Head Games with Peloton Bike Statistics: the challenge of calibrating my nervous system
I have a love-hate relationship with my Peloton bike.
Love: Easy access, anytime, any length, intense workouts with great music-not just on the bike. I also do their Pilates and light weights strength classes.
Hate: I am always so discouraged on the Peloton. It’s the statistics. The Peloton bike offers metrics up the wazoo and I can’t get them out of my head or my body. The bike tracks cadence (leg speed) and resistance (how hard it is to push against the pedal). Resistance can be dialed up or down by the rider. And, as the instructors always say in the intro to their rides, those two numbers (cadence and resistance) come together in a moment-to-moment output number (measured in watts) and at the end of the ride I have a single total output number, against which to gauge my previous efforts. Instructors cue a range for each of those numbers during the ride-for example, cadence 90–100 and resistance 35–45. I can barely ever maintain even the minimum resistance and cadence. So, that’s disheartening.
Then there are the comparative stats-the leaderboard, on which I can choose to track two different rankings-where I measure up against others who are “here now” riding simultaneously, or I can track my performance up against all others who have ever done…
