What are Peloton Scenic Rides

I’ll never forget the first time I took one of those Peloton scenic rides.

I decided to “ride” through Las Vegas.

It’s a place I’ve never visited but hoped to one day.

Why not take a “tour” of Sin City while keeping my Peloton streak alive?

Well, if you took some of those old Peloton scenic rides, then you know they were quite a ride.

I mean like a Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (for those of you old enough to remember that ride from Disney World).

Throughout the 10 min Las Vegas Strip Scenic Ride I took in 2020, I found myself physically trying to move my bike out of the way of people.

It was an almost traumatic experience.

But Peloton scenic rides from back then are nothing like what the Peloton scenic rides are like now. In fact, they are entirely different.

Questions about the scenic rides on Peloton

So many people have come to me with questions about Peloton scenic rides.

This includes questions like:

• Does the Peloton app have scenic rides?
• How did I find scenic rides on Peloton?
• Does the Peloton bike have outdoor scenic rides
• Does the Peloton treadmill have scenic rides?
• Do Peloton scenic rides count?
• Are there virtual Peloton rides?
• Can you pause a scenic ride?
• What kind of music does scenic rides have?

Therefore, I decided to write this blog post that answers the biggest question–what are Peloton scenic rides?

Then, I’ll go into other technical questions people have about them.

This includes:

• where to find scenic rides
• how many scenic rides there are
• can do scenic rides on the Peloton app

What are Peloton scenic rides

So, what are Peloton scenic rides?

They are rides you take on your Peloton cycle that take you “riding” outdoors, virtually.

In other words, instead of taking a ride in the studio with your favorite instructor, you’re able to take a ride outside.

That is, “outside” without leaving the comfort of home.

On Demand scenic rides

You do all of these scenic rides On Demand.

Scenic rides are not part of live class offerings.

But, it would be interesting if this was ever an option, don’t you think?

I wonder if there will be live, outdoor scenic rowing classes with the Peloton Row?

Originally, Peloton scenic rides were all virtual rides that seemed to have been filmed with a drone.

Or a camera mounted on the helmet of someone actually riding a bike.

I could never tell.

However, in 2021 Peloton completely changed up what the scenic rides were all about.

First, they deleted all of those drone-like rides, like the Las Vegas strip one I’d taken in 2020.

Next, they flew a bunch of instructors around the world to film guided rides.

Finally, they started loading those new scenic rides onto the Peloton hardware.

So if you’re looking for those old Peloton scenic rides, they are no longer available.

Where are scenic rides on the app?

Unfortunately, starting in 2021, with this revamp, you can no longer do Peloton scenic rides on the Peloton app.

Previously, that had been an option. 

According to this support page on the Peloton website, “The Scenic Experience” is available only to those who own Peloton hardware and pay for an all-access membership.

So if you’re wondering if you can do scenic rides on the Peloton app, unfortunately the answer is no.

I know that’s a real bummer for app users who, previously, could access the scenic rides this way.

Scenic rides on bikes only

In other words, if you have a Peloton bike or Bike Plus, then you can access Peloton scenic rides.

Also, if you own a Peloton Tread or Tread Plus, you can access Peloton scenic runs and walks.

However, app users cannot get them.

Do Peloton scenic rides count towards my totals?

You may be wondering if these scenic rides count.

Like if you’re looking to reach a riding milestone on your Peloton.

Well, guess what?

They do.

In fact, when Peloton deleted all of those old scenic rides–including the Las Vegas strip one I took in 2020–they reassured users that these deletions would not affect their total ride count.

Think of it this way: when Peloton does its regular purges of old rides (why, Peloton, why must you purge old rides????), it doesn’t subtract them from your ride totals.

All of those old rides count, even if they’re no longer in the Peloton database.

So, do the scenic rides if you want.

They won’t takeaway from achieving your next riding milestone.

How do I find scenic rides on Peloton

Want to know how to access Peloton scenic rides?

Here are the steps you would take to find Peloton scenic rides on the bike.

One, start your bike.

Two, look on the bottom of the tablet for the figure riding a bike above the word “More.”

Tap that icon.

Three, the next screen will give you three options–Just Ride, Scenic Ride or Lanebreak (Peloton’s version of an interactive video game on the bike).
Choose “Just Ride.”

Then, choose “Scenic Ride.”

Now you can just ride with outdoor cycling on the Peloton app. I will explain all of that here.

Three kinds of scenic rides

When you click through to “Scenic Ride,” you’ll see a home screen that offers you three different kinds of scenic rides:

1. Guided
2. Distance
3. Time

Let me explain what to expect from each of these different kinds of Peloton scenic rides

Guided Peloton cycle scenic rides

The guided scenic rides are just as they sound.

They are scenic rides that Peloton instructors guide you through.

In fact, the description says, “Ride with your favorite Peloton on a guided tour of scenic landscapes and cities.”

When you tap the “View all” button on that home screen, you’ll be able to see and choose from all of the guided scenic rides. 

How many guided scenic rides are there?

There are dozens of guided scenic rides with Peloton instructors. 

Some include:

• Emma Lovewell in Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. It’s a 30-minute ride.
• Adrian Williams in Savannah, Georgia. It’s a 20-minute ride.
• Denis Morton in Big Sur, California. That’s a 30-minute ride.
• Matt Wilpers in Oahu, Hawaii. It’s a 30-minute ride.

Recently, I took a guide scenic ride with Jon Hosking, one of my favorite Tread instructors. I love listening to his Disney walks outdoors on the app. Anyway, here was Jon on a bike, taking you through the Scottish Highlands. It was fantastic.

Distance Peloton scenic rides

On these unique Peloton scenic rides, you are pedaling for a certain distance, not for a certain amount of time.

In fact, Peloton describes the distance rides as being “an immersive scenic ride for a set distance with responsive video.”

What does “responsive video” on a scenic ride mean?

Here’s the Peloton answer:

“In distance classes, the scenery will move at your pace.”

Therefore, if you are pedaling faster, then it would make sense that the scenery would go by faster.

So, if you’re looking for a Peloton scenic ride that responds when you change speeds, this would be it.

However, I’m not sure how resistance plays into these rides overall.

How many distance Peloton scenic rides are there?

Right now there are seven distance scenic rides.

They are either 5 kilometers or 10 kilometers long. 

Wondering where these distance Peloton scenic rides were filmed?

The seven rides were filmed in California, Georgia, Hawaii and New Mexico.

You have to wonder if these were filmed when Williams, Wilpers and Morton were on location to film their guided rides.

I’m not clear why Peloton decided to measure the distance in kilometers versus miles.

Or why it doesn’t have both the km and the miles distances.

I know you have this option of changing how the bike measures your mileage in your settings–kilometers versus miles.

Time Scenic Rides on Peloton Bike

The Time scenic rides are the most similar to the old Peloton scenic rides.

That is, they are each in a different location and for a different amount of time, and they just show you riding.

No guide.

No speed changes.

Just pedaling.

How many of these Time scenic rides are there right now?

I’ve counted 45 of them.

They are filmed in all kinds of destinations.

That is, there is at least one ride on the following five continents:

• Asia
• Europe
• North America
• Oceania
• South America

Below, is a list of the Peloton scenic ride locations–the guided, distance and location scenic rides.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of Peloton scenic rides through world capitals at this time–cities like London, Paris and Rome.

Finally, even though Peloton has rides on all of these continents, some places you might expect to have a ride don’t exist.

Possibly, yet.

Can you pause a scenic ride?

This article explains the Peloton pause button.

In researching it, I found conflicting sources about whether or not you can pause a scenic ride.

I rarely do them so haven’t tried this out for myself.

If you have, let me know if you could engage the pause button on the screen during a scenic ride.

What kind of music do scenic rides have?

For the longest time, you just had to accept that the scenic rides had pre-programmed music.

Much of it was instrumental and, frankly, not so good.

However, recently I took a five-minute scenic ride of the Matterhorn in Switzerland.

And when the icon for music popped out from the left side of the screen, I noticed something called Peloton Radio.

So I tapped it.

What is Peloton radio?

Turns out that Peloton has created radio “stations” that you can select when taking scenic rides.

The music selections remind me of the choices when you do the Peloton video game called Lanebreak.

While pedaling I captured this screenshot of the music selections.

It’s not all of them because you could scroll right to see more.

You can see your choices include:

• Dance Party
• Hip-Hop Gold
• Latin Wave
• Pop Escape
• Rock On
• Retro Road

This is a great option to listen to other kinds of music while you take a scenic ride.

Of course, you could always just turn the volume all the way down on your Peloton and listen to your own playlist, too.

More scenic rides coming?

Last year, I saw social media stories from instructors Selena Samuela and Ben Alldis in Iceland.

My guess is they were there to film scenic runs (Selena) and scenic rides (Ben) in Iceland.

In addition, also on social media recently, there were a ton of instructors seemingly “vacationing” together in Greece.

This included Rebecca Kennedy, Jess King, Denis Morton and Adrian Williams.

So, was it a friends’ vacation?

Or, were they all in Greece to film scenic classes?

Scenic rides can be a great way to preview a future vacation on the beautiful Mediterranean islands among other picturesque locales. For example, if you’ve booked a vacation at one of the best surf resorts in Costa Rica, you can see what Costa Rica looks like ahead of time through one of the three scenic rides through the country.

I hope these scenic classes expand to other countries as well.

I’d love to have a ride in Ireland.

Also, since Amsterdam is such a bike-centric city, you would think there would be a scenic ride there.

Unfortunately, there isn’t.

However, there is one ride in The Netherlands.

As I’ve listed below, it is through Veluwe National Park in Holland.

Finally, Antarctica and Africa are the only missing continents from these rides.

I hope Peloton adds them at some point.

OK, maybe Antarctica isn’t reasonable, but I think Africa would be doable and should be included.

Here are additional virtual ride options.

National Parks and Peloton scenic rides

I’ve noticed that there are quite a few National Parks in these Peloton rides outdoors.

That makes sense as our national parks system is a treasure.

Maybe taking a scenic ride in Zion National Park in Utah or Joshua Tree National Park in California inspires you to ride it in real life. Then you can see the best of Joshua Tree National Park up close and personal.

Check out these outdoor art installations at Joshua Tree and other U.S. destinations.

Therefore, I’ve created a list below of hotels located near each of the U.S.-based national parks that appear in these scenic rides.

That way if you do decide to plan a trip, you have a head start on booking a hotel.

Here is a blog post about hotels with Peloton bikes.

Are there Peloton scenic rides as well as scenic runs?

Yes, there are scenic runs, too.

Like the scenic rides, one of the options is to do guided scenic runs with Peloton Tread instructors.

However, you are only able to access scenic runs from the Peloton Tread hardware.

Unfortunately, you can’t do these scenic runs by watching on a swiveled or pivoted Peloton bike screen, on the app, the Peloton website or a Roku TV on your own treadmill.

Again, you have to own the Tread.

This makes me sad because Peloton recently launched a two-for-one hike with Bec Gentry and Emma Lovewell.

It was filmed as a guided hike on Mount Hood in Oregon.

I guess I’m going to need to find a friend with a Peloton Tread so I can try out these scenic runs and hikes.

Final thoughts on Peloton scenic rides

The one thing I can tell you about these new Peloton scenic rides–especially the guided ones: the production values are much, much higher.

Plus, it’s fun to ride along with some of your favorite bike instructors as they are really (or were really) riding the route you’re taking.

I appreciate this new point of view.

Also, the Distance scenic rides give you a more realistic sense of how much distance you might be able to cover outdoors.

I mean, as realistic as riding a bike that goes nowhere, inside, can be.

Either way, it’s a new and fun option for scenic rides.

Finally, while the Timed rides cover a lot of territory worldwide, there are glaring absences.

There are no rides from Africa, and only one from South America.

So, I hope that in the future Peloton fills in the gaps with scenic rides from these underrepresented locations.