Who: Sue MolnarSoulCycle instructor, New York
From: Upper West SideNew York City, people!
Her ride: Real musicMinimal choreography, maximum lyrics
Since: The cassette eraTeaching indoor cycling for decades
At home: 45s and turntablesA Disc-Go case of singles
The film: 3-minute docufilmSoulCycle, 2018

Sue Molnar is from the Upper West Side, rides to real music and has been teaching indoor cycling since you had to put your class on a cassette.

For Sue, SoulCycle means three things: family, community and sanctuary. When we made this film she had just been through the hardest year of her life, and the room she built was the one that carried her through it.

SoulCycle instructor Sue Molnar dancing against a grey studio backdrop

“What doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger.”

Sue Molnar, on riding through cancer

Classic tunes

Her class is built on the song, not the routine. She wants riders inspired by the lyrics, so she keeps the distractions, choreography included, to a minimum. At home the music lives in a Disc-Go case of 45s: The Eagles, John Denver, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake. She saw Queensrÿche and all those guys live.

Sue's Disc-Go case of 45s — The Disc-Go case.

Sue holding a 45 from her collection — Pulling a single.

A 45 spinning on Sue's turntable — Needle down.

Sue holding a Black Crowes record — The Black Crowes, on vinyl.

Keep climbing

The year before we filmed, Sue got a call from her doctor on her birthday telling her she had cancer. Two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation followed. She kept teaching, and she brought it into the room: one song in her class was the one that helped get her through, and she asked her riders to ride it with her.

SoulCycle instructor Sue Molnar against a pink studio backdrop, fist forward — I'm still here. Keep climbing.

People from every walk of life show up in that room, people you’d never normally meet, and they become fast friends. She finds it a little ironic that it happened in New York City of all places. She couldn’t have asked for a more supportive group to carry her.

Alongside the films, we shot a portraiture loop of every instructor against a white backdrop, made to sit beside their name and story on their SoulCycle profile. This is Sue’s.

soul-cycle.com/instructors/sue-molnar

Sue

“SoulCycle to me means family.”

Sue is from the Upper West Side and has taught indoor cycling since the cassette era. Her class is built on real music and real lyrics, and it's a place where you're safe to be yourself.

▶Book a class with Sue▶Watch Sue's bio film

“What do we live for,
if not to make life less
difficult for each other?”

Sue Molnar, on compassion

Off the bike

Sue’s niche is inspiring people musically. It’s in the subtleties: if music is what gets you to a strength you wouldn’t find otherwise, that’s what her class is for. You’re safe to be yourself in there, strong, weak, whatever.