I just got off the phone with Rod Nagy, co-owner of Saddle Cycling, a new indoor cycling center on Hertel Avenue. What was supposed to be a straight up conversation about his new workout facility turned out to be a lesson in being a Buffalonian. You see, Rod is not originally from Buffalo. He and his wife were living in Huntington Beach, California before moving here ten years ago. “Yeah, it’s a long story,” he told me. “But you might be interested to know that we bought your grandmother’s house upon moving here [laughing].”
Backtracking a bit, Rod’s background (ten years ago) was in setting up Gold Gyms and training their employees. When he was asked to come live (temporarily) in Buffalo and set up a gym here, he was not exactly happy about it. The job meant that he would have to spend time here, but he was free to go when the stint ended. But just the thought of spending time in a cold, Rust Belt climate did not appeal to him, understandably.
In the end, it didn’t take long for Rod to warm up to Buffalo, and within a year’s time he was calling his wife on the phone suggesting that they consider moving to Buffalo [“what?!”]. Picking up and moving was nothing new for the family. According to Rod, before his son turned ten they had already moved four times. He was sick of moving, but he was also sick of living in a place that he didn’t offer him the things that he had discovered in Buffalo.
In 2004 Rod and his wife began house hunting in Buffalo and discovered that they could afford to live in their dream house, compared to the small condo that they owned in California. “Our condo was one-third the size,” Rod told me. “And a lot more expensive. Even though we had lived in Huntington Beach for a while, it was a very transient place and we hadn’t made a lot of friends. Since living in Buffalo I have made more friends than I ever did throughout my entire life. I finally felt as if I was part of a community. Even after I found that the reason for moving here (the job) had fallen through, we knew that we were never leaving. It was then that I told my wife, “When I die, you will be burying me at Forest Lawn.””
Each time I tried to ask Rod about his new business, he would immediately derail the conversation to talk about his love for Buffalo. He told me that in California he drove 3500 miles (average) a month for work. In Buffalo his neighborhood was his existence. He told me about the people, the Elmwood Village, his bouts of exploring the unfamiliar city… he even told me about some of his hesitations at first. “Ten years ago Buffalo was a lot different,” he reminded me. “The West Side was nothing like is is today. Now we own properties on the West Side and we couldn’t be happier with the progress being made.”
Today Rod has become one of this city’s biggest zealots, and even makes calls to AM talk shows whenever they are looking for an outsider’s perspective of this city. Rod even tends to slap around Buffalonians who don’t know how good they have it here. “You just can’t duplicate this lifestyle,” he told me. “And now, ten years after moving here I can’t believe how much this city is changing. People were taking bets on how long I would stick around, and I am proud to say that I am a Buffalonian, and so is my wife, and our kids.”
Eventually Rod did agree to tell me about his business. He told me that he brought together a few of his friends that he had made since moving here (for a second I thought that he was straying again), and how he had presented them the idea for an indoor cycling center in North Buffalo. Dr. Ravi Desai, Dr, Gil Farkash and Andrew Sabuda agreed to jump onboard as partners, and now Saddle Cycling is no longer a vision, but a reality. ” I’ve been in the fitness industry since I was a teenager,” said Rod. “It’s the way that the fitness industry is moving. We offer classes for just about everyone, and we make working out fun. We have serious indoor riders, and we also have 48-year old moms who have not worked out in 20 years. The technology is driving the industry. 90 seconds after the class ends, riders get an email that tells them their progress – RPMs, calories burned, heart rate, etc. We have contests to see who can burn the most calories, which motivates everyone to push themselves. This is the exact opposite of a big box gym. This is a personal experience that we offer to our members. People want to work out in a short period of time, and they want to be part of a community. We have classes that include Saddle 101 (for beginners), Pimp My Ride (smack talk is encouraged), and Blazing Saddles (sing along with a couple of our instructors who are also in bands). No no matter what class you are in, it’s fun, easy, intense… we help you get what you want out of it – that’s the most important thing.”
Before signing off, Rod told me a number of other Buffalo related stories regarding his friends and family who visit from California and Texas, and how they can’t believe that Buffalo is nothing like what they imagined. He regaled me with stories about the community that he found in Buffalo, my grandmother’s turn of the century house that he purchased, the lifelong friends that he made in such a short period of time, the exploits of his kids, and how he never imagined that he and his wife would ever be living here. It’s funny how sometimes life throws us a curveball that we end up hitting out of the park.
Saddle Cycling | 1094 Hertel Avenue | Buffalo, New York | (716) 875-7433 | Website | Facebook