Better than nothing: Using a Peloton at a hotel while traveling

Training
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Just got back from a trip to Vegas (and it was HOT!!)

Just some tips on traveling and having to use these for workouts.

They had 4 bikes. They were the commercial version of the last generation model. (Meaning they were locked down) They had the standard flip-flop pedals (according to Peloton commercial support, they are forbidden from changing the pedals) They are SPD and toe strap. For anyone that has ever stayed at a hotel, the hotel wireless is a somewhat usable commodity, So what I did might help make them more usable.

  • Hold the power button in (upper center on the back of the screen) and select shutdown, and turn it back on again. It reboots the whole bike, and clears out any transient nonsense that might be there, as well as reestablishes the wifi connection.

  • Once you are logged in (you have to login or create a free account to use the bike, and also to share your workout with Strava, etc.

  • Once you choose a workout, give it time to cache the it before it starts. Also don’t be surprised of the workout timer int he upper left starts with a largely blank screen, but as soon as it’s cached, it’ll start showing the coach/instructor/etc.

  • WIPE THE THING DOWN! Most ‘gyms’ at hotels have some form of wipes, so wipe the screen, the buttons on the screen, the handlebars, the adjuster levers, and the seat/saddle.

  • Get plenty of water.

  • If you want a banana for a ride, or anything else, you might have to bring your own. (The hotel I was at had granny smith apples and oranges to eat which wasn’t a great choice)

  • Touch the upper right corner of the screen to open the menu to connect Bluetooth audio devices. On the Bluetooth window that pops up, there is a circled arrow button that will search for devices in pair mode.

  • If you have an Apple Watch and iPhone, you can use the heart rate from your watch during the ride. You have to download the Peloton iPhone app, and install the Peloton Watch applet. Follow the directions, and once setup connects easily, but any Bluetooth HRM strap should connect as well.

But I was able to get in several hour long, and even a 90 minute ride, so it did work, and was better than nothing. I have taken to walking the stairwells of some hotels because the ‘equipment’ is so aged and unsafe, so at least the Pelotons did work, and actually pretty well too. The difference between them and a smart trainer is you have to turn a knob for resistance but that means you can ride the workout to the degree you want. I choose ‘endurance’ rides, and was always at twice the suggested setting (z4 instead of 2, etc) and had a good workout. I don’t doubt that the bike was off on the data measured, but if you are traveling, you kind of have to take what you get. You should be able to judge what you are putting out, and whether you are getting a good ride in by now. And Ride On!!

Hope this helps…

So, yeah, those bikes are usable, just remember your SPD shoes. (I bought a pair of the fizik Vento Ferox Carbon shoes and they were fantastic for riding indoors, very cool, very comfortable)

EDIT: One thing I forgot was if you are in a city with a Peloton store, you should be able to actually ride the bike(s) in the store! Obviously wear something appropriate and be nice, no swearing, etc. I did that at the Denver store. It was interesting, having people watch me riding. I figure they either sold some bikes because of the display, or I truned off a bunch of people (I sweat a lot), but it was fun to do, and got to ride a new generation bike too. (Some stores have reservation lists though, so if there is only one, it might be necessary to squeeze in between other reservations. They provided water and towels though) I don’t know if it has changed since the pandemic, but I have heard of people still riding in some stores, and saw a ‘store bike’ from California on the leaderboard for my 90 minute jaunt.

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The worst part of trying to do workouts on spin bikes in hotels is the lack of airflow. I overheat so quickly, really miss my lasko when I’m in a hotel gym

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That!!

People were walking behind me occasionally, and I thought of paying them to keep doing it, but it wasn’t horrible hot, but yeah, do wish I had a fan for sure. Just have lots of water handy (and towels! LOTS OF TOWELS). I sweat a lot too, and left a bit if a puddle. They had a water system there, and during recovery intervals I’d leap off, rush over and fill’er up…

Used, fully, 4 towels. :flushed: :hot_face:

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Thanks for the tips! Super helpful!

Well done on getting the work done. Where there is a Will, there is a Way! :muscle:

Even if you don’t have a power meter, it can be productive to follow a TrainerRoad Workout in situations like this. You can set your Workout to an Outside Workout and follow the RPE- based descriptions. Check out this article for more information: Outside Workouts. I find that it motivates me to get the Workout done in the first place, but also keeps me on the trainer for intended duration.

I agree! If you have been riding for some time, you can probably assess your effort reasonably accurately.

Thanks again for sharing :slight_smile:.

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I just couldn’t imagine 60-90 minutes on a hotel bike! I try to plan rest weeks with trips.

In the hotel gym, I’ll just warm up on a bike or treadmill for 15 minutes just to rev the aerobic engine a little. I’ll do some squats and walking lunges with the dumbbells and call it a day. Maybe I’ll cool down for another 15 minutes on the treadmill. Or, I’ll swim laps in the pool if there are no kids around. That is plenty to keep the legs fit and the aerobic engine firing.

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I’m trying to come back from surgery and 2 months off, AND wanted to test it out and see if I could actually get a 90 minute ride in, AND it worked. I survived too. I originally wanted to rent a MTB and ride Red Rocks like I did last time in Vegas (had a ball, btw) and thought it would work out the second day to the last day as they were saying ‘cooler temperatures’, showing low/mid 90’s, but then the temps just kept going up, and it was over 100 (topped out at 106) for the whole week. NOPE… Glad I could punish myself on their Peloton bikes indoors, and even with no fan(s), it beat the hell out of riding in the literal hell outside. (MY FORD IT WAS HOT!!)

I have done treadmill, and stairwell walks on vaca in the past just to pass the time, but wanted the punishment without sublimating. :sunglasses:

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I know it’s hot but I would have tried to ride Red Rock at least once.

Good effort with getting it done on a Peloton

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I travel for work and a large amount of my training is on hotel pelotons. If I’m feeling like i really need to hit numbers I bring power meter pedals and a wrench. Some of the bikes will have rusted on pedals but I can usually find one that I can get the pedals off of. Towels all around the base of the bike since you’ll sweat, even if you’re not a sweater. In that same vein, dark color shorts.

With power meter pedals, HR strap and tablet, there isn’t even a need to login to the bike. The one annoying problem I haven’t solved is how to hang my tablet in front of the peloton screen.

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You could try this

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Creative, if the hotel doesn’t have a camera in the room. There was someone just riding the bike without logging in, but if it’s not on Strava did it happen? I’d imagine put the wrench in a checked bag too. I had thought of bringing a Park consumer wrench and swapping for SPD-SL pedals. That way if I lose the wrench, it’s not a bother, but my pedals require an allen wrench, so more tools. They had enough bikes there to hopefully find one to swap pedals. Might think of that if I ever go back. Thanks.

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Oh, I did Red Rocks the last time I was there (previous to this). I rented a really amazing Specialized bike, looked brand new, and started at Blue Diamond(?) and hit upon what was a loop (no maps) and was blown away at the terrain and sights. Loved the whole experience. We hit pedals/cranks on stumps here, there it’s rocks. It was a great day!

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Bring a small bottle of penetrating oil…when you first get to the hotel, just drop some on the pedals. By the time you hit the bike in the AM, it should have loosened up enough to use the wrench.

I did that on a Spin bike in China and it worked great. On a previous trip, I literally could not remove the pedals. Brought the oil the next time and they popped off no problem the next AM.

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I used to change to power pedals, but recently, I’ve just been doing my workouts on my watch and using HR TSS. It’s good enough for those rare occasions.

Also, I’ve been to a couple beach places that have Peloton bikes, but the bars and saddle are rusted in place, which can make for interesting, and potentially dangerous riding. The last one was so far from my fit that I did a couple rides mostly out of the saddle and promptly started working on my ability to run a 5k instead. I’ve enjoyed the running and stuck with a weekly run, but grown slowly to try to avoid knee issues.

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Yeah, I don’t think I would bother to swap out pedals on a Peloton, even for ones with power in them. You can get close enough on the metrics you note and sue the Peloton’s power to get close enough for a few rides.

I do swap out pedals on bikes when there are only toe clips / straps options, though.

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As far as I can tell the power meter in hotel pelotons is actually just a random number generator. I would agree that if you travel infrequently, its not worth the hassle and RPE is just fine.

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One can also just train by RPE. It’s really pretty easy. I’d go by RPE or HR before I’d bring a wrench, pedals, or penetrating oil on a plane.

I could care less what people on Strava see. And a hotel bike ride is the least interesting ride to post. One could manually enter a ride on Strava as well. Easy peasy.

And, I’d never enter any password on a bike in a gym.

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The early, and possibly current Peloton bikes DO NOT HAVE A POWER METER! The reason for the caps is because early on their coach/instructors claimed that the bikes DID have a ‘real power meter’. (I should have sued at that point for fraud) No, there is no power meter, not at that price. And the bike ‘calibration’ (A process involving special parts and a whole lot of luck) can be off by a wide margin. So riding a bike cranking up that knob then enters into a realm of near complete unknown territory leading to potential exhaustion.

CALIBRATION: I did, out of curiosity, ‘calibrate’ our Peloton, and it was an experience. The first time, following their own instructions, and the bike was unrideable. Yeah, it was so hard to ride, I immediately set out to recalibrate it. It took me three times to get it even close to what it was before. The bikes also had a problem in that you could not tell what the current calibration was, and then know how far off the mark your bike was/is. I finally got the message: Peloton bikes are not for serious lab rats.

So I crank it up! Seems the best idea… But they are still way more than nothing. Honestly…

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I get it but it’s just Strava, and it’s tied to your account. It’s relatively secure. We probably have more to be concerned about over the camera…

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I stay in hotels for work 3 days a week. 2 requirements for my Peloton or Spin type hotel bikes:

Fan- https://a.co/d/25eeOkS
Phone mount- Amazon.com: ORIbox Bike Phone Mount, Motorcycle Handlebar Mount, 360° Rotation Silicone Bicycle Phone Holder, Compatible with iPhone 13/12/11 Pro Max XS Max XR X 8 7 6S Plus SE 2022 12 mini,Samsung Galaxy : Automotive

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I do this all the time when traveling and occasionally I’m in Vegas😀. I agree with mostly ignoring the power displayed in Peleton, it’s all over the place. I usually offset my levels based on RPE. You can usually tell if you did a good job based on your HR for the full ride.

Also, all Hilton properties have at least one Peleton. I mostly see the flip pedals, which are decent. One hotel had SPD-SL, which was a pain and required some electrical tape to tape my feet to the pedals.

I look forward to a Peleton because at least you know what you’re getting. Also, I’d recommend against resetting the bike. Sometimes they’re on a private WiFi which is better than the public stuff, plus relinking the bike with a Peleton account can require a paid account, don’t ask how I know about that!

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