Celebrating 100K Subscribers Cycling Party

This weekend, I held a very special gathering for friends, coworkers and few lucky readers to celebrate hitting 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. While I hit the milestone in March, planning took a bit of time to put together. It was held at Recycle Studio on Saturday at 11 am. I asked Emily, one of my favorite instructors and blogger at Sleep Eat Gym Repeat, if she would lead a group of us in a Reboot cycling class.

Since the party was planned in March and the studio is a few blocks from the bombings, I hesitated holding the event as planned. Since the bombers were either killed or captured Friday night, I decided to go ahead as planned. I asked Emily to play a few songs like Shipping Up To Boston and Born in the USA for a bit of an reflective ride. Many of the girls told me after that they cried, pushed themselves harder than ever and felt like it was a cathartic and much needed ride after the emotional roller coaster we were put through last week. The ride ended up being one of the sweatiest and hardest for me, EVER.

I invited some of my favorite brands to provide goodies for the party afterwards and in the swag bags handed out. Afterwards, we enjoyed fresh green juice from Ripe Stuff and their signature pineapple mint to mix with champagne for fresh mimosas.

One of my favorite brands, Vega aka Elizabeth Eats also provided delicious recovery beverages and energy balls. The gfree, vegan balls were delicious and I’m making them this week! The recipe is at the bottom of this post courtesy of Elizabeth (as is many of these photos since I forgot to take them myself!). You need to make these. Seriously.

I bought some cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake because what is a celebration without the cupcakes!? I bought 24 for the 22 guests and walked home with 12! I gave some away and put the rest in the freezer for future indulgences. I was very excited that the gluten-free and the vegan were two of my favorite flavors! The caramel apple one on the top right in the photo below is vegan and the chocolate with an orange flower is gluten-free. I think it’s important to always have vegan and gluten free option. I hate when I feel excluded given my own dietary restrictions so I try to not have anyone else feel that way either. If you are gluten-free, check out the Udi’s Community for gfree lifestyle tips from packing a kids lunch to the best tasting gluten free beers!

There were 19 guests for the 21 bikes due to a few cancellations after friends went home due to the lock down on Friday. It was a fabulous turnout and wished we took a picture before some guests left and my face was not red from the class! Everyone left with a lovely bag filled with goodies from Vega, Kitsch hair ties, my favorite vanilla blueberry Luna Fiber bars, The Laughing Cow wedges, and coupons, plus Oakley water bottles and Oakley tops. I gave out fitness DVD’s as well.

The readers that scored the invites were some of the Boston Tone It Up community! They are so supportive of one another and always meeting up at various fitness events throughout the city. I grabbed breakfast with them right around when I hit 100K and asked them what I should do to celebrate.

I was supposed to give away a few pairs of Oakley sunglasses as well, but the mail on Friday did not come as a result of the lockdown. I had one pair to give out and Erica who writes a fabulous food blog won them! Yay Erica.

Overall, it was amazing to see so many of my friends who support me and have starred in some of my videos. I was happy to give back to my readers and support system. I can’t wait to do more events and open it up to all of you guys! The main reason why this was not a free open to all was because of the limit on bikes. I’m having another event on Saturday, April 27th that is open to everyone and features 4 different workouts, each one lasts 45 minutes. For every attendee, PopChips and Ultimate Bootcamp will be donating $2 to One Fund Boston. Mark it on your calendar!

I’ll also be in Dallas in May for the Oakley Progression Session that is part of Shape Magazine’s Diva Dash. If you are interested in becoming an Oakley Ambassador, come and apply or just meet me! More details here.