CLASS PASS SERIES: Spinning With A Competitive Edge
I have heard many good things about Flywheel Sports. I have been wanting to try a spin class at their West Hollywood location for quite some time and when I realized I had some free time today and they had an open morning class, I didn’t hesitate to book it.
This particular Flywheel location is one of two in Los Angeles. There is also one in the Larchmont Village area. Both are particularly inconvenient for me or anyone else who lives south of the Beverly Center area, but it is definitely worth a try if you have the time.
The West Hollywood location is located on the second floor of a complex in the center of West Hollywood. Some might consider this convenient, but depending on the time you want to take your class, you best allow enough time to get to the location and park. Santa Monica Boulevard in this area tends to be extremely prone to bad traffic. Keep that in mind. You will enter the Ramada Inn parking and go to the second floor, where Flywheel kindly validates your parking for 2 hours.
One thing I noticed immediately is how friendly the staff is at this location. When I made it known it was my first time to Flywheel in awhile (I had been two years prior to try a class but didn’t really remember much of my experience from back then), the front desk staff was eager to check me in and de-brief me on how the class was set up. The manager of this location was also present and validated my parking for me before I could even ask. They offer cycle shoes, which is nice, but I did bring my own. Other conveniences at this location are free towels. You might be surprised to know that some boutique spin classes do not offer complimentary towels, so I consider this a bonus.
Outside of the actual spin room are lockers, a filtered water system to fill your water bottle, and plush white couches to sit on and converse with fellow classmates while you wait to take your class. I like that the waiting room area is all white, it enhances the energy of the facility.
The spin classroom is set up stadium style, so no one is ever directly in front of you (in other words…no ones behind is in your face…yay!). All of the equipment is cleaned between each class and ready to go when the next class walks in. The bikes are custom engineered for the Flywheel program. This particular class lasts 45 minutes, but they have 60 minute classes as well. There is a computerized “tech-pack” on the side of your bike. What is that, you ask? Well this will display your resistance (“torq”), your speed (RPM) and your power output, both at the current moment and for the total class time. What is really cool is if you are the competitive type, you can compete with others in the room by participating in the in-studio Torqboards, which will occasionally flash up on the screens in the room and show how you are performing versus everyone else who chooses to participate in this option. As a Class Pass member, I was not given this option, but it is a cool idea, nonetheless.
Your stats for every ride are recorded and made available for your private account on the Flywheel website. This is all a very cool feature, because you can also challenge yourself by trying to go faster or harder every time you ride with this program.
All of this aside, the music and general vibe here is great. The bathrooms are clean and there are showers available if you need to shower after your class. I would come back more often, but the location is not convenient for me to be a frequent visitor.
SIDE NOTE–they also have a Flybarre class, which is a total body sculpting class that blends the best of light weight training, dance, and core strengthening exercises. Their classic format uses small intense interval exercises choreographed to music. This class is intended to quickly reshape the body to create lean, strong, and elongated muscles. Maybe another class worth trying another time!
FLYWHEEL-WEST HOLLYWOOD
8599 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
