If you’re looking for one more reason to fall in love with the Houston Heights, RIDE has got your back. With the tagline “the most fun you can have on a bike,” the indoor cycling studio on 19th Street is filled with black lights, bumping music, and plenty of sweat inducing moves. I went to my first RIDE class this week at 5:45am on a Tuesday. I was greeted with the usual waiver, clip in shoes, locker set up and bike assignment as other indoor cycling studios in the city. Having arrived  to the class a few minutes early, I was able to peruse the workout wear on display and fell in love with basically every piece on the rack…luckily I was distracted by people filing into the room and getting set up on their bikes before I could do too much damage to my credit card.

After getting approximately a zillion free soul cycle classes through blogger meet ups, work events, and submitting my business card into the drop off box–I am no stranger to a spin class. (See my tips to survive a spin class here.)

The Class

Falling into my usual spin class routine, I took my appointed seat in the back row, spread my towel over the handle bar, double checked that I had baby weights (2lbs = perfect), and then cursed myself for not remembering to bring water. The room was dark with some powerful black lights reflecting off the mirrors. There was quite a few people in the class– a mix of men, women, and a few staffers. I wish I wore a neon tank to really take advantage of the black light ambiance.

The class began and it was filled with some crazy upbeat music and lots of turning the resistance up and down on the bike. I enjoyed the class immensely because I didn’t know what was going to come next! Soul Cycle classes typically have a pretty standard routine and there’s not a lot of variance in the way their class is structured so it gets predictable. The arms section with the weights was held closer to the middle of the class instead of the end that I’m typically used to.  And then there was a section where we literally did pushups on the bike for like 5 minute straight. WUT. This class was all over the place and time flew by because I had no idea where we were or when it was ending. Shout out to Allie, the instructor, who had a crazy amount of energy for the early morning class. She was jumping off her bike, running around the room keeping us in sync and even hoping on empty bikes in the crowd to pump us up. #goals

Bring Your Man

If you’re looking to jazz up your workout routine, be sure to check out RIDE in the Heights. Your first class is free PLUS if you bring a new guy with you during the month of November you get an additional class credited to your account. If you’re looking to support men’s health and need an excuse to force your bf to shave the creepy caterpillar growing on his face, RIDE might just be your saving grace. Take advantage of all the great savings and calorie burning potential and sign up here.