The Connection

Grab a bike and a bottle of water. Fitness is about to get fun.

When the Great Falls Cycle Studio opens in mid-September, the state-of the-art studio will bring gleaming new bikes, top-notch instructors and a decidedly different approach to the concept of fitness.

Gone are the days of monthly memberships and crowded classes. This single-focus studio will offer cycling only. No Bosu. No body-building. No treadmills or Tai Bo or barbells or body bars. Just cycling.

This single-service approach suits the owners, Jenn Mastran and Danielle Saunders, just fine. In fact, it’s an important part of their strategic business plan.

Mastran, a long-time Great Falls resident who’s been leading, managing and teaching fitness in and around the area for 25 years, says the single-focus approach is definitely an emerging trend.

“The same way you see yoga studios starting to individualize themselves and separate from the traditional health clubs, cycle studios are doing the same thing,” she said. “With a focus on cycling alone -- especially in a fun, intimate environment -- our clients can get fit and have fun at the same time, with no outside distractions.”

It’s clear that this fitness-and-fun combination is the mantra and motivator for both owners. Saunders, who first met Mastran at River Bend Country Club a few years ago when Mastran was teaching a fitness class, is also ready and raring to go. Saunders is convinced that using state-of-the-art equipment, pumping up the volume on great get-down music and creating an environment filled with positive energy is the best way to get buff.

A lawyer by trade and a Great Falls resident for over 10 years, Saunders sees the new studio as a way to connect more closely with her own community.

“Most of my professional and legal work has been in D.C. or other points, so it’s really meaningful for me to be involved in my own community this way,” she said.

BOTH OF THE OWNERS embrace the concept of using cutting-edge technology and high-quality equipment as a way to attract the growing number of healthy go-getters in Great Falls. The studio will be outfitted with a state-of-the-art sound system, a huge flat-screen TV and top-of-the-line Schwinn cycles with electronic monitors that can track a variety of functions such as calorie usage and RPMs.

The studio is small. There will only be 12 bikes – again, a strategic business decision designed to foster the intimate, close-knit feel of a boutique studio rather than a cavernous, multi-level mega gym. For an added boost of collective energy, clients can use the flat-screen TV to simulate the experience of participating in an actual cycling event -- the Tour de France, for example, or some other exhilarating sporting event or exciting video.

Tracey Liberson, an office manager and Great Falls resident for 13 years, can’t wait to hunker down behind the handlebars. An avid hiker who walks and runs all over Great Falls at least five times a week, Liberson says the arrival of the new studio will augment her hiking routine and help step things up a notch with her current fitness regimen.

“I’ll still hike, of course, but the arrival of this new studio will be something new and exciting for me,” she says.

Convenience and ease of location is also an important factor: “It’s about time something like this came to Great Falls!” Liberson laments. “Now, we’ll have top-notch instructors and high-quality spin sessions right here in our midst, without having to go to Tysons, Reston or even further.”

Liberson’s desire to stick with her current routine and simply add a dash of something new is precisely what Mastran and Saunders are going for.

“We’re not looking to put anybody out of business,” Saunders says. “We understand that people belong to other gyms. We’re simply looking to augment a person’s usual work-out pattern. People come here simply to spin and to have a good time. Simple as that.”

Other innovative design elements and cutting-edge accommodations are bound to add new spin to this spin: Rather than restrictive monthly memberships, for instance, clients will be required to sign up for classes online, in advance. A couple of keystrokes will log the client onto the studio website (www.greatfallsstudio.com) where they can reserve a bike, pay for the class and even see how many bikes are still available. No financial transactions will occur on-site. Walk-ins are welcome, but they, too, will be required to register, sign in and pay electronically on an iPad in the studio.

EVEN THE CLASS SCHEDULE will have a built-in flexibility – again, by design -- because the owners feel strongly that the community should have direct input into the timing and number of classes available.

“We’ll start out with a soft schedule, with about 15 classes a week, Mastran says, “then build up gradually based on the feedback we receive.” The cost of an individual class is $22. Purchasing a package of five classes or more is $20 per class, and a package of 10 or more is $18.

Susan Kurtz, a local childcare consultant who’s lived in Great Falls for 11 years, sustained a back injury several years ago, but she’s not letting her injury deter her from getting her spin on. She, too, expressed excitement about the studio’s arrival.

“I really like the fact that, with this studio, you’ll be able to go at your own pace and you’ll have excellent instructors who know how to push you past your limits.”

And perhaps best of all? This recurring notion of fitness as fun. According to Kurtz, getting fit while having fun is the name of the game. Her one-line descriptor says it all:

“It will be like a party on a bike!”

Party indeed. Where else is it possible to score a spot in the Tour de France without ever leaving Walker Road?