Peloton star Cody Rigsby, explained by his biggest fans

• By : LIANNEWSKGABAR
• May 17, 2022
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Peloton star Cody Rigsby, explained by his biggest fans

But what is it that makes Rigsby so special?

“What separates Cody is that at the end of the day, Cody’s personality comes off as very genuine, so it doesn’t feel like you’re riding a bike in your bedroom. I mean, it’s really like riding with a friend,” said Tyler Moses, 28, one of the founding members of the Boo Crew.

Moses describes himself as an early adopter of Peloton, nabbing a bike around five years ago. Not unlike group fitness instructors at SoulCycle or Barry’s, Peloton instructors have their own niche or archetype. Some may focus on a certain type of music while others might home in on providing challenging classes. Moses jokingly referred to one instructor’s class as “calculus” because of the focus on all the numbers and metrics, something he doesn’t necessarily care for.

Moses explains that Cody’s appeal is that it’s the antithesis of doing calculus. His allure comes from rants and tangents about fountain sodas, email etiquette, and how drag queens dance.

“Cody’s very open about not only fitness but his personal life,” Moses said. “I mean, talking about his mom Cindy, and him being homeless, and his dancing career and joining Peloton. It’s like things that you would share with your friends.”

And Cody has a whole lot of friends, who in turn have formed a community through Peloton’s features. Moses says that just because he has “#BooCrew” in his Peloton handle, he now gets thousands of virtual “high fives” when he takes a class.

Johanna Cox is a more recent convert, becoming a Rigsby Rider during the pandemic. She was drawn to Cody for the same reasons as Moses. His comedy and ability to connect to her sealed her loyalty.

“In my head, we were best friends after a few rides,” she said. “I wasn’t seeing anybody anymore, other than my three kids, but here he was, every day, a few inches from my face, discussing all the things my real-life friends and I used to break down.”

Cox’s experience wasn’t unique. The pandemic severed so many of our social bonds, especially early on as the directive from health officials advised us to trim our social circles into pods. Gyms and fitness studios were some of the first places to shut down in an effort to curb risk and infection, but previously they’d been places of social connection, especially group fitness classes. Fans say Cody had a special talent for making a surreal situation feel normal and fun.

“He’s hilariously self-effacing, which I think is his biggest charm,” Cox said. “Have you heard him pronounce ‘turquoise?’ It’s wrong. Or the way he enjoys being the guy who puts ice in his white wine? His cruel opinion of Taylor Swift? All of it, wrong. But what makes him so great and so truly likable is that he does not give a shit; he is who he is, and that’s how Cindy raised him.”

Not all Rigsby riders may be as devout or effusive as Moses, Cox, or the Boo Crew. Some of them wouldn’t use the word “friend,” but he’s still someone that makes them laugh and plays the music they like.

After talking to several of his riders, it seems clear that Cody Rigsby is uncannily skilled at finding memories, feelings, and nostalgia you didn’t know you cared about.

Whether it’s his observations about the taste of a Book It-earned personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut or the way some white women of a certain age dance with their arms over their head, the things he touches upon are very specific. While never overly prodding or complicated, it still feels like the opposite of small talk — like an inside joke you’ve lucked into. Like all experiences, it really pays off when someone else connects to them and the subjects he talks about — his mom, being gay, being different and growing up in the South, Britney Spears — tend to resonate with gay men, moms, and a lot of people who grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s (these same demographics also happen to be big on Peloton).

Perhaps the real genius is that Cody slyly turns his not-small talk into a fitness class. Making what’s essentially a monologue feel like a conversation with people peddling and following along through a black mirror isn’t easy. Rigsby makes it seem effortless. Fans say he lingers just enough on the story, and at the same time coaches his riders into having good form (knees forward, back straight) and pushes them to try harder — the way, he says, Britney Spears crushed her Onyx Hotel Tour.

As Cox says, “He gets us, he puts us in a better mood, so sure, we’ll turn that resistance up when he asks for it.”

Cody Rigsby and Dancing With the Stars makes perfect sense, but what’s next?

Cody is a serious threat to win Dancing With the Stars, even if he isn’t a traditional DWTS celebrity. Not only is Cody a trained dancer (though hip-hop and pop’s reliance on hair tossing and body rolls are a different animal than ballroom) with a massive audience on Peloton (a recent 20-minute ride I took with Rigsby had been taken by over 290,000 participants), he appeals to a demographic friendly with DWTS — women, specifically moms. Cody has a very devoted fanbase that’s ready to mobilize.

Cody’s inclusion indicates that people at the show are shifting their own ideas about celebrity. The stars invited usually consist of soap opera actors, child stars, former athletes, and pop music artists, with the show’s biggest moment being its cast announcement.