“I’d rather be 100 percent in it for 45 minutes, and it’s done for the day,” said Ms. Farwana, who began riding front row about a year ago after an instructor whose class she attended consistently suggested she make the leap.

At SoulCycle, which calls its workout “dancing on the bike” and encourages moving in unison, the sanctity of the front row is enshrined in the rules, painted on the wall of the studios. No. 5, titled “The Pack”: “There is a direct correlation between your energy and your neighbor’s ride. If you want to do your own thing, please don’t ride in the front row.”

If that sounds elitist, well, many SoulCyclers (of all rows) support it.

“When the person in front of you is off, you have to be a meditative guru not to be bothered by it,” said Tula Karras, a writer and editor who prefers to ride second row, center. She has braved the front row a couple of times, an adrenaline rush she likens to “going off the high dive for the first time,” and said it was her goal to ride there regularly.

Many SoulCycle instructors insist on preapproval of their front rows, with new clients being asked whether they’d like to take a back seat. In the minutes before class, the SoulCycle staff consults the “move list” and considers front-row hopefuls. Occasionally, if no one makes the cut, “staff will come in and ride because it sets the tone for the whole class,” said Gabby Etrog Cohen, a spokeswoman.

At a SoulCycle class on the Upper East Side on Sunday, when two women made the rare move of leaving class — and their front-row bikes — 10 minutes early (class had started late), the instructor hollered for them to come back, then recruited two staff members to come finish in their places. Minutes later, congratulating the class on a steep climb, he said admiringly, “You’re all front-row riders.”