THE BASICS : A new spin studio had opened up close to work. It ran classes before the day job started. This particular class had the word Bootcamp in it. As if I could resist such a combination! Edge Cycle– right at the beginning of Leather Lane- if you get to the burrito shop, you’ve gone too far. First class free, standard drop in classes start from £15 (cheaper for multi-class passes).
THE BITCHES: Yours Truly
THE CLASS: It was 7am when I arrived. I pressed the entry buzzer. No reply. I pressed again. Surely the studio would be open at 7am if the class started at 7.15am?!
So, it would appear the door was open. Yep, I was on the ball and ready for a gruelling class this morning. Yes I was.
Along the corridor, up the stairs, and reception was peeking at me round the corner. An incredibly fit lady signed me in, and I threw my bits in a locker outside the studio. It felt clean, bright and new. The windows looking out onto Leather Lane from the first floor gave a nice view of early morning workers, and I liked the idea of watching them creeping to work while I sweated buckets and generally felt like I was superior to them due to the fact I was elevated into the first floor AND taking an early morning class. But the black out blinds came down and the lights came on.
Initially I was sad to lose the outisde view, but with the lighting low, the flashing LED patterns around the walls started to go crazy around us, and I realised that this was probably going to inspire me to pump up my game on the spin bike more than a view of a grey morning and some grumpy commuters.
The music was great- club standard and mixed into a seemless soundtrack. As I grow old and grey, I like to get my clubbing fix in the gym rather than in an actual club (I know at least a few of you will be nodding along with this semtiment!) and so a good soundtrack really makes a difference to a workout. The sound system was fine- it wasn’t the club standard eargasm bass quality I’ve grown familiar to at Boom Cycle, but it was good. The lighting brought the studio into it’s own when it came to work out gimmickery though.
The class itself- I was behind a group of guys training for some kind of triathlon (if their matching t-shirts were to be believed) and although the fact they were wearing matching t-shirts should have been enough to put me off, they weren’t too terrible to train behind, I’ll be honest.
We brought out heart rates up on the bikes- a lot of cardio work, and some hills to keep us sweating, but there was mainly a lot of emphasis on speed. The bikes were smooth and allowed us to reach the revolutions per minute (RPM) we were encouraged to, if we put a little effort in.
Then, it was off the bikes and onto the mats next to them. Reps ensued. Oh reps. It’s 7.45am in the morning. Give it a break, will you?!
No, but seriously.
Press ups, standing chest presses (with hand held free weights)- we did several rounds of these and other fast, toning reps. I wish I could list them all. But, as aforementioned, it was 7.45am, and I was just about remembering to breathe and that I was human.
Our trainer (all spin-trainers at Edge Cycle are qualified PTs) worked the room while we repped our way into the day, and yelled encouragement. It was good to have someone so enthusiastic walking around the room, and trust me, when you close your eyes to get in the press-up-zone and are suddenly jolted back to reality by a very loud and determined “KEEP GOING!!!!!!!!!!” 30cm from your right ear, it don’t half wake you up! Ten out of ten for teacher-class participation!
Finished on time, and off to use the showers (open, which I don’t have a problem with, but just to inform you!) with a free towel (lovely, thank you!) and hairdryers/somewhere to plug in your straighteners. Thank you for waking me up in the best possible way, Edge Cycle!
Ps. I forgot straighteners. LOOK what I had to inflict on the world on my walk to work!!!!!
THE VERDICT: This is a decent, well priced indoor cycling gym, in a good place for those working close to Farringdon. Nice lighting and i really enjoyed the crazy disco patterns, especially when all the lights went down. Well mixed sounds, too. Loved the mixture of a cycle and then bootcamp-y rep-heavy workout.
THE EXTRAS: I bought a helium balloon from Funky Pigeon for my friend Kate’s birthday, after the class. It had a hole in it. Funky Pigeon- I hated you because of your stupid adverts and your stupid company name that has nothing to do with cards and basically rips off moonpig. But now I hate you for being THE RUINER OF BIRTHDAYS.
