PELOTON ONE YEAR REVIEW – IS IT WORTH IT EVEN IF I DON’T CYCLE?

"Ok Peloton is it worth it? Not only are there upfront costs but the running subscription costs of £40 a month. I don't own one personally. However, a friend of mine has bought one and he and his girlfriend both use it every day." 

So I am that friend Carl spoke about in the article a few months back. I've been using the Peloton for about 8-9 months now. I wanted to give you some tips on how to get the best out of your Peloton. 

First things first. Don't buy any shares in Peloton. I made that mistake, Jesus who could have seen that kid dying on one of those treadmills, that guy dying on a Peloton in Sex and the City. Honestly, hit after hit and my sticks are in the toilet. Never mind. 

The Peloton weighs a god damn tonne. It took two burly dudes to lift it up the stairs and three willowy guys to take it back down when I moved house. Me being one of them. If you buy a peloton try to think of a place where it will sit for the rest of its days. I mean it's the year 2022 haven't we figured this one out yet? 

OK, so you have a Peloton. Good for you. I started off using the Peloton begrudgingly. I'm paying 40 sheets a month for the subscription so I was going to get my monies worth whether my body liked it or not. 

The first few months I would just sludge my way through 20 minutes and check emails on my phone. Who said guys can't multi task I thought. I would get off the bike without a bead of sweat on me. Meanwhile my girlfriend would blast her way through 30 minutes and collapse in the shower after she was done. 

I'm just not into cycling I told myself. 

But I am competitive, I thought. So I started putting in some effort. But how can you challenge yourself on the Peloton? Well you can monitor your distance over 20 minute rides. Now I would scramble over the 5 mile line when I first started. Then I started to put the phone away. Or at least stop doom scrolling. And I tried each time to get my distance up. I managed 5.10m in twenty minutes. The next day I would push for 5.20, the next 5.30 and so on. 

I enjoyed the challenge and I saw myself in some kind of clone movie where I was in a line of old Pete's racing against each other. But I'm the older Pete with something to prove. 

There is a story of a kid who planted a sunflower seed and each day would jump over the budding flower. Eventually the sunflower seed reached over 10 feet and yet because he spent every day jumping over it, he could always push new heights. 

That inspired me to race quicker. When I got to 6miles in 20 minutes I needed a fresh challenge. I'm also realistic I know I'm not going to break any world records and I would kill myself to break that 6 mile mark in 20. So I started setting the time back. This time I would race for 30 minutes. 

But I couldn't go at the same break neck pace that I would for 20 minutes. This was more of a marathon. I had to start over again with little milestones. On the Peloton you have a metric called Average Output. You see it fluctuate constantly and then at the end of the race you get an average. This is the figure I would always race against. 

One day I'd hit 130Watts. Next 131, 132 etc and just keep nudging the needle up. I was getting very good, and it's now not such a chore for me to get on the Peloton and do 30 minutes. 

You have two other neat applications when racing. You have the 'here now' tab. That gives you an indicator on who else is in the race at the moment in time. And 'All Time' tab which gives you a marker for how others have done in the past and where you sit currently within that league. 

When you see someone high five you, that's invariably the people you're racing with in the 'here now' tab. I tap the high five button and then fly right by them. 

What helps me on the bike is watching movies that are inspirational. It doesn't matter if they're cheesy, so long as the music pumping and it depicts moments of heroism. You can download the Amazon Prime video app on your phone, or whatever streaming service you have subscribed to. 

I find Marvel or DC movies normally tick those kind of boxes very well. Yes I know they can be cheesy and not designed to be enjoyed on the phone, but this is just an enabler. 

What else helps is to take a picture of your sweaty tee after the bike ride and post a story on Instagram. I do that all the time. People accuse me of just chucking water over myself because they can't believe how much I sweat. I don't take photos of myself on the bike because I'm busy trying to beat my own records or get a sweat on. 

But if you document your own journey, make it part of your daily routine then it becomes literally that. A routine. I haven't become part of a Peloton community or anything. In truth I'm not interested in any of that, nor do I have the time. Maybe if I was single there would be an incentive, but I'm happily with another. Who by the way, I've now surpassed on the Peloton. Much to her chagrin. So keep punching, keep pedalling, is it worth it? Absolutely. £40 a month and we both gave up the gym during Lockdown.