To toast 20+ years of friendship, we recently flew west for the Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon. It was a beautiful course, with only a few hills, from a winery to the Sonoma city square. Fueled by rosé wine, fresh food and hearty laughs, check out our 13.1 under the warm summer sun.

Our favorite wineries were Jordan in Healdsburg and Scribe in Sonoma. (In these photos, we are the embodiment of R&R.)

Warming up before dawn at Domaine Carneros in Napa. Hello, beautiful.

Peace, love and running at the start. I wore a New Balance tank and compression tights by Opedix, to reduce lactic acid build-up and resulting soreness the next day. Highly recommend.

And, my FitBit Flex! (It tracks everything from steps and calories to sleep cycle, for those of us who are super curious to see how things measure up–or, just need a little motivation.)

My time?  1 hour, 58 minutes.

So, here’s a toast to power in numbers. And, the power of one.

Compression tights (c/o Opedix); FitBit Flex (c/o Women’s Health Magazine & Target). #fitbitflex
All thoughts/assessments are my own.

On Friday night, Audrey and Diane, two of my 100-mile relay teammates, drove down from Vermont for a fun fall weekend in the city.  On the agenda: shopping, snacking on B-day Truffles at Momofuku Milk Bar, sipping Salty Dogs at Willow Road and cycling at SWERVE, the newest studio in the city, which opened yesterday.

Located on West 18th Street in the Flatiron, the exterior is reminiscent of SoulCycle, with colorful branded window vinyls.

The SWERVE concept is a team inspired ride, whether you come with friends or solo (both are encouraged). The bikes are brand new Schwinn, with the most amazing flat handles for position 2, separated into three teams: red, green and blue via overhead lighting.

Each bike is equipped with a monitor à la Flywheel and Revolve, but here, it’s synced to measure team performance, which is displayed via color-blocked bar charts on flatscreens. Go, team spirit. (SWERVE’s founders are college friends with finance backgrounds.) You can also check out your personal performance at the end of class via the ride summary that appears on your monitor.

Our instructor was Trisha, a blonde, braided Cali turned city girl. This was her fourth class in two days, but, we never would have known–she had great energy on and off the bike, plus a killer playlist.

After class, you can hit the juice bar with a selection of freshly blended smoothies, Chia Bars and cold-pressed juices from neighborhood favorite Liquiteria.

While SWERVE’s studio interior also looks like SoulCycle, bespoke details make it feel more luxe.

As a new Cory Vines ambassador, I was psyched to see SWERVE’s branded apparel collection includes the brand’s tops and tanks, plus some Nike favorites.

The SWERVE experience was fun. It definitely brings some additional energy to the city’s increasingly crowded cycling scene, And, girls, if you’re looking for eye candy, you can find it here…the studio was filled with cute finance boys on bikes!

…and the newly-opened CrossFit 212.

Then, there’s AQUA, where my fitness blogger friend Kayla and I took our first aquacycling class.

Already much buzzed-about in Europe, aquacycling is different from “terrestrial” spinning in several ways. First, the bikes are anchored into a 4-foot-deep pool, so, the ride becomes impact-free.

And, instead of our usual three standard positions (first, second and third), there’s a fourth, which involves slipping off the bike entirely so that you’re floating in the pool, holding onto the saddle in front of you and lifting each leg out of the water, one at a time, to really engage your core. Our instructor switched back and forth, both in and out of the pool, and the bikes look like this:

As for what to wear? We decided that a sports bra and swim suit bottom are best, plus required rubber water shoes provided by the front desk ($2 shoe rental fee; first class: $34 and $40 thereafter).

AQUA’s studio is absolutely beautiful, with loft-like ceilings and exposed brick walls lit by (faux) candlelight.

While I can’t say that it was the most challenging workout in comparison with my usual spin classes, I can definitely agree that aquacycling is beneficial for athletes who are injured, pregnant women and those for whom just being in the water is motivation enough to work out.

Because, in the end, we all have to find our own reasons to keep coming back for more.
Any questions? Feel free to comment here and I’ll be happy to answer you!

Meet Kayla on her site, Kayla in the City.