Okay, so I'm going to be the first reviewer. First, I'm so glad Cyclebar has come to Omaha. 45 minutes of mad pedaling, up and down hills (simulated by turning the tension up) in and out of the saddle and for one song, with a 6 or 4 pound bar (get it? cycle? bar?) in your hands for a bit of an arm workout. Have you been to soulcycle? or have you seen that amy schumer bit about soulcycle? Cyclebar is less cultish and intimidating, and also cheaper (compared to what I was paying in Silicon Valley.) There's also no shady Trump donation situation as far as I can tell. Each studio is franchised and the owners of this one, Emily and Dwight are welcoming, organized and are doing a great job of learning everyone's names.
The first time you go, you get a personalized note, a message on your locker and a free water bottle! You also can have a banana, a hair tie, a lip balm, a spritz of deodorant, and you don't have to pay to rent shoes. They provide you with a clean towel on your bike, and after, you get a lovely chilled towel as if you were at a japanese restaurant at the height of summer. They run I think around 30 some odd classes a week, so it's easy for even me, with my two jobs and 12 hour overnight shifts to find times to ride.
The actual class is as intense as you want to make it--there is a monitor on each bike that records your performance and you get an email/report in the cyclebar app after class that tells you how you did, how many calories you burned, even what your rank in the class was. I don't understand the science of the calculations but the calories burned tend to match with my fitbit. I've had two rides where there were complications with the monitors--one ride didn't result in an email/report and one where the monitor died halfway through. But I digress, back to the intensity of the class--each instructor (cyclestar) has a different style but they all tell you when to speed up, when to stand and pedal, when to turn up the tension, etc, but you can do whatever you want. No one will know if you're slacking. I wouldn't say I'm a slacker, but I am miles behind the average cyclebar patron in terms of fitness and cool leggings but the cyclestars are accepting of everyone's diversity and are motivating without shaming. Some of them have better musical taste than others, but not everyone is as opinionated as I am about music.
Toward the end of the class they'll have a race, where, if you've opted to be on the leaderboard, you can see whose working the hardest and going the fastest.
What's my point? Cyclebar is fun, not as crazy or expensive as soulcycle, and even an old out of shape lady feels good about herself afterwards. Bonus points for the amenities, the variety of class times and friendly staff. Yay Cyclebar!!! read more