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Comment by pard68 | Hacker News Reader

In college I put in about 200 miles a week on my bicycle. After I got a fulltime job, got married, and had kids my mileage dropped to around 100 miles a week. I now live rurally the roads are exceptionally narrow and have 60mph speed limits, and so I have not worked up the courage to ride. I have thought about mountain biking instead, between my own 125 acres and the 25,000 acres of national forest I back up to, there is a lot of opportunities there, but I have never loved mountain biking.

Peloton and similar products have piqued my interest but I have never had much love for stationary bikes in gyms. Anyone have experience with Peloton's product? Is it better than the gym bikes? Do the road simulations really match up?

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Two tangential thoughts:

- Try a gravel bike, which gives you a very road bike like feel, but isn't restricted to paved roads. I use mine to do 95% of the off-road stuff I used to do with my MTB, plus a lot of road.

- I've used my road bike on a smart trainer with Rouvy, Zwift and Wahoo SYSTM lately, and it's by far better than the typical gym bike. I switch between these apps, as they all have their individual strengths and weaknesses. That said, if you already own a road bike, a smart trainer might be better for giving stationary cycling a try. Smaller investment, smaller footprint when not in use.

I have been looking at gravel bikes. They seem like a good compromise. I live on an asphalt road, but there is a hundred or more miles of dirt forestry roads within a mile or two. Might be that a gravel bike can get me to and through the forestry roads.

This, good sir, sounds like absolute gravel bike paradise!

Disclosure: did my first Ironman this past year, had more than a few <1 hour and even some 4+ hour rides on a Peloton when the weather didn't cooperate. I am more of a serious rider now, but started with near zero road biking experience.

It is a basically designed stationary bike with above average classes and <60 minute fitness exercise. It does not act as a great substitute to road biking and because the front bars don't adjust, your "fit" can only be so good. That being said, it gets the job done and the music, classes, etc. are all very well designed.

Based on what you are looking for, this is not the right bike. The Peloton "free ride" capabilities are very basic and doesn't do what Zwift and other trainers do where they let you "bike" the virtual course and provide feedback. It also isn't great if you are going for more than 60 minutes as it is designed for spin classes, not over the bars, leaned in road riding.

I've been using it daily since I got it, which was just a couple weeks ago. So I'm very much still in the honeymoon period and shouldn't comment on whether it's worth it in the long view. But in the short view I have been entirely satisfied with the pricing and product. I did renting which is available in my country for the Bike and Bike+ (I chose Bike, and in retrospect don't regret it) and plan to convert to a purchase if I'm still using it in six+ months. I probably wouldn't have gone through with it if the option to rent wasn't there. Even the one month free trial that is offered with the purchase option isn't good enough to reassure me I won't use it for e.g. 40 days then drop it and be out $2000. But with renting I pay ~$100/month and can drop it whenever I notice it's been a month without using it.

Peloton is fine if you want a spin class experience. It has nothing to do with road cycling, except that there are pedals.

Zwift, Rouvy, RGT, and similar apps combined with a direct-drive smart trainer (Wahoo Kickr, etc) are closer. They attempt to simulate road cycling. There are routes, hills, group rides, races, workouts.

But I find the indoor cycling experience to be unpleasant. I am constantly reminded that I'm doing a pointless activity indoors. It's not a VR experience where you think you're somewhere else. You're working hard but not going anywhere. Most of the things that make cycling pleasant are missing: fresh air, nice weather, a sense of exploration, the satisfaction of going somewhere and making it back to where you started. I frequently ask myself "why should I keep going, I can just stop now and I'm already home" and there is no good answer.

If you can't go road biking, and your choices are mountain biking or indoor cycling, it seems bizarre to go with indoor cycling.

You don't have to risk life and limb riding difficult trails on a MTB. You can just ride on logging roads in the forest. Or ride easy trails.

I actually don't mind mtb, at least from a danger issue. I'm even sort of decent at the sport, did it a lot in high school before I got into road. What I don't like about mtb is that it's not meditative. I can spin on a road bike for hours and a small part of me is managing the ride, the rest of me is free to think deeply. With mtb it requires a lot more mental capacity and I am unable to achieve the same meditative state I love.

Interesting perspective, I had not thought about it that way.

Peloton classes involve a lot of music and shouting by the instructor. It remains to be seen whether that would work for you.

yeah, if you zone out on a trail ride, you're getting dumped off the bike very quickly. For me, its the opposite, I find that just focusing on the trail (now and next) has the same mental effect.

I would not recommend Peloton specifically- I don't think it really scratches the road riding itch. It's closer to spin class than a serious biking session. I would look at Zwift for what you used to do.

I say that as a former Peloton employee and current user who is very happy with the bike

Sadly no. Well, probaby depends on person and what you like. But you'll be very disappointed if you consider Peloton to be something more than bike + tablet

I also don't have experience with it, but have heard from friends that a big part of the appeal is that there are certain trainers that you can follow. I guess they're like influencers/trainers, that "ride" along with you and have subscribers or something. It's also a monthly fee. Personally I'd rather use a regular bike and listen to an audiobook.

I was a peloton skeptic and now love it. I am not sure road simulation is the real selling point. Yes it's better than looking at a wall but you can as well look at any random video ( including of roads)

The by far chief value of peloton is access to the class library. If you find rising boring and do better w an engaging instructor (as turns out is the case for me) then it's well worth it

Your examples are why I really don't like road riding too much, and much prefer trail riding. Why don't you like MTB?

The big reason I like it is because you need to focus on the now and next, you can't zone out, unlike with road riding. And its alot more dynamic all around, keeps you honest with yourself.

As others have said, gravel biking might be an option for you, if you put wider tires on.

I love that zoning out from riding a road bike. I have some minor autism/adhd issues and riding a bike in one of the few times my mind doesn't go a mile a minute.

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