By leading with her mantra, “I am.
I do,” Christine D’Ercole has become one of the mostpopular Peloton instructors.
According toCarnegie Mellon Alumni News, her rides have been downloaded over one million times by members.
And while otherinstructors have come and gone, Christine stuck around and continued to build her following.
She now has 148,000 followers onInstagramand sells merchandise on her website.
But how did Christine become aPelotoninstructor?
Interestingly, it was not a straightforward path.
She originally wanted to become a ballerina, then an actress, then a model.
She did not think of cycling as a career path until much later in life.
“I was just bigger,” she said.
“I was too big.
You name it.”
She eventually realized why.
“My thighs were twice the size of all the other little girls around me,” she said.
I was ‘big-boned,’ as they say."
The ballet world caused so much harm to Christine’smental healththat she left it to pursue other dreams.
Along the way, she fell in love with cycling.
After high school, Christine studied theater at Carnegie Mellon University.
She biked to class and explored all of Pittsburgh on her two-wheeler.
However, Christine soon experienced another blow to her self-confidence.
“It said lovely things about my monologues,” Christine confessed during theInsiderinterview.
“And at the bottom, it said, ‘A little heavy in the thigh.'”
In navigating all of Manhattan on a bike, Christine discovered the city’s bike messenger subculture.
Christine revealed that all the bikers she knew hadsuperheronicknames.
As for Christine’s nickname?
It was “LEGS,” in all caps (viaWomen You Should Know).
“I was fast,” Christine said.
“And my legs were thick.
And I started to become a little less embarrassed about my thighs.”
Fortunately, the embarrassment didn’t last.
After some encouragement from other city cyclists, Christine took on track cycling and racing.
But this lifestyle change did not bother her.
“I withered inside.
Thankfully, the photographer knew exactly what to say to boost Christine’s confidence.
The photoshoot did wonders for Christine’s self-esteem.
Christine loves cats
Christine has lovedcatsever since she was a young girl.
Then, Christine confessed that Chaplin had a strange obsession of his own.
“This cat was obsessed with OB tampons,” she said.
I’d throw it and he would fetch it back.
It seems that Christine loves any excuse to write about cats.
