Spinning on the Square

Since the 2006 opening of its first location on Manhattan's Upper West Side, SoulCycle has gained an impressive following obsessed with its high-intensity, full-body bike workout. Cofounders Elizabeth Butler and Julie Rice have built their company at an equally energetic rate over the past five years with two more NYC openings, outposts in Bridgehampton and Scarsdale and a pop-up location at the Mondrian hotel in Miami. SoulCycle's seventh location—a two-story, 60-bike studio with full-service locker rooms and a sleek in-house boutique carrying private labels and SoulCycle's own clothing line—opened in Union Square in early February. Its signature 45-minute candlelit SoulCycle workout, which combines spinning, hand weights and a mentally challenging course, and the much-raved-about Bands class, a 60-minute ride that tones the upper body and the core using resistance bands suspended from the ceiling, are both on offer. At 12 E. 18th St.; 212-208-1300; soul-cycle.com.

Photo courtesy SoulCycle

Equipment Upgrade: Tough Skin

Courtesy Lineaus Athletic Company

Lineaus Hooper Lorette, 66, a gay Communist accountant, makes $425 custom medicine balls from his workshop in Marfa, Texas. Using full-grained leather from a Wisconsin tannery and the same tannage as a baseball glove, he can turn out two balls a day, filling them with soft-cotton thread. “It’s amazing how heavy a ball full of cotton can be,” says Lorette, who likes its cooperative nature. “You need someone to catch it and return it.” And as for a Communist creating a decidedly elitist medicine ball? “The proletariat is working,” says Lorette. “They don’t have to exercise.” A ten-inch medicine ball from the Lineaus Athletic Company costs $425; a 16-inch is $800; lineausathletic.com.