Trying it out Thursday. I’ve never done spinning (or clip in bike pedals) so I appreciate the advice on taking it easy especially at first.
Spinning is damn hard work.
I have just bought a road bike and indoor trainer as moving to a new house with games / cycling room but keeping it simple at the moment. If it works well I may upgrade to Zwift or something but starting low
I ride my Spin Bike using Zwift. I like having something to watch as I ride and the Thumbs Up people send are cool too.
Shhh, Keep that to yourself. Tom doesn’t appreciate any talk of upvotes, likes, hearts, etc… here.
You go girl!
We are keeping this off Tom’s radar by referring to these as “Ride Ons” in Zwiftian terminology.
Are those like “hop ons” in Arrested Development terminology? I bet that makes the workout extra hard!
Tried out the Peloton at their store. Really well put together piece of equipment and I think it’ll work well for me and my wife. So, it is ordered! Now I wait 8 weeks.
What is a good budget stationary bike? Is Wirecutter reliable on this?
Similar, but less of the “reach around” notifications.
It’s nice that you and wife will both be spinning soon! Congratulations and saddle up!
Weird, is that how you’re supposed to use it? I mean it has a seat, so i figured it would be normal exercise bike style. Clipping in and out of this thing is a damn nightmare. The clips were way, way, insanely too tight, and I had to loosen them quite a bit (despite the fact that they “don’t recommend” you ever loosen them) to get the shoe in at all. It then took, although it didn’t make a click sound, but apparently I hadn’t tightened the cleat bolts enough, because the cleat shifted and then I almost couldn’t click out! Being home alone and unable to reach the shoe release button was a pretty comical moment, although I eventually escaped. The shoe manual says the “recommend torque” is 4-6 lb-ft. You gave me a little allen wrench, how the hell am I supposed to know how much torque I’m using?!
You won’t be standing up all the time, typically it’s only during spinning class when the leader tells you it’s time to get up off the seat and then it’s typically in bursts of a minute or two upright followed by blessed relief to sitting again. But you’ll find that it is much more intense to be spinning while standing upright than while sitting.
I’m glad you were able to pull a Houdini and escape! Brings back fond memories of riding my road bike, arriving at a stopping point and toppling over because I’d forgotten I was clipped in. Eventually you remember automatically.
PS standing on a spinning bike isn’t necessary, you can sit the entire time too. But you’ll find it’s one of the main differentiators that can make spinning a more hard core cardio workout. Try it out stand a little bit and then build towards doing it for longer stretches as you get better at it. And remember, it is hard on your knees! I believe I tore a miniscus in a knee spinning once and I’m sure it was while upright with the added stress it puts on your knees.
I did try a little standing, but your warning has me a little spooked for my knees. I think I need to adjust my left cleat because something already doesn’t feel quite right in the knee, but I’m not sure which way to turn it. Definitely a new experience! I did a 20 minute ride through Taiwan at 50% resistance (and boy are my legs tired).
Nice work! I’m not familiar with how cleats attach to a Peloton, I’m sure there are a lot of alternatives depending on the shoe. I think it would be good if there is some “give” i.e your foot could move a little each way right and left as your leg goes through a revolution, so your knee isn’t locked in a totally fixed position. Probably most of the potential damage would be in the amount of force and compression that comes with having your body weight on the leg and knee while upright but having a little movement where your shoe clips to the pedal isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
As your doc would tell you, take it easy as you start out and before long you’ll know your own limits. But the temptation is definitely there to go out at it like some kind a madman, which can lead to issues with your knees, so keep that in mind.
@Kolbex Peloton makes pedal cages that attach to the clip-in so you can wear regular shoes. I ordered a set with my bike so we can use either with or without clips.
Definitely figure this out right away. You shouldn’t be feeling problems in your knee when riding and it’s only going to get worse, you aren’t going to ride yourself out of knee pain. There’s a lot of good resources and videos out there for figuring out how to dial in your clips (and other frame geometry issues).
Not only should it not hurt obviously, but getting a good fit is going to get you a better workout as you can engage your muscles more completely.
OH MY GOOD LORD HOLY SHIT
Just did my first 20 minute beginners ride and got my ass thoroughly kicked. I’m sweating like crazy and my legs feel like Jello. I stretched and walked around afterwards but I had to go sideways down the stairs one step at a time because my thigh muscles are not cooperating with my brain.
I’ve never done a spin class or any workout with an instructor but I totally get it now. Nice to have someone to focus on and listen to, especially when she’s gorgeous. Leanne Hainsby told me I was sparkling and she was so, so proud of me.
Yes, the instructors are universally attractive, I suspect the same will be true when I get around to checking out Apple Fitness+. I suppose it helps that Peloton is headquartered in NYC and can probably be very selective about who they hire. From the few resumes I’ve poked at, they’re as impressive as they are good looking.
I’ve found the difficulty ratings for rides very helpful. I’m 7 rides in, and they’ve been spot on. I’ve had a burn going in my quads for a good few days now, so I’m going towards the low impact “recovery” rides more, the last couple. I did up the time to 45 minutes, because I found that I can handle that length ok already.
So far Peleton is the first of these services I’m trying out (digital only) and I’m already feeling very attached to the metrics, awards, and instructors. It’s going to be hard to move on at the end of the one free month you get in Canada.
I went the los budget Peleton accessible route. I got a Bowflex C7, which is effectively a Bowflex C6/Schwinn IC4 with a bolted on crummy 7” screen. I only went with the C7 and not the pretty much same and cheaper Schwinn because it was immediately available for pickup. It’s a very solid bike, dead silent even when I get up to over 100 cadence, and the magnetic resistance switching is smooth. So far so good. Though again, screen is crummy. I just Airplay the Peleton app to my 60” TV in the basement.
Our Peloton is arriving tomorrow!
This isn’t a very helpful post, but I’m excited.