Peloton Lanebreak – Fun Game for Stationary Cyclists?
The latest flashy enticement, Peloton Lanebreak will allow users to control a wheel as it travels down a track, against an electronic hue.
The ever-future-thinking and ever-screen-centric Peloton is adding another way to cycle to its menu of features. The company is toiling with a video game tentatively called Lanebreak for bike owners and subscribers. Members will get to beta-test Peloton Lanebreak later this year.
According to journalists from The Verge and Germany’s ComputerBild who have tried a prototype, riders cycle and use hand controls to guide a rolling wheel as it rolls down a track. Players gain points for staying in the confines of the lane, for their cadence (strokes per minute) and energy output. They can pick the duration of the game and the music. The electric hues around the wheel and the track give the game a Tron look.
ComputerBild did not give an opinion on Peloton Lanebreak. Ashley Carmen of The Verge compared it unfavorably to an instructor-led Peloton session. “[P]ersonally, I found it boring and confusing to follow,” she wrote. It is only a prototype.
Some smaller smart bike companies have experimented with video games as part of an interface and a hardware engineer in San Francisco impressed the internet with his makeshift stationary bike that controls an avatar in a game of Nintendo’s classic Mario Kart, but video games have not become a large part of the increasing and varied library of add-ons for stationary bicycle riders. As with most innovations in the industry, Peloton hopes to lead the way starting with Peloton Lanebreak.
“Building off of what works in Peloton classes, games allow us to provide distinct visual feedback to players as they take a workout,” wrote David Packles, senior director, Product Management at Peloton. “Just like Alex Toussaint would challenge you to finish the last 30 seconds of a tough interval, games offer a way to not only cue you to do so, but to reward you in real time for your actions.”
