New fitness studio offers unique workout option
FELIDA — A new indoor cycling facility opened in October in Felida, offering stationary cycling workouts with a unique twist.
StarCycle Felida is the newest location for the StarCycle brand of indoor cycling studios. The new studio is owned by Salina Philbrook, Erica Gehlen and Eryn Washington. While StarCycle is a variation on indoor cycling studios, the owners are quick to point out its unique qualities.
Philbrook said that all of the workouts are conducted in dimly lit rooms illuminated mostly by candles, which provides a unique atmosphere and helps newcomers not be intimidated.
Additionally, the workouts are based on music, and offer more than just stationary cycling.
“It is more musicality based,” Philbrook said. “It is very much loud and fun.”
In a further deviation from traditional cycling classes, Philbrook said that the workouts are not based on heavy resistance loading simulating hill climbs. Instead, they feature one long or two short hill climbs, which helps avoid over developing quadriceps, Philbrook said.
The workouts instead are designed with “balancing out the body” in mind according to Philbrook.
Gehlen noted that each session is 45 minutes long, and provides not only a full body cardio workout, but also weight and arm strength aspects as well.
Because the StarCycle workouts rely on music to set the tone of the exercise, no two sessions are exactly alike. However, Philbrook said that all workouts address strength, endurance and flexibility.
“Each class is different because every instructor has their own music personality,” Philbrook explained.
According to Gehlen, StarCycle classes are open to participants of all skill levels, and the environment is designed to not be intimidating to new riders. She said that participants are able to work at their own pace and increase their skills and abilities.
Philbrook said that all three owners had been involved in a boutique fitness class before becoming involved in StarCycle. However, some specialty fitness routines only focused on a single aspect of physical fitness, and Philbrook noted that she had not been getting a cardio workout with her previous classes.
The three took a StarCycle class at the business’s flagship studio in Lake Oswego, and Philbrook said “we knew that we wanted to do something more than just be instructors.”
Their first StarCycle studio opened in Camas in May 2015. Felida is the newest StarCycle studio, and opened on Oct. 21.
Gehlen said that there was a niche market in Clark County for the specialty fitness classes offered by StarCycle. She also noted that both the Camas and Felida locations were chosen for the community atmosphere of both towns.
StarCycle aims to be as community based as possible by helping out and giving back to host communities, Gehlen said. This is done in part by holding donation rides, which are free rides where participants are allowed to donate any amount to a specific cause.
“I think building that community is our base to our success,” Gehlen said.
Although the Felida location has only been open for several weeks, Philbrook said that there has been immense interest in the facility and classes. She estimated that within the first four days of opening, about 300 clients attended classes.
Currently, StarCycle Felida offers 19 classes per week, Washington said. However, she noted that they are still establishing the business, and do not have a finalized schedule as they are trying to determine the best times to satisfy demands for classes.
In addition to a unique workout regimen, Gehlen said that StarCycle is unique in that it offers childcare for participants. Rather than having kids simply be entertained by watching television, Gehlen said that StarCycle offers craft activities in its childcare services.
In the few weeks that StarCycle Felida has been in operation, the owners say that the community feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“They’re so excited,” Washington said. “They say how fun it is, they say how much they love the environment, the instructors.”
StarCycle Felida is located at 10714 NW Lakeshore Ave., Suite 203. To learn more about StarCycle and find class times and locations of other StarCycle studios, visit https://www.starcycleride.com/.
