KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — How many brands can say a global pandemic was part of their origin story?
Well, a new spin studio tucked away in Damansara Heights will be one of the very few.
Just two weeks before Journey was to open, the whole country went into a lockdown.
Syed Harris Umar, Journey's founder, said, "We had to adapt to the situation. At first, we wanted to just wait it out because we didn’t have a lot of information and didn’t know how long it was going to be.
“We waited for about a month. We had all our bikes already so we started renting them out."
Together with so many other fitness professionals in the country (and around the world), Harris and his partners had to do a hard pivot and go online. To offer classes via Zoom.
When Harris, who has the stellar reputation of being one of the most sought after spin instructors in the city, and his partners planned to open this boutique studio, they were prepared for the usual stress of opening a business.
And then this.
"We managed to turn things around really quickly... my partners are seasoned business people so their experience really helped in our pivot towards live streaming.
"The first time we live streamed a class, the quality was definitely short of OK. There were just so many factors that needed to be considered," he explained.
Sound was the biggest issue but Harris managed to get things down to "a point where it was bearable with the help of our light and sound technicians."
Wait a minute... this was during the lockdown though and nobody could actually come to his house.
"I had to do all the actual work while being advised over the phone... it was definitely an interesting experience," Harris said.
On the plus side, Harris' sister who is a singer had all the sound equipment he needed so that was a lucky break.
"My family was also very kind for obliging my shouting at a screen of people for an hour every other day," he said with a laugh.
After a month of doing classes from home, he was able to move to the studio when the lockdown eased.
"When we started live streaming from the studio, everything started coming back to life."
Anybody who has ever attended a spin class will know it is the energy from the instructor as well as that from the other riders that helps to keep you going.
"I truly feel that when the riders in the screen can fully enjoy the experience, it translates physically and when an instructor sees that, it will boost his or her energy."
It's like hosting a "live" TV show, Harris explained.
Also, once they moved to the studio the other instructors could also do classes. Journey has a full complement of four instructors including Harris.
On an average, they managed to get at least 15 participants per class. Some classes had better timing and would see more riders. "The biggest class we did was 36 people in one session. That was pretty cool."
By the time the government allowed gyms and spin studios to reopen in mid-June, Journey had already been conducting virtual classes for about three months!
In-studio classes finally started last week; originally the studio had 38 bikes but with the new regulations, it now only has 22.
"We take the safety of our riders seriously so we made sure there is ample space between bikes."
However, the in-studio classes are also live streamed so regular online riders can join in making the instructors feel like there are more riders in the studio.
In the original plan for Journey, going online was only supposed to happen three years down the road but the pandemic turned things around.
"We could have given up when we first started out in my little corner at home with the poor quality but we were passionate about the business and the little community of riders we had at the time... and it turned out great for us," said Harris.
The opening of Journey has most definitely had more than its share of twists and turns... nobody expected the bump on the road that was the Covid-19 pandemic but like the best bike rides, it's the detours that make things interesting.
For more on Journey, go to www.journey-ours.com.
