Peloton heart rate?

[bhwolf]

I linked my Peloton bike to fitbit, and did a 10 minute ride to try it out.  I use the Peloton heart rate / strap.  After completing the short workout, I see the ride show up in my dashboard but it looks like it's pulling the heart rate from the watch and not the Peloton. 

Is this by design, a limitation of Peloton data, or error?  I looked at the ionic a few times and particularly in the beginning, the heart rate was way off -- more like my resting HR.  (This was after another cardio workout so my starting rate was already high.)

FitbitPeloton

[bbarrera · Accepted solution]

@bhwolf Fitbit will only record HR data from a Fitbit tracker. And Fitbit does not allow importing HR or GPS. So forget about "open ecosystem" for HR/GPS because its a one-way street.

To answer your question, its a Fitbit limitation by design. And secondly its been widely reported that Ionic struggles in first 5 minutes, although usually its too high.

First thing to do is play with placement on wrist as per the Fitbit help articles on heart rate. That said, I've seen various issues with optical wrist HRM and cycling/spinning over the years, starting with Surge (worst), Blaze (better, but hit or miss), and original Apple Watch (better than Blaze, but also hit or miss). Optical HRM on the wrist is generally ok for stationary bikes, but in my experience sometimes it will be tracking fine and then misses the beat for 3 or 4 minutes. That makes it hit or miss for me, and since I  use HR-to-Power metrics for cycling fitness trending, that means I still wearing chest strap. Unlike some people, I've never had a problem wearing chest strap while cycling/spinning so its no big deal. And if I did have issues with chest strap, the next best HRM is Scosche Rhythm+ which is worn above/below elbow and is more immune to accuracy issues due to location. 

[bhwolf]

Thanks!  Appreciate all the info -- kind of disappointing, but is what it is.  

[bbarrera]

@bhwolf yeah, its unfortunate you can't disable Ionic HRM and have Peloton send HR data. Maybe someday Fitbit will allow importing HR/GPS, like every other fitness platform I've used, but I'm not counting on it.

The silver lining -should be- that Peloton sends calorie data along with workout duration (does it?). My rides from Garmin bike computer are sync'd to Endomondo, which syncs to Fitbit and creates a manual cycling working - from that I get calories/miles/duration on my Fitbit dashboard. I have a power meter on my road bike, and Wahoo trainer, which is usually more accurate for estimating calorie burn (vs heart rate based estimation).

If it continues, and bothers you, then I suggest taking off Ionic or simply turning off HRM during the workout. Definitely worth continuing playing around with position/tightness of Ionic to see if you can get better results. And retesting after every Ionic firmware update.

[bhwolf]

When the ionic is tracking appropriately, it's really close to the Pelo heart monitor, so that's good.  And yep, it does send over calorie data and it all matches (well, other than the HR).

Actually, I originally looked because I was wondering how the fitbit would reconcile my HR/activity during the ride (I don't start an exercise activity on the watch) with the data it would receive later from Peloton.  I wanted to be sure it wasn't duping my effort.   

I'll leave it on for now but "trust" the Pelo HR strap over the Ionic, and hopefully the accuracy will improve over time...

[bbarrera]

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@bhwolf wrote:

When the ionic is tracking appropriately, it's really close to the Pelo heart monitor, so that's good.  And yep, it does send over calorie data and it all matches (well, other than the HR).

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While on a stationary bike I've found wrist optical HRM (Blaze, Apple Watch) to be more hit than miss, but there are enough misses that I don't trust it.

Your calorie burn will be the same, because Peloton generated the activity you see in Fitbit.

[flylikeaneagle]

I find that extremely hard to believe. Long time fitbit, new to Peloton. Wondering how data sent from Peloton, where my average heart rate is 137, with peak of 162, and show a burn 500 calories for a 45 minutes ride at 20 mph. But my morning "walk" of two miles in 37 minutes with average heart rate of 97,  shows in the 370 range... Complete crap.

[bbarrera]

@flylikeaneagle give this online calculator a try:

http://www.acaloriecalculator.com/calories-burned-calculator/

Just enter your weight and time. It will provide an estimate from a Compendium which represents average calorie burns based on your weight and effort (

Do you have average watts from Peloton ride? If you do, then scroll down to "bicycling, stationary, 201-270 watts, very vigorous effort" section and you'll find several different calorie estimates based on effort. Watts are a better gauge of effort than mph. Maintaining 20mph average speed outside on flat terrain is a very hard effort for most cyclists, I have about 20 efforts between 19.8mph and 21.7mph average and the watts (measured with power meter) range from 209-269. Looking at a handful of 1-2 hour rides, the average for me is around 240 watts (and 1000 calories burned per hour). Those rides were last year when I had a very high fitness level.

For your 37 minute walk of two miles, thats 3.16mph so scroll to "walking, 2.8 to 3.2 mph, level, moderate pace, firm surface" and you'll get that estimate.

For me, using 210lbs and 45 minutes, I get:

- 250 calories walking for 45 minutes at 2.8-3.2mph

- 1000 calories for 45 minutes at 201-270 watts

I think Fitbit is overestimating your calorie burn for the walk. The calculator is a bit high for me on cycling, because I had been training for a 200 mile ride and had an excellent (above average) level of fitness for cycling (and therefore burned less calories than average person).

[flylikeaneagle]

Not sure, but I am flat out flying on the Peloton, 20.2 mph average, best effort at that time was 472 watts. I literally sweated out 2 lbs. (weighed before and after). I am not wearing the watch at the time, I put it in the my pocket, since it will not record my motion, same when pushing a grocery cart, or doing the elliptical in the gym. I am 56 years old, and my max HR would in low 160's and reaching 162 on that ride. According to the site you sent, it showed 1290 burned in the 45 minutes. 200 mile ride is huge, I used to routinely ride 50, would ride metric centuries often, and completed 3 real century rides. Peloton is a different animal, on a real bike,you can coast, not on the stationary, you are either 20 or 0, and not catching a breeze from riding fast.

[bbarrera]

@flylikeaneagle I'm the same age, and my max HR has been on an outdoor ride (174bpm). I'm a bigger guy, and can tell you that smaller guys are more "slippery" in the wind and often require 20% less power. Also being bigger means burning more calories.

In addition to riding outside, I also have my bike on a Smart Trainer in the garage. And our gym has Stages stationary bikes. I've done a lot of stationary and outdoor riding.

Because I cherry picked the hardest outdoor rides, I can tell you that every ride below was harder (higher power output) than 99% of my stationary bike ride. Rest assured there wasn't a lot of coasting...

Power meter is more accurate at estimating calories than using Heart Rate. Looking at a few of the hard rides at top, I see a burn of roughly 850-900 calories per hour.