flag and my vision was clear. I had seen all the other amazing VIBE concepts and wanted a full-on VIBE centre to house all of these. With the money generated from classes, City Fit was able to make its move in to the beautiful building we are now in and then everything seemed to fit into place!
City Fit now has 43 Keiser bikes, an incredible sound system, a team of awesome instructors and a timetable incorporating Vibe Cycle, Vibe Power and Vibe Step… and it’s rockin! Classes are always 40 full and sometimes we are oversubscribed! We have held 3 massive Vibe Masterclasses so far and they get bigger and better each time.
I am just a normal mother of two. I have no formal business skills or previous business encounters as nothing has ever motivated me as much as Vibe. I saw something wonderfull and just wanted to spread the love. I had no financial backing and took massive risks BUT, with a lot of hard work dedication and general Love of VIBE…it has paid off – better than I ever imagined!
Lastly, and by no means least, the support and love I was shown by Delvin Clarke has been the absolute key. He has taken City Fit under his wing and supported us fully and for that I plan on thanking him by taking City Fit to the highest of heights and creating the BEST Vibe Centre in the UK”.
