SoulCyle is known for its hard-core workout experience. But one woman is saying the blaring music the classes use to motivate students, put her in a dangerous situation — along with a way-too-sharp support bar on her bike.
Donna Wood filed a lawsuit against SoulCycle with the Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday. She and her husband were on vacation in California, according to court records, when she attended an 8:30 AM class at SoulCycle in Beverly Hills.
At the end of the class, the instructor said that those taking the class could either participate in the cool down or leave. Wood chose to leave so she could meet up with her husband and continue their vacation together, the court records say. But when she swung her leg over to get off the bike, the support bar for resistance weights on the back of her bike cut into her upper thigh. When she shifted her weight, the bar dug in deeper, essentially impaling her on the bike.
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She was "dangling by her right leg" for several minutes, according to the court records.
Wood screamed out for help, but no one could hear or see her because the music in the room was so loud and the room was still dark.
When another person in the class finally did see her, she got help getting off the bike. But no one called an ambulance or helped her further. Wood called an Uber to get the hospital, "bleeding profusely and in severe pain," the court records say.
It took more than 50 surgical staples to close the cut in her leg, which has left a permanent scar.
This is not the first time SoulCycle has been under fire. Last year, a woman said she was shamed into exercising so excessively at a SoulCycle class that she was severely injured and had to go to the hospital.
These two cases don't mean that every SoulCycle class is bad, of course, and some people rave about the workout. But they do provide cautionary tales, and we want to remind anyone participating in any kind of exercise class to only do what feels comfortable for your body.
HT: New York Post