April 2006: Elizabeth Cutler, Julie Rice, and Ruth Zukerman open the first SoulCycle in a former funeral parlor.
March 22, 2007: Bill Clinton hosts a fundraiser for his wife’s presidential campaign at SoulCycle, where attendees shell out $2,300 per bike. Though Bill declines to spin, he raises $70,000.
May 25, 2011: Equinox buys SoulCycle, reportedly for between $15 and $25 million.
July 26, 2011: Former first daughters Jenna Bush and Chelsea Clinton show up at the same SoulCycle class in New York.
May 6, 2012: Actor Max Greenfield (Schmidt on New Girl) leads a SoulCycle West Hollywood class. He kicks it off with Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know.”
July 12, 2012: Victoria’s Secret angels host a “Supermodel Cycle” for cancer research. Bike reservations start at $1,500.
December 2012: Fitness magazine bestows “Best Revenge Body of the Year” on Katie Holmes, crediting SoulCycle.
December 13, 2012: Google’s annual Zeitgeist report reveals that “SoulCycle NYC” was the sixth most-searched term among New Yorkers in 2012.
January 24, 2013: Three Gawker bloggers try out a class in New York. “I’d rather sell my soul than SoulCycle,” concludes writer Rich Juzwiak.
February 2013: Jake Gyllenhaal starts dating Sports illustrated model Emily DiDonato, whom he met at SoulCycle.
March 27, 2013: Lady Gaga hosts a private birthday party at SoulCycle. She requests Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.”
April 2013: “There are two things that every woman has to try before she turns 30— Botox and SoulCycle,” declares Elle UK.
May 2013: New York class reservations fill up in under a minute. Wait-listed spinners send desperate tweets to the “#soulfairy.”
Summer 2013: SoulCycle opens in Marin (2257 Larkspur Landing, near Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Larkspur, 415-285-7685) on June 8 and in Cow Hollow (2095 Union St., near Webster St., 415-695-7685) in August.
Originally published in the June 2013 issue of San Francisco.
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