Through the warmer summer season, we find it far easier to get up, motivated and exercising outdoors. Grab your bike and you can quickly bash out a 20Km ride in well under an hour and still be at work on time.
In winter, it’s far more difficult due to the weather, dark mornings and more dangerous road surface making it harder to cycle quickly. One option is to get down to your local gym and attend a spin class. But attending a spin class isn’t without issues. Firstly, they are far more likely to be booked up in the winter months and you have to get in early to guarantee your space. Secondly, they are at fixed times and not always when you might feel like a ride. Sometimes it’s hard to difficult to get motivated at the end of a hard working day or other plans get in the way.
Not everyone likes to spin at their gym either. It’s a sweaty environment, for one, the bikes are rarely professionally cleaned, you’re often incredibly close to the person sat next to you and you feel a pressure to perform as people can view your stats. The bikes aren’t always maintained to a high standard (some are stiffer than others) and they aren’t always the latest bike, either.
The solution is the Peloton, the billion-dollar fitness company you may not have heard of. Launched in the US, the home spin bike is coming to the UK and Canada this month and you pick up one of the fantastic bikes for as little as £1995 ($2,595 in Canada). Does this sound expensive? Well, if you factor in dedicated spin class companies can charge as much as £160 for only 10 classes, which for us would cover us for a couple of months, then you could easily be spending £1000/year just attending your monthly spin class. It adds up.
Not only is the Peloton a professional indoor spin bike, you can test yourself with up to 14 live rides a day, with a group of riders. If you just want to bike alone, and at any time, you can download one of 4000 on-demand rides and simply get cycling. You can find a ride that suits your mood, too. Locate a ride based on a theme, cadence cues and even rides suitable for a pro cyclist.
There are cheaper options available. Zwift is a system you can setup at home and use to race virtual roads, against other users and using your own bike. There’s even an Apple TV app available so you can view your virtual ride on your TV from your living room. Although you’ll need to buy a ‘Turbo Trainer’ to connect your bike electronically (prices start from £600), Zwift subscriptions are only £12.99/month, compared with £30/month for access to the live Peloton rides.
Another option is the superb Wattbike Atom, which retails for £1599 and can be connected to the Zwift system via your TV or iOS device.
For further information, head to the Peloton website.
