Page 1 of Head Over Wheels
CHAPTER 1
He flashes his trademark grin at me, and my heart rate immediately accelerates. I lean in, trying to get closer. A drop of sweat slowly slides down my temple, dripping onto the floor. Looking down, I make a mental note to wipe it up later. The music cranks a notch higher, making me move with increased intensity. Closing my eyes, I lose myself in the beat, mouthing the chorus. I blink my eyelids open, and his blue eyes stare me down, as if daring me to do more.
“Oh yeah, you want more? I’ll give you more.” My exhaustion makes me snippy.
I move my legs even faster, not sure how much longer I can keep this up. “I’ll do anything for you, Jace Altman, and you know it.” Another drop of sweat joins its sister on the floor. Listening as closely as I can, I wait for my next instruction.
Jace flashes another smile and leans back. “Okay team, time to turn down the resistance to 25-30 and ride your bikes home.”
“Yes, I did it!”
Breathing out a huge sigh of relief, I mimic his movements and grab my water bottle. I take a long drink and slow my legs. Grabbing my attention back, Jace takes me through a quick stretch and signs off with his trademark “sweat together, bond forever,” and then the screen goes black.
I’m exhausted but energized, just like I always feel after I complete an Elevate ride. Elevate is the brainchild of Priscilla Stark. She wanted to give people the opportunity to work out at home but still have the in-class instructor experience. I’ve had my bike now for a year, and it was worth every penny. It certainly wasn’t cheap, but once I had my first real job, I saved and scrimped until I could pay for it. The classes are amazing—high energy, fun, and incredibly motivating. There are so many different instructors to choose from, but I mostly choose Jace’s classes. His music choices are always spot on, and he is an excellent coach, pushing me to reach resistance and cadence numbers that I never thought possible.
I know what you’re thinking, and yes, his looks don’t hurt either. He’s tall, lean, and full of sleek muscles. His dark brown hair is short, but the top is tousled and always looks slightly different, as if he doesn’t spend too much time styling it, just allows it to do its own thing. His skin is always the loveliest golden colour, which emphasizes his blue eyes. All in all, he’s lovely to look at and listen to, even when he’s telling me to do really hard things. His voice is deep and powerful, just like a radio disc jockey. I can’t get enough of it.
I spend a few moments setting up my classes for the week. I select four spin classes first and then I build it out by adding in yoga and strength workouts, all through the Elevate app. The app makes it so easy to find a class that I have run out of excuses to not work out. And trust me, I can come up with a lot.
I flip over to Instagram, and of course, go right to Jace. My second go-to instructor is Deb, who also happens to be dating Jace in real life. I love to drool over all their perfect pictures, vacationing together, cooking together, out on the town... They make the most beautiful couple, both fit and happy and golden. I feel like I know them in real life and am personally invested in their relationship. If they ever get married, they are going to have the most gorgeous children, and I am here for it.
Unclipping from the bike is still completely awkward, even after a year, and is my least favourite part of the workout. It takes a special twist of the foot to disengage the bike shoe from the pedal EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. If I could ask for one thing to be redesigned on the bike… I wipe down the machine and grab my water bottle.
While I stretch out my very sore calf muscles, I scroll through my phone, checking my various messaging apps to see if anything exciting is happening. I open Gmail, and my heart immediately starts racing again.
Dear Ms. Baker,
You have been selected as one of the lucky Elevate members to come to our in-person Celebration Weekend! This weekend will be full of special classes with all your favourite instructors, as well as opportunities to get to know other members. Please respond as soon as possible at the following link.
Celebration Weekend RSVP
Sincerely,
Your Elevate Family
OMG! I can't believe this is happening. I leap up from my stretch and do a little jig while desperately trying to get my excitement under control so my fingers work to FaceTime my bestie. She’s going to lose her mind.
“Jess! You’ll never believe the email I just received.”
“It must be pretty great for you to FaceTime unannounced.” Her dry humour pours through the phone, pushing my smile to the limits.
“I received an invitation to Celebration Weekend in Montreal.” I don’t need to say anything else, as Jess has been listening to me babble on and on about this for weeks.
“Oh, wow! That is wild! I can’t believe you got selected.”
I’m gratified that Jess is as excited about this as I am. It feels like a really big deal. Elevate put this weekend together as a thank you to members for sticking with the company throughout the pandemic. Anyone who was interested just had to submit an application form, and then they held a lottery to pick the participants. There are only two hundred spots for the weekend and their current membership is well over a hundred thousand.
“Jess, I’m so excited! I’m going to get to work out in live classes and meet all the instructors.” Just thinking about this weekend has me wanting to do backflips through my condo. I can’t actually do a backflip, so thinking about it is as good as it gets.
“Ella, we’re going to need to go on a major shopping trip. We have to plan all your outfits in advance. When is it happening?” She’s already jotting things down on a piece of paper in front of her.
“It’s December seventh through the ninth, so we have a full month to prepare. What else are you adding to that list?” I lean into my phone to get a better view of what she’s writing down.
Jess laughs and looks back up at me. “Everything! We have so much to do. I’ll finish up the list and then type it up and share it with you online so you can add in anything I missed.”
I shake my head at her. “We both know there is zero chance you’ll have forgotten anything. Thanks for putting it together for me.”
“You know I love a good list.”