David Ross remembers unclipping his foot from a SoulCycle bike in March 2020. The pandemic was about to shut down indoor exercise studios. He finished the class and realized he didn’t know when he would be back again. For Ross, that was a scary thought.
For months thereafter, Ross’ fitness routine consisted of running up and down 31 flights of stairs in his Manhattan apartment building, five or six times a day. He was too afraid to venture outdoors. Coronavirus cases were spreading rampantly across the city last spring.
“At least it felt like I was doing something,” the 36-year-old said. He had been a loyal SoulCycle customer for years, often taking classes in either Tribeca or the West Village.
At one point, Ross rented his apartment building’s gym for solo sweat sessions, where he attempted to mimic an in-studio experience by clipping into a spinning bike, turning off the lights and riding to a SoulCycle instructor’s playlist. He didn’t purchase an at-home bike because he eagerly awaited being able to return in person. Now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, that will soon be a reality, he said.
As SoulCycle welcomes customers like Ross back to classes — indoors, on rooftops and in parking lots — it has a new CEO. Evelyn Webster took over in December, roughly a year after Melanie Whelan abruptly resigned, with the company citing a need for new leadership for her departure.
In Webster’s first 100 days, she has had to work through how to safely bring riders back to classes, and begin the process of fixing what’s been described as a toxic work culture. Webster further faces heightened competition from at-home fitness options, from Peloton’s cycles to Lululemon’s Mirror, that have surged in popularity. Meantime, SoulCycle’s parent, high-end fitness brand Equinox Holdings, is reportedly in talks to go public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
Webster’s bet is on SoulCycle fans like Ross. While he found a way to keep breaking a sweat through the pandemic, he can’t wait to book a bike in a studio again.
‘What on earth were you thinking’
“People have asked me since I joined, ‘What on earth were you thinking,’ joining basically a boutique fitness business, and a retail business, in the midst of a pandemic?” Webster told CNBC in her first media interview since becoming CEO. “What I knew, is that we wouldn’t be in the pandemic forever.”
SoulCycle’s advantage has always been — and will continue to be — its loyal customers. They are often found in higher-income households that are able to shell out anywhere from $28 to $50 per class for a 45-minute workout. The business also hopes to be able to reach new customers, wherever they are, with the debut last year of its at-home bike.
