Peloton Scenic Rides: 2022 Guide for Beginners

While Peloton’s instructor-led classes remain the most popular workout on the platform, Peloton scenic rides are growing in popularity!

I’ll be real with you – I didn’t see the point of these until my husband got REALLY into them.

J’s always loved listening to music and zoning out during his workouts – they’re a great way to get out of your head and just FEEL.

He kept insisting I try it one day and when I did…

I was HOOKED!

This guide to scenic rides covers:

How to do Peloton scenic rides
Do scenic rides have resistance
Latest Peloton update
Where have Peloton scenic rides gone on the app
How to do scenic rides with your own music
Best scenic rides you should check out
The difference between time based, distance, and guided scenic rides

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Do Peloton Scenic Rides Have Resistance?

No – they’re a work at your own pace type of ride!

You CAN adjust your resistance as you please but there’s no guide to follow.

Whenever I just want to clear my head or listen to my own music, I’ll take one of these rides and adjust my cadence and resistance according to how pumped up a song gets me.

Honestly, for me, scenic rides make for a great active recovery day.

I’ve had a bad case of hip bursitis since having my second baby and I find just a little movement every day really eases the pain.

More ways to enjoy your workouts:

Peloton Scenic Rides Update

Since the update earlier this year, Peloton has added the following features to their scenic rides:

Guided rides
Distance rides
Time based rides

Although the guided rides are neat, I prefer to use my scenic rides for zoning out and don’t like the different angles or close-ups of the instructors while I’m pedalling my legs.

For me, the video game type of experience you get with distance and time based rides is where it’s at.

I do like that they’ve added popular music though – in the past, they had instrumental songs that neither my husband nor I ever listened to.

We only realized what was playing after one of us would text or call the other to tell them to turn off the weird Peloton tunes, haha.

More Peloton bike tips:

Are Peloton Scenic Rides Gone?

Peloton scenic rides are still available on the Bike or Bike+ but unfortunately, they are gone from all apps.

As of the May 2021 update, that means that scenic rides are no longer available on any Peloton apps including iOS and Android, Amazon Fire, Roku and through a web browser.

How to Do Peloton Scenic Rides

To start a Peloton Scenic Ride, do the following:

Turn on your Peloton Bike or Bike+
Select your user profile
From the bottom menu of your Bike, select More
Tap View Routes from the Scenic Rides option on your screen
Choose from GUIDED, DISTANCE, TIME or compare ALL scenic ride options by tapping the word in the top center menu
Once you see a ride you like, tap it
Connect your Bluetooth Audio and Heart Rate Monitor if you have not already done so
Start your scenic ride!

Peloton Scenic Rides with Own Music

I listen to my own music a lot when I work out on the bike – sometimes even during classes.

Some days it’s nice to have an instructor to guide you – personally, I’ll mute the instructors and just adjust my cadence and resistance according to what the screen shows me.

And some days, you just want to feel the music and push yourself when the beat drops or a powerful lyric prompts you to go hard!

You can listen to your own music while you ride one of two ways:

Through headphones or an external speaker using your phone or another mobile device
Through Spotify or Apple Music using the songs you’ve saved from classes or scenic rides

Can I play my own music on my Peloton Bike?

Do you mean a pre-existing playlist you created through Spotify or Apple Music?

No, you cannot.

Believe me, I was disappointed when I learned this too.

Since 95% of the music I listen to is Balkan, I learned this pretty quickly, haha.

How to Play Music on Peloton

You know the little song squares that pop up when a new track comes on during a class or scenic ride?

If you hear something you like, be sure to tap the heart icon to save it to your Peloton playlist.

Then, if you have a Spotify or Apple Music account, you’ll be able to listen to any songs you’ve saved during a workout for future sessions.

Here’s a great guide for syncing an Apple Music or Spotify account to your Peloton.

Best Peloton Scenic Rides

My personal favorite type of scenic ride is time based.

Since I have two little ones and try to coordinate with naps to get my workouts in during the day, this is a big part of it though.

I’ve also had scenic rides going on in the background while I do work on my Spintray – if you don’t have one of these, I definitely recommend it.

It’s a nice little multi-tasking accessory for when you’re doing maintenance-type work that doesn’t require too much brainpower!

More ways to improve your workouts:

Best Time-Based Scenic Rides

Peloton currently offers a total of 69 time-based rides with scenery from 5 continents including Asia, North America, South America, Europe, and Oceania.

The following timed rides were favorites for me and my husband:

20 Minute Andalusia, Spain
15 Minute Valencia, Spain
45 Minute South Island, New Zealand
30 Minute Medoc, France
10 Minute Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
10 Minute Antelope Island State Park, Utah, United States
15 Minute Red Canyon, Utah, United States
10 Minute Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
20 Minute Adelaide, Australia

We found the rides through Europe and Oceania especially enjoyable.

I absolutely love European architecture and the beach views in New Zealand and Australia are really serene.

Peloton currently offers 69 different time-based scenic rides.

Distance Scenic Rides

If you have daily distance goals or are perhaps training for an event, a distance ride may be best suited to you.

In distance rides, the scenery moves at your pace.

So, the faster you pedal, the faster you get to your destination, so to speak.

There are two distances you can choose from:

5 kilometers
10 kilometers

Peloton currently has a total of 10 distance rides available.

Guided Scenic Rides

At this time, there are four guided rides available:

Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Iceland – 30 minutes
Big Sur, California – 30 minutes
Oahu, Hawaii – 30 minutes
Savannah, Georgia – 20 minutes

I tried the Big Sur guided ride with Denis Morton (who I adore) but didn’t like the constant camera angle changes.

It felt more cinematic than a workout should.

The camera angles were constantly changing – from extreme closeups of the instructor’s face to aerial shots and then scenes of the road as if you’re following Denis to your destination.

Personally, I feel like they’d be better off keeping it to just the “follower” view.

This guided ride just wasn’t my thing but maybe if you’re an outdoor adventure type of traveller, this would be something cool to check out.

That being said, my husband and I have been dying to visit Iceland, so I might check this ride out in the near future – we probably won’t be travelling any time soon!

More ways to get the most out of your Peloton workouts:

Final Thoughts

The best Peloton schedule is the one you can stick to and scenic rides are a great way to add a little balance to your week.

Because sometimes it’s nice to turn it off and go at your own pace – I’ve even PRed (set a new personal record) during my scenic rides.

What are your favorite types of scenic rides? Do you prefer distance or time? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below 🙂

Happy spinning, friends!