How to Turn Your Car Into an Indoor Cycling Studio
How to Make Indoor Cycling a Part of Your Personality
How to Playlist Like an Indoor Cycling Instructor[Without Actually Becoming One]

We’re all guilty of carpool karaoke, and if you take any sort of indoor cycling classes, you’re probably also guilty of carpool choreography. Your instructors definitely do this in their car, at the bar, and it’s almost always their go-to dance move at the club. You know exactly what we’re talking about, the “one down, one out” pushups on the steering wheel as soon as that beat drops? The girls that get it, get it – and it’s nothing to be ashamed of when the person next to you at the stoplight starts staring. They probably just wish they were in your passenger seat dropping and pressing in sync with you. 

After riding a few times, you may have left class wondering what one of the songs the instructor used in their playlist, and how to find it. It’s a pretty safe bet that most of the wonky, crazy remixes are from SoundCloud, which is one of the top music-streaming services. They offer a monthly subscription, but coming from an instructor, you don’t need to pay the $5/mo – you just have to know how to use it. All you have to do is type in the name of your favorite song and follow it up with “remix.” For example, if you’re a Lady Gaga fan, try typing in “Fun Tonight Lady Gaga remix” and one of the songs that pops up will be this one by OTIOT. Maybe Gaga isn’t your jam, but you really like a good mashup? This “Temperature X Satisfaction” remix with Sean Paul and Benny Benassi is fire. Finding a new remix to a song gives all your old favorites a total refresh, so you too can create a hot playlist just like your instructors! The best part about SoundCloud is almost all of the best remixes are completely free to stream and download.

If SoundCloud isn’t your jam, don’t worry – Spotify and Apple Music can be just as good when it comes to making a flawless playlist that will have all your friends begging you to share it with them. They both cost $9.99/month and will give you access to not only hundreds of thousands of songs, but also podcasts, custom playlists, and radio as well. You can find playlists that have already been made for indoor cycling classes by searching popular keywords, such as “indoor cycling,” “cycling music,” or “spinning workout.” For more recently released songs, include the year 2022 in your search. The first playlist that pops up on Spotify is this 7.5 hour playlist, so you should be able to find at least one song you like! Apple Music is a good source too; here’s a similar playlist to the Spotify one. One of the perks of having Apple Music is you can download SoundCloud songs straight to Apple Music using an online converter, whereas to download them on to Spotify you have to use a 3rd party service. To use the website tool to convert SoundCloud songs to MP3’s and play them through Apple Music, you have to copy and paste the SoundCloud song link into another site such as https://soundcloudmp3.org/, download the MP3, and then it should automatically pop-up and start playing in your Apple Music Library. If you’re a visual learner, here’s a YouTube video that explains how to download your music. YouTube is a great source for finding remixes that sometimes aren’t even on SoundCloud. For example, one of my favorite climb songs EVER is this ‘Milkshake X Losing It’ mashup. If you’re into Tik Tok remixes, or just enjoy the funny clips of Julia Fox interviews, this is one of the best remixes for her iconic “unkuh jahmzz” scene on the ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast with Alexandra Cooper. You can literally find a club remix to almost anything you see on the internet, even scenes from everyone’s favorite childhood tv show, SpongeBob SquarePants. Remember in the Krusty Krab Pizza episode, when the fish is demanding his Diet Dr. Kelp? Yeah, there’s even a trap remix to that too. You’re welcome. 

After you’ve curated your perfect driving playlist, the second most important piece is the ambience of the space. A lot of indoor cycling studios utilize bright LED strip lights to drive your motivation and set the vibe even further, and you can get that same effect in your car for less than $20 on Amazon with this link. These customizable strip lights have several colors, effects, and can even be set to be sensitive to the music you play, so when that beat drops the lights will change accordingly, just like in your cycling classes! Setup is a lot easier than it looks and there are multiple how-to videos so you know exactly what goes where. There is also an app for these lights so that you can control them from your phone when you’re not driving. Don’t get too carried away with all of these while you’re driving, always stay safe on the road! 

You’ve got music, lights, and all you have to do is grab your cycling buddy and hit the road. Just like the feeling when everyone in the front row hits the drop in sync, you can just as easily recreate that feeling with your bestie in the front seat. What better way to get hyped for class than to pretend like you’re already in there? With the right playlist and fun lights, you can easily pretend like your car is your favorite indoor cycling studio. We recommend doing this especially when you’re on your way to take class. Whether Apple Music, Spotify, or SoundCloud is your jam, you’ll for sure be able to compile the perfect playlist with our advice, the addition of the lights in your car is just an added bonus. Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to take your playlist curation skills to the next level and become an instructor at your indoor cycling studio!