Former cycling physiotherapist Emma O’Reilly is set to launch the indoor training and performance brand Pro Spin and the fitness-only concept Spin Club, along with Jennie Duschenes.
The first site, which is due to open later this month, is based near Manchester Airport between Hale and Wilmslow, and the pair is close to securing a second site in the centre of Manchester.
Dubliner O’Reilly spent nearly a decade working with professional cyclists including disgraced former Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. She was a key whistleblower on Armstrong’s use of performance-enhancing drugs and the culture of doping in professional cycling.
O’Reilly said, “I’ve tried to step out of it as much as possible, because there are so many characters involved, and there is so much hate about it all.”
She has since reconciled with Armstrong, who wrote the foreword to her book The Race to Truth, which was published in 2014.
“It’s going to be an exercise and training facility,” O’Reilly told Insider magazine. “I wanted to keep close to my roots, at the high end, with performance and training and proper goals. There are so many people around here that train for events, they are into cycling.”
Pro Spin will combine coaching from Olympic and Commonwealth athletes with simulated training camps, while Spin Club will provide spin classes on a pay-as-you-ride basis.
Following the launch of two sites in Manchester the pair will consider a national roll out and taking on further investment.
