By Amanda McGregor
Salem News
March 31, 2008

SALEM — William Legault steered his bicycle along a breathtaking alpine trail, pedaling up coastal cliffs and sailing down the hills — in Salem.

Legault was riding one of the new Expresso Fitness stationary bicycles at the Salem YMCA that displays 30 different courses and terrains on a large screen in front of the handlebars. The Salem Y recently overhauled its Fitness Center and added 26 new pieces of equipment.

"I can choose more difficult routes; I can change my gears," Legault said while pedaling. He is the heath and fitness director at the Salem YMCA.

Six bikes, two treadmills, and an array of weight-bearing equipment are among the new machines in the 5,000-square-foot Fitness Center. Two Wave Runner machines are on the way, which replicate the motion of ice skating, Legault said.

"This doesn't even remotely resemble the room that was here three weeks ago," said Legault.

Crews from the YMCA of the North Shore member sites — which includes the YMCAs in Beverly, Ipswich and Marblehead/Swampscott — helped the Salem Y with the renovation, including painting, cleaning the ceiling,  scrubbing and electrical work.

There are also five new flat-screen plasma televisions around the room, which broadcast news stations and the New York Mets baseball game on a recent afternoon for perspiring patrons. Each machine is now equipped for headphones, so exercisers can plug into their choice of channels on the different TV screens.

The Salem Y then donated its old equipment to Salem High School, which now has the 14-piece Nautilus set and exercise bikes set up in the fitness center at the school's field house. The equipment is about 12 years old, Legault said.

"It's nice in terms of us being about to do something for the kids," said Debbie Amaral, executive director of the Salem YMCA.

PDF Documents: Our web site contains several .pdf documents. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, please click here for a free download.