RYDE Cycle

While RYDE Cycle has a lot of potential, it is too crowded to be comfortable and trying too much to be like SoulCycle.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

This was a 60-minute class that was simply one song of sprints followed by one song of hills/hard resistance, in which we were asked to stand in 3rd position (out of the saddle) for 10 minutes at a time. While this pattern made the class feel as if it were going by fairly slowly, at one point Brooke mentioned that “we were almost to arms”- frustratingly, she meant that we were five songs away! One thing that was evident about the structure of the class was that it was designed to be a lot like SoulCycle. Our bikes did not have computers or any kind of tracker on them, Brooke talked quite a lot about finding peace within ourselves, and at one point, we recognized the familiar move of blowing out all the candles around the instructor’s podium before the final hill climb song. We would have preferred a class that allowed for more balanced riding that more closely approximates the challenges one would experience in road biking.

INSTRUCTOR

We liked Brooke’s attitude quite a lot. She had good energy throughout the class and her music was very solid – mostly remixes of current pop songs. We’d love to see her mix up her programming a little bit to include more riding in the saddle and do a little bit more technique for the riders. She definitely brings a lot of personality to the podium and had a strong connection with her riders.

SPACE

This studio has a spacious waiting area where you can buy water bottles, cycling shoes, and snacks. Unfortunately, the studio space itself is very cramped, with bikes packed together so closely you are basically sneezing on your neighbor, and ventilation is not up to standard. In this 60-minute class, the temperature must have been above 90 degrees in the classroom and there was no fan on that we could see. The locker room downstairs has two showers stocked with Bigelow products, which make it a fine place to get ready for work – but beware, the changing area is unisex so you might accidentally see more than you bargained for!