Another Indoor Cycling Studio Opening in Boston

Probably the only time you’ll see the studio with the lights on. Photo provided.

Well, the indoor cycling craze has officially hit Boston. As if having two Recycle Studios in the city (Recycle was the first to open here), The Handle Bar in Southie, Flywheel in the Pru, and SoulCycle coming to Chestnut Hill in March (the company also has plans to open somewhere in the city in the summer) wasn’t enough, now four local guys are opening Vélo-City in the Back Bay on Dec. 3rd.

The new studio aims to look and feel like a nightclub so it is pretty clear who its target market is. I mean, most indoor cycling studios are dimly lit with music blasting, but I’ve never received a press release where it is made this clear what kind of angle the studio is going for.

Guests in the know enter Vélo-City through a back alley doorway on the corner of Boylston and Fairfield Streets and descend below ground. The studio’s 2,200 square foot space is reminiscent of nightlife venues in New York’s Meatpacking district with an industrial, warehouse feel. Its high ceilings, concrete floors and exposed pipes are brightened by pops of electric green and splashes of deep blue.

Personally, when it comes to fitness, I am more of a get in, get out, and be as anonymous as possible kind of person, but I can see plenty of Boston’s college students and twentysomethings going for this kind of “exclusive nightclub” vibe. And in the end, it’s really more about whatever gets you in the door to sweat and be healthy.

The studio is owned and operated by four Boston locals and friends (see pic below): Joe Pearce, Allen Potts, Thomas Resor, and Nick Resor, who, according to the press release, have served in the Marines, been drafted by the NHL, and spearheaded non-profit and for-profit fitness trends in Boston. Vélo-City is a play on the word “velocity” obviously, and it gives a nod to cycling history. Cycling is a huge part of French culture, so the owners chose to incorporate “vélo” into the name since it’s the French word of choice for bike and cycle.

The owners. Photo provided.

Vélo-City classes promise to offer a full body workout with intense cycling variations in speed and incline, an upper body strength training component, and use creative mash-ups like boxing combinations. The bikes will be Schwinn AC stationary bikes. So far, it sounds exactly like the other boutique indoor cycling studios, so we will have to wait to take a class before we can tell what the differences, if any, will be. Stay tuned.

Classes are priced at $24 (drop-in) and will be offered seven days a week at various times. Shoe rentals and towel service are included with each class. At this time, the only other studio that offers free shoe rentals in town is Flywheel.

One thing is for certain: All of these companies think that there is enough interest in indoor cycling to open up in our small, fitness-fueled city. That said, most of the classes I’ve taken in town have all been packed. So maybe they’re on to something.

Vélo-City BackBay will open its doors Monday, December 2nd at 801 Boylston Street.