Last week, two of my best friends and I rode the train to Ardmore, PA for shopping and a SoulCycle class. As soon as we stepped off of the train, I felt like I had teleported to some trendy European city, like Paris or Milan. The overpriced shops were white and shiny and the cafes were definitely Instagram-worthy. This atmosphere of wealth and glamour in Ardmore was the first sign that we were in for a treat during our 4:30 SoulCycle class.

This was my first experience with a SoulCycle class, and I have nothing but positive things to say about it. When we walked into the studio, we were surrounded by bright white lockers and girls wearing head-to-toe Lululemon. After checking in and getting our very funny-looking shoes, we headed to the bathroom. The bathroom in the studio was fully stocked with high-end beauty products-dry shampoo, face wash, hairspray, moisturizer-you name it. It felt like we were staying in a luxury, five-star hotel.

To be completely honest, I expected this to be a fairly easy workout. I thought, “How hard can biking really be?” Boy, was I wrong. When you go into the workout room, it’s almost pitch black and there is very loud EDM music playing. After clipping into the bike with your funny shoes, you start biking to warm up until the instructor arrives. The workout was all done to the beat of the music the that Bryant (our instructor) chose. You were standing and biking most of the time, all while moving your body to the beat and using two-pound dumbbells. About 10 minutes into the 45 minutes of intense cardio, my friend and I looked at each other in horror as we realized that we were already tired and that this was going to be much harder than we expected. We were loving it, but we were shocked that biking could be such a good workout! My personal favorite part of the 45-minute class was when Nicki Minaj’s Starships started blaring through the speakers and we all started biking to the beat. Starships is a classic Nicki song, and it just felt so good when the whole room became one with the beat.

So yes, SoulCycle is an intense workout and you are gasping for air most of the time, but it’s not the kind of hard work out that you despise the whole time. The whole atmosphere in the SoulCycle studio made the workout upbeat and fun, especially with positive encouragement from the instructor and others in the class. While it may have been my first class, the studio made my friends and I feel very comfortable and very welcome from beginning to end. I left Ardmore very tired and sweaty, but feeling great because SoulCycle was probably the best workout I’ve ever done in my life. I’m already planning another trip to Ardmore and their SoulCycle studio this summer.