Immersive fitness takes the humble workout to a new level

The road just ahead seemed impossibly steep, rising straight up over a monstrous glacier set against a dark sky. Loud thumping music drowned out the panting of our peloton of about 40 sweaty riders, whose gazes were fixed on the challenge in front of us.

Our legs were already screaming to stop, having taken us on an interstellar traverse, down the streets of a futuristic city and racing loops round a digital velodrome.

Up, up, up we climbed, standing on our bikes and stomping down on the pedals in a slow steady rhythm. Cresting the hill, we sat back down, legs now spinning quickly as we tucked low and sped down the road.

Watch: How to get completely immersed in your gym routine 

Suddenly the sky changed to a brilliant orange hue, lit by the setting sun ahead. We ride just above the sea alongside geese. Pedal strokes are now relaxed and breathing is easy with the finish of our 35-minute journey in sight.

“It’s fantastic,” says Colin Grant, CEO of The Pure Group, after The Trip, as Pure Fitness’ new spinning class is called. “I’m not into spinning – or at least I wasn’t – but I’ve done seven classes in my life, six of them in the past week.”