TR App with hotel bike (aka Peloton)

Wondering when i travel if it is possible to get the
Power reading from a peloton when i travel so I still can do my tr workouts?

If it has bluetooth and power donā€™t see why not. Used to run TR at my rec on a stages spin bike quite a bit via phone.

Thanks and I will try it when I go on my next trip. I know I can do rpe just to do tbe workout which is better than not doing it.

I donā€™t believe the Peloton bikes have a powermeter, nor do they broadcast any ā€œpowerā€ number using BLE or ANT.

When Iā€™m traveling I use regular hotel bikes. With a bit of experience, you can make the most of it an actually get in a pretty decent workout.

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It displays a power number and cadence but I donā€™t think it broadcasts it.

It estimates power in a fashion similar to a Kurt Kinetic InRide sensor and not far off from TRā€™s virtual power (but not broadcast). I was in a hotel with Peloton bikes this past week and I was frustrated that you canā€™t even seem to access any features on the enormous touchscreen without an accountā€¦

But I see a few options if this is a regular issue for you:

  1. With a Peloton account connected to Strava, a workout can make its way to TR for tracking. Then itā€™s on you to know the intervals, rest periods, etc. of your workout, but you can try to match the power calculated by the Peloton to your workout.
  2. Without a Peloton account, power meter pedals can work on them. Then youā€™re just using the Peloton as a dumb spin bike and adjusting the resistance knob to nail the right power for your TR workout. This should mean the same watt numbers mean the same thing even when you travel, and you can run the TR app directly, all good things - but you have to travel with very expensive pedals and the tools to install them.
  3. The ā€˜easy outā€™ - just use it as a spin bike, try to get your heart rate up, and accept itā€™s imperfect training in your plan (but better than nothing).

I prefer #3 myself: if Iā€™m using a hotel spin bike then the cooling situation is atrocious, a 60- or 90-minute workout probably canā€™t be completed to spec anyway, and I donā€™t really trust the calibration of random spin bikes or the safety of small expensive electronics in luggage.

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Thanks for the replies and I was thinking #3 is probably my best option as I dont want to travel with my stuff. i am on low volume now and can move things around with the new calendar to make it more manageable.

PowerTap pedals :grinning:

I have used the TR app on my phone and manually matched the watts displayed on the Peloton bike to the prescribed watts per the workout. If you donā€™t save the ride on the TR app, and have a Peloton account tied to Strava, then TR will pick up all the data from Strava. I have a ride on my account on 5/30 like this. Hereā€™s the rub though: It felt about right in terms of difficulty, I.e. the watts displayed matched my perceived effort. 5 minutes at 110% FTP was barely achievable after 7 intervals on Mount Foraker +5. But after my 90 minute battle I was only ā€œawardedā€ 88 of the 122 TSS that the workout is supposed to be. When I look at the workout online, the power profile of the ride looks right, with seven 5-minute sections being above the FTP line and with averages for those intervals of about what I expect, but the power/time curve doesnā€™t match this with the 5-minute power being below my FTP. Seems like a glitch. I might eventually delete the ride and enter a manual ride with 122 TSS since this is much closer to the reality of the ride.

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I use #1 myself. Worth it enough that I seek out hotels with Peloton bikes. A few notes:

-If there are multiple bikes - try to find the one closest to the RPE of your usual wattage. They seem to be calibrated very differently. I often can find one is an ā€œeasyā€ one and one is a ā€œhardā€ one.

-they are pretty flexible, for a hotel bike, in terms of fit. And absolutely slam that ā€œstemā€ - the front end is pretty tall

-there is a just ride feature so you donā€™t need to open a class

-you can connect your HR monitor via bluetooth

-there is an issue when it comes into TR that the power is about 1/2 what it should be. TR tells me it is because the Peloton file only captures power 1/2 as much or something per second(s)

-as others have said, it gets HOT in most hotel gyms and I canā€™t take my shirt off either. Even an hour of Pettit has me surrounded by a sweat moat by the time I am done. Bring a towel for the bars and a towel for yourself.

-You can sign up for a free account to Peloton and use the hotel bikes to do anything you want.

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Another thing I will addā€¦ Iā€™m not sure how guest accounts work when riding a Peloton, but if itā€™s available, consider going into settings and adding your FTP. This way, when you do your workout, youā€™ll get additional UI showing you your current zones (7 zones) if itā€™s something of interest. For me, if Iā€™m traveling, Iā€™m usually just thinking of workouts as hit some zone, sweet spot, etc. for x seconds/minutes which is easier for me to process than thinking of specific numbers.

Power pedals definitely very easy to swap in and out on a Peloton, and while calibration definitely varies, a fairly calibrated bike does track well enough for the purposes of what Iā€™m trying to do. But yeah, like most spin bikes, youā€™re really at the mercy with its calibration. Itā€™s a good way for me to get better at RPE.

Since writing that I got Favero pedals and tried (based on @Nate_Pearsonā€™s suggestion) doing VO2max intervals on a Peloton. Pretty workable, I didnā€™t overheat and I didnā€™t need a second subscription. However, travel with the tools to swap out pedals is pretty tough. I thought I had a small enough pedal wrench to get through TSA as a carry on, and it workedā€¦ one way.

I have some more travel coming up and Iā€™m going to see how well I can do swapping pedals with just a small multi tool this time.

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yeah, i never have consistent experiences with TSA. And I donā€™t check bags, so I never have had power pedals as a realistic option.

Iā€™ve gone the multi-tool route.

It worked once, the next time on a different bike, the pedals were too tight and the multi tool didnā€™t give me enough leverage to get them off so I wasnā€™t able to attach my own pedals.

Iā€™m doing this on a regular basis. I work overseas on a very small compound (no place to ride). We do have two Pelotons. Iā€™m using a set of Favero pedals and my iPad. Did a ramp test with the new pedals on the Peloton about a week and a half after my last ramp test at home on my bike with my Stages the difference in FTP was only 1 watt. Ive been on the Peloton for about 5 weeks now finishing up Sweet Spot Base Low Volume II and starting General Build Low Volume. Some things I have noticed; Workouts much more than an hour are very difficult (could be mental), short intervals SUCK (think Spanish Needle), power reading on Peloton is 50ā€™ish watts higher than my pedals.which seem to be really close to my stages. When I get back home I think I will run the Favero pedals with the Stages to compare. And as others have said I cannot get the power from the Peloton to my iPad (I can only read it off the screen.
Food for thought.

I know Iā€™m late to the discussion but I found a pretty good workaround. Make sure you add your FTP on the Peloton in order to give you a power reading. First I upload the desired ride to my wahoo as an outdoor workout. On the Peloton I do a ā€œjust rideā€ or scenic rideā€. I start the ride on my head unit and just match the wahooā€™s prompts to the pelotonā€™s power. Itā€™s no Erg mode but way better than RPE. After the workout I delete the ride from the head unit. Peloton loads to Strava, which loads to TR account. Then just associate your ride with in your TR calendar.

Iā€™ve never used a Peloton before but I may be forced to on an upcoming trip as I canā€™t find anyone willing to rent me a bikeā€¦

Just so I know what Iā€™m up against. Are you saying that the Peloton will show your wattage (accuracy issues aside) on the screen and that youā€™re using a Garmin / Wahoo / whatever to do a TR outdoor session but with no power from the Peleton going to the head unit?

So essentially, see the change in watts on the head unit, try to match on the screen? Iā€™ll be comfortable enough doing that as I donā€™t have ERG on my home trainer anyway.

Yup thatā€™s exactly what Iā€™m saying. If you havenā€™t been using ERG, you already know the drillā€¦ just match that power the best you can. There are a few things to keep in mind:
-Peloton wonā€™t show you your power by default. Youā€™ll need to first manually add your FTP to Peloton, then it will give you a power reading and a nice display of your power zones. Hereā€™s an explanation:

-TR Outdoor workouts sometimes very from indoor workouts. I like to take a look at my upcoming workout in both indoor and outdoor mode, and note any differences. Since outdoor workouts give you a target range, knowing the actual target from the inside workouts sometimes makes it easier. I like to have TR open on my phone so I can refer to the workout if I get confused my the wahoo.
-You need to choose a Peloton class or ride thatā€™s at least as long as your TR workout. I believe ā€œJust Rideā€ will go on indefinitely so thatā€™s a good choice, but I prefer doing a ā€œScenic Rideā€ as it gives you something interesting to look at, as well as music. Itā€™s a refreshing change from the same old TR screen. Just note the length of the ride beforehand as you canā€™t extend the ride if it stops before your TR workout is completed.

-Other than that, youā€™re good to go. So long as youā€™re Strava account is linked to your TR, and Peleton accounts, the workout will find its way to your TR Calendar.

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Thanks. Iā€™m still hoping not to have to use it, but if I do this will be very helpful.

Possibly a stupid questionā€¦ Iā€™ve just realised that these things likely donā€™t have gears (Iā€™ve never used one!). Am I stuck increasing my cadence if I want to output more power, or can I change some sort of resistance somewhere?

Donā€™t want to have to blender leg it to get anywhere! Plus, altering resistance would obviously limit me to longer intervals (without a ton of stress anyway).