Midterm elections may not be until the fall, but the election cycle is just getting started at a new political-themed cycling studio opening Saturday.
ElectionCycle, located at 1108 H St. NE, will center around a typical D.C. theme with classes called “Core Value,” “Super Tuesday” and “Political Party” that span spinning, bootcamp and other combination classes. After the Saturday opening, ElectionCycle will offer classes every day.
Candice Geller, the owner of ElectionCycle, said that before her studio, H Street Corridor only offered workouts like Crossfit and yoga, and didn’t have a high-intensity cycling studio. She said the theme of the workouts fit with the atmosphere in the District.
“I saw a need, and also an area that’s developing really quickly and really well, and a lot of people seem to be moving to that area,” Geller said. “Like a lot of young professionals, a lot of athletics in the area, but again not this sort.”
The opening day will feature three classes, but the studio will offer about five classes per day during a typical work week.
Geller said her goal for ElectionCycle is to create a party atmosphere for exercisers and avoid monotonous classes where every session is 45 to 50 minutes of pure spinning, like most other spinning studios offer.
The cycling classes will consist of varying amounts of time spent on abdominal workouts, yoga mat stretching and light hand weight lifting. At bootcamp classes, called “runoff election,” instructors combine bootcamp with spinning and participants will meet at the studio then run outside for 30 minutes before the rest of their 30 minute workout on bikes in the studio.
Each class will be capped at 25 participants, an aspect Geller said will allow for instructors to better tailor the workouts to what the participants want. Spinning studios, like SoulCycle or Flywheel, which have grown in popularity in recent years, can have about 60 riders per class.
“We want individualized,” Geller said. “An individualized effort, an individualized feel and for people to feel like when they come to us, they’re like ‘I’m part of a community.’”
While competitors offer classes with prices hovering around $30 per class, ElectionCycle offers a single class for $22, or weekly, three month, six month and annual memberships, in addition to class package deals.
The studio has an entrance area with seats to use while waiting for class, a small shop with themed merchandise, a bathroom with a shower and a spin room that features colorful lights and a high ceiling. Inside the studio, the patriotic theme is continued with blue floors, white walls and a red stage where the instructor’s bike sits.
Geller said her goal for the studio is to be constantly evolving with combining different types of workouts with spinning like barre and yoga. She said that she wants the spot to be somewhere where members will want to keep coming back and give feedback of workouts they want to see more of in a class.
“I think that we’re able to kind of gauge what people are looking for and what people want in terms of individual care and individual interests,” she said. “I hope that we’re able to continue doing that by being a small studio that looks into the individual needs and what they want.”
