PART 3

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RIDE

PELO TIP 12: HEART RATE MONITORS

Part of the fun of a Peloton Bike is tracking your progress, and taking full advantage of all the technology that the product offers. There are various metrics that you will probably want to observe as you set your workout goals. If you are like most Peloton riders, one of these metrics—either initially or eventually—will be heart rate.

I strongly recommend wearing a heart rate monitor in order to get the most out of your workout. There are many quality monitors on the market that are made precisely for activities such as riding an exercise bike. A lot of people swear by a monitor called the Scosche Rhythm. It wraps comfortably around your arm, and in addition to monitoring your beats per minute (BPM,) it displays your blood flow and how many calories you’ve burned. Other favorites are devices by Garmin, Wahoo, and Cat Eye. These are all quality brands that offer solid functionality. Whichever one you ultimately choose, just make sure to select a device with ANT+ technology; this allows several devices to communicate with one another and ensures that products from multiple brands can work together. For example, an ANT+ heart rate strap can send data to a bike, computer, watch, phone, or tablet—regardless of the manufacturer.

As you might imagine—given their popularity and ubiquity—Peloton offers its own monitors. My wife and I bought the Peloton Heart Rate Monitor as part of a package that also included shoes, mat, and headphones. If you’re looking to hit the ground running with a monitor, this may be a quality option for your household, as well.

To wear the Peloton Heart Rate Monitor, you first snap the sensor pod into the chest strap. You can then adjust the strap to fit your lower chest. It should be snug but comfortable. When the heart rate monitor detects a heartbeat, the LEDs will flash red and blue. (The initial red flash indicates it detects the heartbeat, and it will stop flashing after thirty seconds. The flashing blue indicates it detects a heartbeat, and also that it is in Bluetooth pairing mode. The LED will continue flashing until the monitor connects to a Bluetooth device, even if you connect to the Peloton Bike via ANT+).

And if you see a flashing yellow light? Don’t worry! It just means that the heart rate monitor’s battery is low. You can replace it quickly and easily with a new CR2032 3-volt battery. The battery door is located on the underside of the sensor pod. Unscrew it by inserting a coin into the slot and rotating it counterclockwise. Once the door is loose, simply remove it. The battery is located just inside. Take out the old battery and wait thirty seconds. Then insert a new CR2032 3-volt battery with the flat side facing down. Replace the battery door and—with the coin in the slot—rotate clockwise until the door is flush with the underside of the pod.

You won’t see the yellow light too frequently. The battery life for the Peloton Heart Rate Monitor is approximately six hundred hours.

You will notice that sometimes the red and blue lights on your monitor will flash even if you are not wearing the strap. This might happen just from touching the sensors on the strap, or because of the monitor’s proximity to the bike. I recommend you unsnap the sensor pod from the chest strap when you are not riding. It is an easy enough thing to do so you will not waste time when you next go to exercise.

PELO TIP 13: WHAT TO DO WHEN THE HEART RATE MONITOR DISAPPEARS FROM YOUR SCREEN

Though the technology in your Peloton Bike is certainly leading-edge, it isn’t perfect; there are still a few quirks to look out for. They aren’t serious, just annoying. But learning to expect them, and handling them when they do pop up, is key to a quality Peloton experience. And of all the small technology quirks you may notice, the most common is simply that you’ll get on the bike and be all clipped in and ready to go . . . but your heart rate isn’t anywhere to be found on the screen. (Or else it will appear briefly and just as suddenly disappear.)

When this occurs, you might see a pop-up notice that your heart rate monitor has disconnected—but also, you might not. Don’t be alarmed if this happens . . . it simply means it’s time to troubleshoot.

The first—and most common—source of the problem is found within the Bluetooth connection to your bike. To explore this possibility, tap on the tablet screen once. Then, in the upper right-hand corner, tap on “Settings.” Scroll down to the “Heart Rate Monitor” and make sure the Bluetooth setting is lit-up/on. If it is, and you still don’t see your device listed on the screen, try turning it off for twenty seconds and then turning it on again. It should now indicate that the monitor is connected.

If the monitor is still not found, power off the tablet using the gray button on the backside of the tablet at the very top. Then, after waiting twenty seconds, boot it up once more. Many Peloton users have found that this simple restart method often gets the heart rate monitor function working again.

Finally, a less-frequent source of the issue can be the physical heart rate monitor itself. Sometimes you have to moisten the sensors that touch your chest in order to get the monitor working. If adjusting the tablet itself has not worked, try this technique and see if it gets the desired effect.

PELO TIP 14: HEART RATE ZONES

Learning about heart rate zones can be a key part of getting the most from your Peloton Bike experience. It’s certainly a feature with which I wish I had acquainted myself sooner!

I had ridden for a couple of weeks before exploring it. While I thought I understood how my heart rate was connected to the rides I was doing, I kept seeing different “Zones” show up on the tablet screen, and I had no idea what that meant. But after doing some research on the Internet, I discovered that this Zones feature could offer a whole other dimension to my rides.

It turns out that Peloton offers a tool that allows you to take part in what they call “heart rate training.” Peloton breaks down this training into five different zones, each of which corresponds to a specific level of effort. The percentages of each zone are based on your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR).

This is how Peloton describes it:

Zone 1

Warm Up

Up to 65% of MHR

This is an easy effort, like a warm-up or recovery.

Zone 2

Endurance

65-75% of MHR

This is an average effort, which is characterized as comfortable.

Zone 3

Power

75-85% of MHR

This is an above-average effort, which is characterized by heavy breathing.

Zone 4

Threshold

85-95%

This is a hard effort, characterized as very challenging.

Zone 5

Max Capacity

95%+ of MHR

As hard as you can manage, and it is characterized as a short burst to the finish line.

As you ride with your monitor on, your heart rate and current Zone will be displayed on the touch screen. But no sooner will you see this than you’ll wonder—just as I did—how Peloton can possibly know this information for each individual rider. Every Peloton user’s fitness level is different, after all. How does Peloton get a sense of the average rider’s cardiovascular strength, versus someone who has, say, ridden in the Tour de France?

It turns out that there are several ways that Peloton comes by this information. If you filled out your profile when the installer was setting up your touch screen, you probably entered your birth date (unless you lied about your age). This is one metric from which Peloton will glean info about you. The bike also takes into account your fitness level as customized by your own adjustments to the rides. Whenever you feel that a ride is too easy or too difficult, you can adjust things by tapping the “Menu” on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Scroll down to “Max Heart Rate” and tap on it. This will lead to a screen that gives you two choices: you can keep it on default calculation, or you can enter your own custom MHR.

Peloton also offers heart rate training classes in the on-demand library, which you can easily search for. As I said in the introduction, this bike is full of nice surprises!

PELO TIP 15: HEART RATE MONITOR STRAP

There’s nothing like a good ride on your Peloton to work up a lot of sweat. This is something for which you should be prepared.

When you take off your heart rate monitor, as noted above, you’ll want to unsnap the monitor pod to preserve the battery. But what of the strap? To be frank, there’s a good chance that your strap is going to be drenched with sweat. If you’re like a lot of riders, you will be tempted to let it dry off on the bike handlebar. There’s nothing wrong with that—per se—but the salt content in your perspiration will start to harden the strap and stain it over time. This means you’ll have to replace your strap more frequently. A better idea is to rinse the strap under running water after a workout, and even clean the strap gently with mild soap (such as dish soap) every once in a while. (Do not soak, iron, or dry-clean it and avoid using moisturizing soaps because they can leave residue on the strap.) By keeping your strap clean and sweat-free, you’ll have a nicer riding experience.

PELO TIP 16: TOWELS

While we are on the subject of sweating, let’s talk about towels. I think it’s a great idea to keep a small hand towel on the handlebar of your bike while you ride. If you’re interested in investing in official equipment, there is a two-piece towel set (made of terrycloth) designed specifically for the Peloton handlebars, and a separate wiping towel to protect the bike from moisture. Personally, that seems to be a little excessive to me—and an area where I didn’t feel each and every one of my riding accessories needed to be “on brand”—but to each his or her own. (I won’t pass judgment on you if you decide to purchase a fancy Peloton sweat towel, if you don’t pass judgment on me for getting the padded shorts AND the padded seat cover!)

PELO TIP 17: HYDRATE

We all know the importance of adequate hydration—and not just when exercising. When you’re doing a ride on your Peloton, you’re going to want to take small steps ahead of time to make it easy and intuitive to stay hydrated. It’s a good idea to put a water bottle on the tray just below the handlebars for every ride. If you prefer, you can use a good sports energy drink to replace the electrolytes you will lose during your workout. At a minimum, you should take two or three gulps of water for every ten to fifteen minutes of your ride (and certainly keep drinking after you finish, as you feel you need to). Occasionally, during some rides, you will see a water bottle-shaped icon appear on your screen. This indicates that Peloton recommends this moment for taking some hydration.

It’s true that riding a bicycle while taking a drink of water is not something that comes naturally to everybody. (In a perfect world, I might use a sippy cup, but even I have my pride.) The best solution I have found is a leak-proof bottle that has a one-handed flip top that gives you quick and easy access so you don’t have to miss a thing on your ride. When selecting a water bottle, go for ease of use. You want to be able to click the button with a finger and tip up the spout without any effort, and easily snap it closed when you are done.