The first things to know about a class at iiCE Fitness: There will be yelling towels waving in the air, and high-fiving.
That’s by design, too, as Marisol Garcia, the cycling studio’s owner and one of its instructors, infuses each class with music and celebration. She wants it to not feel like a workout, opting for what the business calls an “immersive indoor cycling experience.”
“The experience is about embracing each other,” said Garcia.
Tucked off Stemmons Freeway in West Dallas, iice Fitness has found its niche with its music picks — and what’s exceptionally popular are the studio’s classes that feature live DJs and even live bands.
A particular favorite is the studio’s “Bici Bici Banda” class, which incorporates a banda band and has toured across Texas. Other special events, some with equally clever names, include “Magic Bike,” “Cycle Coffee Raves” and live DJ Rides.
Garcia, 29, grew up dancing and listening to traditional banda, norteñas and Tejano music in McAllen. She took her first cycling class when she was 16, fell in love with it, and became a certified instructor two years later.
The idea to launch her own studio didn’t come until later.
“iiCE Fitness came about with the idea that I wanted to create something extremely unique,“ said Garcia. ”I wanted the experience to be the core focus of it, instead of burning calories, competition or leader boards.”
While balancing a full-time job working as an architect managing aviation projects, Garcia began planning, trying to figure out how to see her dream become a reality.
One fateful day, while scrolling on Instagram, she stumbled upon 20 indoor cycling bikes that were being sold by a studio in Nashville.
“I did everything in my power to get my hands on these bikes,” said Garcia, “and I said 20 is a small number, but I have to start somewhere.”
She and her brother traveled to pick up the bikes, and she later acquired another 20 bikes.
As she began to put together the studio, her background in architecture came in handy. She and her fiancé built just about everything in-house at the studio.
The first iiCE membership was sold on July 13, 2023. It now offers four indoor cycling formats that include RiiDE, RESULTS, RHYTHM and iiCE 360, offering a range of difficulty levels. Classes come equipped with all types of music to get riders hyped up, such as hip-hop, EDM, Arabic, Afro, Indian and Latin genres.
In the years since the studio opened, Garcia and her team’s work has yielded multiple awards. Garcia herself took home an award for Best Instructor in the U.S. from ClassPass in 2024.
“It is the feeling that we’re working on,” said Garcia. “It is the experience that we work on. It is a mind-body-soul connection that we work on that makes you want to keep coming back for more.”
Details: Open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 5 to 8 p.m., on Saturday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2629 N. Stemmons Freeway, Suite 235, Dallas. The first class is $15.
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