8 Crucial Tips for the Perfect First Peloton Ride

If you’ve just joined the Peloton family… congratulations! The Peloton really does live up to the hype — it saves you a ton of time, eliminates your old workout excuses, and can even save you money versus spin class in the long run. But if you’re a Peloton beginner, you have a lot to learn before you can have an awesome first ride. Get your first Peloton ride off on the right foot with these crucial beginner tips. 1 - Get the bike leveled Your delivery crew will likely help you with this before they leave, but it’s good to know how to adjust the bike settings when you need to. Prior to your first Peloton ride, make sure your bike is sitting level on the mat so it doesn’t wobble when you ride. If you can, lie down with your face near the floor so you can see if any of the stabilizing knobs on the bike have space underneath them, then adjust accordingly. If possible, wait a few days after setting up the bike before you ride — even though you’ll be anxious to get started! The bike will sink into the mat and level out even more. 2 - Buy & wear padded bike shorts If you’re new to cycling or spin class, beware: Your butt will hurt after your first couple of rides! It’s natural as your body adjusts to the seat. One pro tip is to buy padded bike shorts if you’re concerned about the soreness. They’ll protect you as a beginner, and eventually you’ll find you probably don’t need them anymore. 3 - Leave your shoes clipped in Clipping your shoes in and out of the bike can be really frustrating as a beginner. There’s truly nothing worse than getting all excited for a ride and then fighting with the cleats for a solid 10 minutes. If you’re having difficulty with the Peloton shoes, there are lots of adjustments you can make, but here’s the easy pro tip: Just leave them clipped in. When you’re done riding, simply reach down and undo the velcro and the buckle. You can practice clipping the shoes in and out later when you have more time. 4 - Try an All For One ride Now that the bike is set up and you’re ready to go, here comes the fun part — choosing your first Peloton class! It’s overwhelming at first to sort through all the different instructors, so your best bet is to try an All For One Ride. These are special rides you can find on the app where all of the Peloton instructors rotate in for a song or so. It gives you a little flavor of all of them so you can see who you like. 5 - Start with a 15 to 20 minute class If you’re a total Peloton or spin class beginner, your first ride should be 15 or 20 minutes. 30 and 45 minute rides are fantastic, but they’re pretty long and challenging — even the ones with low difficulty ratings. You’ll build up to them quickly, but start with shorter classes to get your sea legs under you. For the easiest rides, look for Beginner or Low Impact classes with difficulty ratings under 6 or so. If you still can’t choose, go with a class that features a playlist in your favorite genre. 6 - Take songs off Don’t go too hard too fast on the Peloton. As a beginner, you’ll hit PRs (or Personal Records) nearly every time you ride. If you’re struggling during your first ride, though, it’s not a crime if you don’t follow the instructor’s cued cadence or resistance. Drop down the resistance below 30 and pedal it out for a song or so until you recover and feel ready to push again. You can aim to beat your performance next time — but not if you injure yourself pushing too hard. 7 - Turn off the leaderboard If you’re really competitive, you’ll wind up staring at the leaderboard for a majority of the ride. It can be a great motivational tool, but it can also hold you back. It can be a little disheartening when you see that you’re in the bottom 10% of performance compared to the thousands of people who have taken the class. Either way, or you’ll end up pushing way too hard to climb the board! Feel free to hide the leaderboard and just focus on your own ride, especially when you’re just starting out. 8 - Stretch or cool down at the end Especially as a beginner, proper warm ups and cool downs are really important. Every ride ends with about 1 minute of cooldown and a minute or two of stretching. But for the best recovery, take a 5 minute cooldown ride from the recommendations screen after you ride. Better yet, tack on a short full body stretching class before you get on with your day. — Your first Peloton ride is really exciting — it’s like stepping into a whole new world. Before you know it, you’ll be addicted to your Peloton and you’ll be obsessed with new PRs like the rest of us. But as a newbie, it’s best to take it slow and just learn to enjoy the bike. Pick classes with music you like and aim to steadily improve your performance over time. Before you know it, you’ll be a cycling veteran with exceptional endurance and killer legs to show for all your hard work.