How the SoulCycle Bike Transformed My Relationship With Fitness

All my life, I’ve never been what you’d consider an “exercise” person—someone who wakes up early to go for a run, takes a pilates class, or frankly goes to the gym regularly. Then in 2020, the pandemic hit and everything changed. As we all found ourselves at home 24/7 in lockdown, I wanted to find a way to stay active, destress, and engage in something that didn’t involve my computer screen, which now sat on my kitchen table/makeshift workspace.

I considered what I gravitated to when I did go to the gym, and it was the bike, so my decision was really a no-brainer. To be honest, I had never actually taken a SoulCycle class prior, but their at-home bike resonated with me for the simple reason that I love music. SoulCycle incorporates rhythm into everything it does, plus their mantra of enriching our souls, while albeit cheesy, struck a chord with me. I know many Peloton users who are obsessed with the metrics generated during their rides and competing with one another for a prime spot on the leaderboard. But it’s precisely this type of competitiveness that makes me retract from workout classes, and so it was the SoulCycle bike for me.

I knew if I was going to invest $2,500, I needed to be fully committed to the bike. What helped to seal the deal was also a matter of style and space. Although my apartment is small, I found the SoulCycle at-home bike’s all-black matte exterior to be quite sleek and in line with my minimal interiors. Plus, it comes with wheels, so during dinner parties or when guests are over, I can easily move it out of sight.