My Peloton Journey: 1 Year. 500 Rides.

It’s been just about a year since I bought my Peloton and had it delivered. It was a gift for my 40th birthday. Not just the bike, but a gift of living a healthier life.

Now that the first year has passed, I figured I’d post a retrospective on how the year went, particularly since everyone I’ve been in a video meeting with in the last year has asked about it.

I’ll preface this by saying that other than cutting back (somewhat) on my soda consumption and trying to snack less, I’ve not changed my diet at all.

First Workout

August 21st, 2019

Longest Workout

120min 2sec

Weight
Lost

0
lbs

Most Classes Taken

Leanne Hainsby
88 Classes

Calories Burnt

0

Minutes Working Out

0

Farthest Distance

0
Miles

Kilojules Generated

0

Miles Ridden

0

Personal Records Broken

0

Rides Taken

0

Songs Favorited

0

High Fives Received

0

New Friends Made

0

Longest Streak

0
Days

It’s been a crazy first year on this bike that goes nowhere. If you’ve got a Peloton and want to add me as a friend, my leaderboard name is EpitomeOfEffort.

If you’re thinking about getting a Peloton and want to ask me a million questions, feel free. I promise to not indoctrinate you into the cult unless you really want to join. Hit me up with your questions!

Favorite Song to Favorite Album to Favorite Band/Artist

I don’t know why, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Not necessarily what my favorite song, album or band is, but what criteria go into making a decision like that.

This may sound a little Rob Gordon of me, but here goes my definition of what qualifies as each.

Favorite Song

This can — and often does — change frequently. For most people. You find that new “jam” and listen to it 80,000 times a week until it wears out. You play it until you know the lyrics by heart, can hear the melodies in your head even when you’re not listening to it, and you’ve noticed every subtle nuance of the singer’s breathing.

But the question that often comes to mind: does your favorite song need to be from your favorite band/artist or on your favorite album?

For me, it’s a no. My favorite song can be from a completely random artist or band, separate from my favorite albums of all time.

How? Glad you asked.

Right now, my favorite song is a toss up between James Arthur’s “Say You Won’t Let Go” and Queen’s “Somebody To Love”. Queen’s song may be — in my opinion — the most perfect song ever written. It has harmonies and crescendos and excellent lyrics. It rises and falls, it builds you up and settles you back down. And it’s got Freddie Mercury, which is hard to beat. James Arthur’s song, on the other hand, has an incredibly story to it. For me, that’s an important part of a good song – telling me a story. As a creator of content, stories are important to me.

That said, neither James Arthur or Queen are my favorite artist, nor do either of them hold a position in my list of top albums.

The reason for that is actually quite simple. Keep reading and you’ll find out why.

Favorite Album

In order to be a favorite album— or, for me, it’s a top five list of albums— it has to be a solid album from start to finish. The songs need to flow into one another in a sense-able fashion. Every track has to be listenable. You can’t have a favorite album that you like every song except for one or two.

“Say You Won’t Let Go” is on Jame Arthur’s album called “Back from the Edge.” Is it a good album? Yes. Do I love every single track on it? No. There’s a few I could live without.

Same applies to Queen’s “A Day At The Races.” Does it have some absolutely amazing songs? Yes. Are there some I could never hear again and not care? Yes.

So what’s my favorite album then? Like I said, I have a top five list. It doesn’t change, as nothing’s ever bumped one of these albums from it.

  • Boston by Boston
  • Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater
  • Letters by Butch Walker
  • Candlebox by Candlebox
  • Ugly by Life of Agony

Favorite Band/Artist

Much like a favorite album needs to have all good songs on it, a favorite band or artist follows the same thought process.

Every album the band/artist puts out has to be good. Perhaps not perfect (or they’d end up on the Favorite Album list), but good. Listenable. Enjoyable. There has to be an overall good sensation from listening to any and every album that he/she/they release.

This, as you can imagine, gets tough. Many bands put out an excellent first album but then suffer from the “sophomore slump.” A second album isn’t always nearly as good as the first a band puts out. There’s a lot of pressure from record labels, the artist themselves, society, etc. to put out a good second album. This often leads to a disappointing follow-up to their debut.

Up until the last few years, I always knew who my favorite bands were. I had a few and I toggled back and forth between them. As of right now, I’m not really sure who that is. Let me explain why I’m straying from my all time favorites.

Dream Theater.  Fourteen studio albums. Twenty+ live albums/DVDs/performances. I own them all. I love most of their music. However, their last album (“The Astonishing”) didn’t hit home with me. It’s a concept album (much like my beloved Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory), but it just didn’t work for me.

From Wikipedia: “The Astonishing is set in a dystopian future United States and follows the Ravenskill Rebel Militia in their efforts to defy the Great Northern Empire of the Americas using the magical power of music.”

It just missed the mark for me.

Life of Agony. Five studio albums. Five+ live albums/DVDs/performances. Mostly great. Some of my previous favorite songs were on some of their earlier albums. Some of their lyrics helped me through a lot of my growing up in my teen years.

But their last album (“A Place Where There’s No More Pain”) — after a 12 year break — just did not hit the mark with me. Is it great to have them back? Yes, because I feel it may lead to another album that I really enjoy. But this one didn’t do it for me. I find there’s hardly any tracks I seek out on it, none that really hit me in the heart, and none that I feel I couldn’t live with never hearing again.

Tool. Four albums. (A fifth is supposedly in the works).  “Undertow” and “Ænima” are both incredible albums. I still remember someone playing “Ænima” for me for the first time in high school when it came out. It changed me.

But when “Lateralus” came out, it wasn’t the same. There’s some good songs, but it doesn’t move me as a collection of work. There’s some weird stuff on the album, too. “Eon Blue Apocalypse”, “Mantra”, “Ticks & Leeches” and “Triad” just don’t jive for me.

Same applies to “10,000 Days”. There’s a few great songs on this album, but overall it doesn’t mesh for me as a whole album.

Hopefully, their next album will be great again, though it’s tough to say at this point.

So, I don’t think I have a favorite band right now. I know that’s sort of anti-climactic after over a thousand words of me rambling. But it’s true. I have bands and artists that I really love and enjoy most of what they put out. But I don’t have that one that really stands out.

If — gun to head — I’m forced to choose, though, I’d pick Dream Theater. After 14 studio albums, I guess I can forgive one blemish and pretend it doesn’t exist. They’re in the studio now working on another album, so hopefully they’ll make up for it.

What about you? What’s your favorite song, album and band/artist? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!

Strava Live Segments

I got a new mount for my phone and upgraded Strava (the app I use to track my times and performance) to their Premium plan, so I could use their Live Segments feature.

Live Segments — well, let me back it up, first. A segment is a section of your route. Sometimes very short, sometimes long, sometimes the entire route. Many other Strava users configure them and sometimes you create your own.

When you go on your ride, Strava compares your time for the segment against not only yourself but others who’ve ridden the same segment.  Then when you’re done, you can compare yourself to others – even professionals. It’s both amazing and infuriating because there’s no way I’ll ever beat some of these folks.

Live Segments is a feature wherein, on your phone screen, it pops up and tells you that you’re approaching one of your segments. Then, when you start the segment, it tells you your PR (personal record) and that the segment has started.

This is what it looks like on your phone:

On the left is the “You’re getting close” indicator. The middle is complex but it breaks down to your time in the top left corner, how far along you are in the segment in the top right corner, your +/- time from your own PR (+ means you’re beating it, – means you’re slower than your PR) and the red circle with the crown in it is the KOM (King of the Mountain, the fastest person on that segment).

On my route, I decided to go to the bike trail, hit the end parking lot, then come back, rather than go my entire route. I just wanted to test the segments feature.

The first live segment that popped up was right up the street and it motivated me to peddle harder and faster than before. There’s something about knowing you can beat yourself that really pushes you. Or at least it did for me.

I ended up PR’ing every segment of the route on the way there. And since I’d never come back on the trail, I hit some new segments and got PRs from them (even though it was my first ride, it’s still a PR).

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
01:09:08
hours
01:04:34
hours
15.16
mi.
14.09
mph
28.86
mph
534.78
ft.
515
kcal

And here’s my PRs from inside the ride:

The ones without the little PR icons are either because they’re new segments to me or because another Strava rider notified Strava that the segment was “hazardous”. Since they think the segment is potentially dangerous, they don’t show you numbers by default, so you’re not competing in a segment that could be harmful to you in some way. They try to not encourage you for those segments. But if you click into them and agree to their waivers, you can see your scores, which I did. You just can’t see them on the screen I’m showing above.

Strava Premium offers many other features, such as comparing times by age group, a live beacon so you can let people know where you are while you’re riding, in case you get hurt, personalized coaching and training plans, and better analysis and metrics on your rides. It comes with a price tag of $59.99 a year and is available at strava.com/premium

So far, I’m enjoying the extra push to beat my own scores. I know I’ll likely never be KOM for my segments, but beating myself is reward enough for me!

New Long route

I mapped out a new 25 mile route yesterday before heading out on my ride and due to a tiny “this street sign is pointing the wrong way” incident that caused me to go down the wrong road, I ended up going 26.6 miles in total.

It’s a new distance record for me and I PR’d all segments I’d done before (though most of the segments on this ride were new)!

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
01:53:07
hours
01:50:05
hours
26.64
mi.
14.52
mph
37.58
mph
910.10
ft.
877
kcal
Nice surprising start on a bike trail!

I’m going to do the same route today again to see if I can PR some of my times I set yesterday. It’s a nice route that starts off with about 6 miles on a bike trail that’s only about 2 miles away.

So much humidity!

I can’t remember the last time I wished it to rain as much as I did on this ride. The humidity was hovering around 85%, to the point where I felt like I was riding through the rain, even though it wasn’t raining.

The route was a little different than last time I did it, since I didn’t go through Callahan State Park (which I can’t do now, since I’m on a road bike). So it’s a little further than last time.

This time:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
01:29:57
hours
01:28:41
hours
20.80
mi.
14.07
mph
37.80
mph
717.85
ft.
660
kcal
Glad the rain held off, but I would have probably welcomed it. The humidity was horrid.

Last time:

Elapsed Time Moving Time Distance Average Speed Max Speed Elevation Gain Calories Burned
01:50:25
hours
01:42:32
hours
19.69
mi.
11.52
mph
38.25
mph
775.59
ft.
625
kcal

Quite faster, even though it’s over 2 miles longer. (I think it’s actually closer to 24 miles, but Strava miscalculated the distance, which seems to be a common problem people complain about with their app.)

I also PR’d every segment on the ride, except the 4 new ones that I’d never ridden before and one segment that they deemed “hazardous” because it’s down such a steep hill, so they don’t allow competition on it.

Pretty happy with my new bike, overall. Expensive, but worth it in the end, because I can go farther faster. So, while I spent a lot of money on it, I’ll make up for that in getting time back in my day (over time), as I value my time quite high.

I’m also thrilled to report that there’s been no numbness (still) in my right ring finger that had been falling asleep when riding the mountain bike. A double win there; faster times, no pain!