It is unfortunate that Peloton focused on straight watts. Watts are a measure of power alone–so bigger muscles will produce more power, that part is pretty straightforward. But when you talk about using that power to move a body through space, now you have to look at how heavy, and how aerodynamic, that body is. The raw wattage being put out needs to be compared to the resistance being met.
Bigger bodies weigh more, and are a bit less aerodynamic. So the higher wattage coming from bigger bodies has more resistance to overcome to move that body.
Typically, the aerodynamics aren’t as big of a factor. On a flat road, a bigger person isn’t that much less aerodynamic than a smaller person, so the higher raw power the bigger person can put out will more easily overcome the slightly higher wind resistance. If you look at IRL racing, on flat courses it’s the bigger riders who are going to do better on average. And bigger riders also on average tend to do better at TTing. Just look at Pippo Ganna, he’s huge. There’s a limit of course, because weight still does matter, and at some point as you add weight you won’t be adding power in the same proportion.
When you’re climbing, it’s another story. The speed is reduced, so aerodynamics becomes less of a factor. But now weight is a much bigger factor. Those bigger muscles and their higher raw power have to pull a much larger body up a ramp. And now is when the lighter riders start to get the advantage. They have lower raw wattage, but their lower raw power needs to pull a much smaller weight up the hill.
If I can put out 300w, and you can put out 250w, but I weigh two times as much as you, you’re going to smoke me up a hill.
So Peloton only valuing raw wattage to me demonstrates their entire lack of caring about actually riding a bike. And it also I’d guess leaves a lot of smaller riders feeling way worse about their comparative abilities than they should. Find a pro male rider who weighs 90kgs, won’t happen. I’m no super stud, but everyone in my club who is faster than me in general is also much smaller than me. Except in sprints.
I didn’t want to specifically slag on Peloton, they have enough problems. What bugged me was instructors saying they had ‘power meters’, they didn’t, the accuracy things, and the whole focus on power. Comparing the Peloton bike to a Kickr bike is like comparing a Chevette to a Lamborghini. They are both cars, but the similarities pretty much end there.
They went with what they could easily quantize, and power was it. Power Zone rides are very popular there, and not that they are bad, but they miss a bigger picture. But if people stay int hat closed environment, they are fine, or they know what they are getting/doing. I always wanted to put power pedals on the Peloton we had, and when I did it was rather surprising. But anyway, off topic.
Peloton does what they do and do it really well. The Bike+ is a great upgrade for them. I could see going back to a Peloton when I get too old to ride, but I think I still have quite a bit of time before that happens.
I’m trying to get the whole picture. The rest of the story, and it’s not easy to swallow. And time to shed those Pandemic Pounds. Yikes…
Fair enough. I’ve never used Peloton, just seen it being used. I don’t want people yelling at me or playing terrible music and then singing along with it, so it was a hard pass just based on the commercials
They’re getting a bunch of people exercising, and they aren’t selling magic pills or snakeoil, they’re just selling hard work. So they have that going for them.
Yes, they really have a lot of devoted users. They get people moving the meat. It’s better than riding the couch.
I just started asking too many questions, and couldn’t get real answers. Plus watching people put out 800 watts for a whole ride to ‘win the world’. Yeah… No worries…
And people asked me about the music they played. I usually never noticed it, too busy sweating my butt off.
I guess blood pounding in your ears will drown out the music I don’t mind good music, I’ll often throw on a spotify playlist for Zwift. But it’s currently full of Body Count and Brass Against and a bunch of stuff Peloton might get in trouble for it they played. But I’ve been in and near IRL spin studios where the music was so loud, and so not to my taste, that it would have been distracting.
And some people find the yelling encouragement to work for them. Just not my preference there either.
But 800 watts, lol. That’s like age groupers doping to ‘win’ fondos, lol.
