I own a Bowflex C6 exercise bike. I am getting back into using it. When I got the bike I was given a year free for JRNY and arguably that fitness app is not so fun. Thankfully with the help of Reddit I was brought into the world of bike app discovery. Or at least, a future me will have updates on different apps.
I’m not a gym person. I much prefer getting on my little bicycle and banging out cardio while watching TV. I’m even considering investing in weights so I can do more workouts from home. I know for some people going to the gym is how they stay motivated, for me it’s having things at home I can use. I do have the discipline to workout at home.
Exercise bikes are kind of boring without a program. Even using JRNY was better than my current experience of manually adjusting tension as I go (I remember a few workout sequences from the app). Anyway it’s nifty how deep the exercise app world goes.
Please note, this blog is not a guide. When I have tried out some apps I’ll make a guide or two.
Coaches, fitness plans and scenic routes
The JRNY app, along with the Peloton app offer standard coaching options. I believe this ranges from live sessions with motivational folk to pre-recorded workouts with experts. I’ve never tried any of these and for whatever reason they don’t interest me. Fitness coaches appear to be a staple of premium apps.
If you don’t want to deal with a coach per se, they have guided fitness plans. You will typically enter your information like weight and height and stuff. Then you sync your heart rate monitor and you are good to go. I do appreciate the real time display of heart rate and RPM on the app in my face. The Bowflex on its own gives you an estimate of RPM.
Then you get the scenic routes. Back in the day some folk realized there was big money in cycling around with GoPros in different areas. Years later, this is now also a regular feature of the apps. When you have a smart bike, which I don’t, the tension will even adjust according to some routes.
The idea is to give you the illusion of cycling through Rome, or like Scotland, while you are in your living room. The JRNY app version of this was fine. I would cycle and on my phone some pretty place would slowly go, at a steady pace, regardless of how fast or slow I went. This made me realize, YouTube is probably good enough if all you want is the scenic routes.
Both these options are designed to motivate you. I think I found a way more compelling motivation feature to try.
There are apps where you can race people from home
Allow me to introduce y’all to Zwift. There are other apps out there, but Zwift appears to be the kingpin of the home bicycle exercise apps. It offers fitness plans. It offers digitally rendered, charmingly goofy courses featuring both real-world and imaginary places. Most importantly it offers racing.
Zwift also comes with a digital bike you can upgrade. They based it on real bicycles from what I can tell, did a bunch of testing and let you get the “fastest” bikes and wheels around. As you race, the bike you choose will have an impact based on the route. They make it clear the actual difference between fastest and slowest bikes is negligible but we like knowing we earned a faster wheel.
Oh and Zwift even has power ups and other fun features. The internet has made me hyped to get into Zwift. It does cost about 20$ a month though.
Zwift, and other apps, will measure the wattage of power output on your bike and then adapt that into in-game performance. It’s pretty nifty, except for one thing. My Bowflex is not a smart bike and it apparently overshoots how much effort I put in. Thankfully Reddit had a solution for that too.
From classic spinner to smart bike
I was linked to the Smartspin2K device. This will attach itself to the tension knob and basically spin it according to hill difficulty for me. It will make my dum dum bike, effectively smart. This will make racing with people more fun in Zwift because when I hit hills, it will get harder. It will replicate the ups and downs of real life cycling more, and I won’t have to focus on that.
Apparently this device will also correct the Wattage reading so that my performance is more accurate. It isn’t all that practical to race with a fake superbike because the Bowflex wasn’t designed to handle the task. That being said, with a little 400$ purchase I can join the world of online bicycle racing.
I think having realistic gains over time, while competing with real people will be exactly what I need. Everything to do with video games and exercising is a big win for me. I used to do all kinds of VR shadow boxing. The ONLY thing my Oculus was good for was health.
There are other apps beyond Zwift that offer the same racing function. Now if you don’t care about looking like a cheater, then no stress at all. But I like the idea of creating the ideal circumstance for me to get more fit. I can see myself really getting into a community like the Zwift racers.
I don’t think having a smart bike is mandatory, but I do think having a community of people nerding over fitness around me would help. In a few months, expect an update.
Also, I want a smart bike adapter so bad now.
Live Long and Prosper
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