BAYFIELD – Momentum 24/7 Fitness finally opened the doors to its new, 10,000-square-foot building in Bayfield, bringing gym owners, Rayburn and Kira Gosney, into a new era as small business owners.
Momentum Fitness started in 2010 and, since then, has grown to three locations – Mancos, Pagosa Springs and Bayfield. For the Gosneys, the new building is an opportunity to offer more services to the area and compete with their nearest competition, the SunUte Community Center in Ignacio. Owning a business is hard, but it’s their way of giving back to the community where they grew up, Kira Gosney said.
“When I first opened, my goal was to maybe someday have 100 members,” said Gosney as weights clanked and upbeat music thumped in the background. “I just can’t believe how lucky we are to have a bunch of members and a bunch of support in the community.”
At first, Bayfield’s Momentum Fitness was a 1,000-square-foot space in a building designed for offices. Over time, the Gosneys expanded to a 3,000-square-foot space. In 2017, they bought the lot between Pine River Library and Lewis True Value Mercantile and spent two years turning it into a state-of-the-art gym. It opened June 30.
“This was budgeted to be a $1 million building, and now it’s a $2 million building,” Gosney said. The cost increase was caused by unexpected expenses. “We’re in a huge amount of debt, but we have this amazing facility now that we can be super proud of.”
With the bigger space, they now offer jiu-jitsu, hot yoga, more class variety and changing rooms with showers. In August, the gym will offer tanning, hydromassages and a sauna with a membership upgrade. It will continue offering 24/7 access, classes like Mommy Baby Fitness, personal training and more, said Alijandra Calvillo, gym manager.
The Gosneys met as students at Bayfield High School in the 1990s, where, at least according to Kira, she had a crush on Rayburn, but he didn’t share the feeling. After high school, Rayburn went into the concrete business with his brother, Sheldon Gosney. Kira served as a Marine and eventually left the military to pursue her passion for teaching fitness.
“My brother-in-law set us up for a date as soon as I moved back,” she said. A year later, in 2011, they were married.
For the Gosneys, running the gym is a work-family balancing act. They always have the family together, keeping their children, Evelyn, 4, and RJ, 6, with them even at work – one of the luxuries of owning their own business. Rayburn handles the buildings and maintenance, while Kira is the face of the business, managing the customers, clients and operations.
“I think what they’re doing is that ever-sought after win-win, where it’s a success for small business and definitely a success for the community,” said Kellie Gosney, former county commissioner and Rayburn Gosney’s stepmother. “They have the tenacity and the hard work that it takes to make these things successful.”
Still, owning a small business is tough – the American ideal, that owning your own business means making lots of money and having free time, is a scam, Gosney said. “It’s not true. ... It’s hard financially. It’s hard mentally. It’s a lot of weight to own your own business.”
She said even with the hard work, being part of the community in such a positive place makes it worth it.
“People come here to make themselves better and make their lives better. We get to be a part of that,” Gosney said. “It’s very positive here.”
The hard work is apparent: Deborah Walker, who has been a gym patron since it started in 2010, said Kira Gosney as an “awesome” woman entrepreneur.
Walker said that Momentum Fitness gave her a community when she needed one, in large part because of the personal environment the Gosneys created. While in her 50s, Walker even trained with Kira Gosney and competed in the 2012 Survivor Mud Run outside of Denver.
“I was so nervous. I mean, I was literally shaking,” Walker said. But Gosney stayed with her, encouraging her through every obstacle. “I swear it was one of the best experiences of my life.”
The Gosneys spend their sparse free time at their home with their kids, often playing on the trampoline or bike track, and taking care of their goats.
“The next step is to try to recover from these building expenses here,” she said. They want to stabilize “just so we can spend a little bit less time at work with our kids and more time at elementary school softball.”
smullane@durangoherald.com
