Peloton Adds Automated Power Zone ERG Mode: Hands-On

Peloton has launched automation for power zone workouts, allowing the Peloton Bike+ (that’s the fancier of the two models) to automatically adjust resistance according to the power zones specified by the instructor. Previously, the Bike+ would only change resistance levels for non-power zone workouts. As I noted in my review, that was kinda silly, given the people who’d benefit most from such a feature were actually the ‘Power Zone’ workouts. I put ‘Power Zone’ in uppercase, because that’s the categorization of workouts that Peloton has where instructions call out specific zones (e.g. Zone 3, Zone 4), which are based on specific power zones wattages you’ve setup. That’s different than most other Peloton workouts where the instructor gives a resistance level (e.g. 46%).

In any case, Peloton started privately beta testing this feature late last year, and it’s now available for all Bike+ users. Again, this requires the Peloton Bike+, because the base Peloton Bike model doesn’t have the hardware to automatically change the resistance level on the bike.

To get started, you’ll want to ensure your bike is up to date. Mine offered an update this morning of the PelotonOS, which I accepted before giving it a whirl.

After that, you’ll open up a Power Zone workout – either a previously recorded one, or a Live one (I actually tried it out on a Live Class today). The first thing you’ll notice is a new option on the pre-workout screen, indicating automated resistance control, next to heart rate sensor pairing:

If you tap it, it’ll give you a quick tidbit about the feature:

From there, you’ll jump into a workout and get started. Like before, there’s the little lock icon above the resistance level, which enables or disables the feature. However now, it’ll actually work in Power Zone workouts.

As you get rolling, the very first thing you’ll notice is that it’ll aim to keep your target wattage in the middle of the zone called out by the instructor. If you look at the bottom of the screen it’ll have a little square around the zone you’re supposed to be in, and then show where you actually are.

You can see below, I’m mid-Zone 4 (in the orange zone), and it’s fully being controlled by the lock icon enabled and I’m almost halfway through the interval (yellow circle around the lock). The actual resistance level (53%) is constantly shifting based on my cadence, in real-time.

However, the second thing you’ll probably notice (really darn quickly) is that it seems to fire about 10 seconds early. This means that even in a recovery break, it’ll escalate that power back to Zone 3/4/5 about 8-10 seconds sooner. Inversely, when you reach the end of the set, it seems to start reducing about 10-seconds early. It is a gradual change, though honestly, that’s just too early. It should be closer to 3-5 seconds early, if anything. And this doesn’t appear to be a case of slow power shifts, it actually completes the shift in that 2-4 second range, thus, it’s basically just…too eager.

In any event, eager-beaver aside, it works perfectly fine.

In my case, my stomach was very displeased this morning, making this workout a very substantial….struggle. So I actually would cut some of the intervals down a bit. You can use the resistance knob to reduce the resistance at any time, and it’ll adhere to your manual set resistance level. However, somewhat nicely, it’ll re-engage to the planned power zone at the start of the next interval (you can of course disengage the entire thing by tapping the lock icon). I liked this, as I basically cut some of the longer intervals in half, and then it’d light them back up again at the next step.

There doesn’t appear though to be any sort of offset/bias option for increasing/decreasing power though across the board for the full workout. Meaning, most ERG/structured workout apps (TrainerRoad, Zwift, etc…) allow you to increase/decrease the resistance level by setting something like 95% or 105% of planned power. It’s a good way to increase or decrease the overall workout intensity as a one-off on a given day (such as if a workout is just too easy, or too hard, etc…).

Also of note, as expected, it doesn’t matter what your cadence is, it automatically keeps you in zone – and did a pretty good job on-par with virtually all other smart bikes I’ve used, in terms of quickly adapting to cadence shifts. Speaking of which, as a reminder, the accuracy of the Peloton Bike+ is actually quite good. It’s on-par with any of the smart bikes I’ve tested, and frankly, is more accurate than a number of the smart bikes on the market (both in ERG mode stability, as well as power accuracy).

Just to illustrate the point, here’s a quick look at the power accuracy of this ride, as compared to a set of Favero Assioma power meter pedals (I snipped the first 15 minutes, since I had just installed these pedals on this bike, and did a calibration after initial settling at the 15-minute marker).

Now, power accuracy side-show aside, Peloton continues to slowly by surely brand out their offerings to be more appealing to endurance cyclists. Their catalog of power zone structured workouts is just as deep as others. Right now there are 601 Power Zone classes on Peloton, far more structured workouts than Zwift, but far less than TrainerRoad’s 4,513 workouts. The only real difference between the platforms becomes which entertainment method you prefer. With TrainerRoad, it’s likely some other source (e.g. YouTube/Netflix/etc…), with Zwift it’s watching others in a virtual world, and with Peloton, it’s instructors and music. To each their own, you’ll get fit no matter what you use. Instead, it’s *how* you use each platform, in terms of following a specific training plan, that matters.

With that – thanks for reading!