In particular, Peloton's target market is overwhelmingly female. You won't find it in this S1, but this alone is why you can straight up disregard everything you will read on HN today about their business model.
No, it turns out women don't buy carbon bikes, a standalone trainer, wrench a cassette on it, put the bike on, hook up a tablet somewhere, install a power meter, ... it's the ole "rsync is superior to Dropbox".
I think your rsync-dropbox analogy is a good one, but I also found your statement about how it's a gender thing to be somewhat sexist, (it almost sounds as if you're implying that rsync is for men and dropbox is for women because in general men are more inclined to do difficult things than women).
I think he's harkening more to the standard try-hard neckbeard analogy than just genders. Usually women aren't lumped into that category. I think it's nuanced, but I don't think he meant any harm when writing.
It's not prescriptive, just descriptive. Obviously women are capable of doing all of that, and many do. But 25+ years of road bike (and other weekend warrior pursuits, MTB etc.) vendors trying to target specifically women have not seen remotely the success that Peloton had in reaching them, and there a lot of non-technical reasons in there, too.
No, it turns out women don't buy carbon bikes, a standalone trainer, wrench a cassette on it, put the bike on, hook up a tablet somewhere, install a power meter, ... it's the ole "rsync is superior to Dropbox".