I'm in Love With Peloton's Little-Known 'Lanebreak' Rhythm Game

What is Peloton's Lanebreak?

Lanebreak is a game available on Peloton's at-home treadmills and stationary bikes. I have the original Peloton bike, not Bike+, so that's what I use to play it. Bear in mind that I don't have the Peloton treadmill, so this review is just for the bike version. Essentially, it's a gamified workout experience (which you access, aptly, by tapping the "Experiences" tab in the menu on your device's touchscreen) that has you earn points by riding to the beat of a given song and occasionally pushing yourself to ride faster or harder.

This video from Peloton is a little outdated (as the company has added a few more features since Lanebreak debuted), but does a good job of demonstrating how the game looks when you're playing:

How do you play?

Despite what the above video says, you'll find Lanebreak under "Experiences," alongside scenic and self-paced rides. Simply navigate to Experiences, tap Lanebreak, and you'll see a screen full of level options. You have a lot of choices here: HIIT rides, endurance rides, low-impact rides, tabata rides, cooldown rides, and warmup rides. You can sort them by tapping Filter in the top right, which lets you choose a length, music genre, or workout type to sort through. You can filter out levels you haven't bookmarked, ones you've played, ones you haven't, and ones you've rated. So, let's say you want to do a 20-minute level and you feel like going really hard. Filtering for 20-minute interval or climb sessions yields 15 results, some of which include "Climb: New Tracks, HIIT & Hills: Alternative," and "Techno Tabata." Tapping one brings you to a screen that reveals its playlist, target metrics, leaderboard, and more, so you can make an informed choice before starting.

Once everything looks good to you, hit Play and you'll be asked to choose a difficulty. The video above was released when the levels only had four difficulties, but now there are five: Light, moderate, hard, challenging, and extreme. These refer to the amount of tension you'll be expected to add or remove using your resistance knob throughout the ride.

After you select one, the level will start. Before you, you'll see six lanes and a little wheel. The wheel represents you. The lanes represent tension. For a moderate ride, your tension will vary between 20 and 61, which is represented in a box below and to the right of your wheel. As you move up in tension, your wheel will slide rightward on the screen (and leftward as you release it), so if you're riding at a resistance of 59 and playing on moderate difficulty, your wheel will be in the farthest lane to the right. You'll know which lane to be in based on which is lit up, and you'll have to adjust your resistance knob to make sure you're in that lane. You can see far enough ahead that you have about five seconds to switch lanes when you have to.

There are three gameplay mechanics that will appear within the lanes:

• Beats are represented by horizontal lines across the lane you're supposed to be in and, as long as you're pedaling while your on-screen wheel moves over them, you'll earn a few points for each line.

• Streams are represented by a path of solid color in the lane you're supposed to be in. Each stream will dictate a specific cadence for you to stick to while you're in it. For instance, if you're in the second lane, you might be given a cadence range of 75 to 95, which should be doable for most riders while riding with a lower resistance. Your cadence is shown in a small box below and to the left of your wheel. Keep your cadence between the lower and upper points dictated by the stream range to earn points. If you go slower or faster than the stream suggests, you will not earn points.

• Breakers are represented by a lit-up path on the lane you're supposed to be in, but you'll know them by the arrows that appear along the path. When you're in a breaker, push as hard as you can, trying to keep your output at or above at least 100. Your output is shown in a box directly below your wheel. If you maintain a high output for the majority of the breaker, you'll earn a load of points—plus bonus points if you go hard, fast, and long enough.

Beats and a stream in Peloton Lanebreak. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Essentially, watch the lanes ahead of you to see where you need to put your resistance knob and watch the three boxes below your wheel to make sure your resistance, output, and cadence are where they're supposed to be. The points don't really matter, but they're an easy way for the game to let you know how well you followed the rules throughout the playlist.

Sometimes, you'll see two lanes light up. At these points, you can choose to take a breather and move your wheel into the lane of lesser resistance or push yourself by moving into the lane farther to the right. Beats, streams, and breakers are worth more points the farther right you go, but try not to think about that. It's more important that you're riding safely and comfortably—hell, it's more important that you're riding at all—than it is to earn some arbitrary points.

Selecting difficulty and seeing post-ride results. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

When your ride is over, you'll see three percentage breakdowns, which represent how often you hit all your beats, streams, and breakers. You'll also see your score in points and a leaderboard that shows where you rank among people who played that playlist on the same difficulty level within the last seven days. Sometimes, the screen will also include a badge or reward. For instance, if you do a level tied to an event like Women's History Month or an artist series, you get a badge. If you hit a milestone, like a 1,000th ride or "most output in a ride," you'll also see your badge here, as well as on your profile.

Why am I so obsessed with this?

Good question. I'm a competitive person, I enjoy games, and I love riding really intensely to music, so Lanebreak appeals to me. Since I randomly stumbled across it a month ago, I've played Lanebreak significantly more frequently than I've taken a standard Peloton class. Sometimes, it's just nice to zone out to music and play a game rather than listen to an instructor.

The variety in the music is great, too. I love being able to select a playlist comprised entirely of works by a single artist or remixes of Top 40 songs. In addition to top-hits playlists with artists like Dua Lipa and Sabrina Carpenter, as well as '70s throwback playlists featuring the likes of Carly Simon, Peloton also offers artist-specific playlists from musicians like Sia, Coldplay, Charlie XCX, Stevie Nicks, the Killers, and more. Genres range from “yacht rock” to disco to Broadway, so there are playlists for whatever you’re into.

Lanebreak has turned me into a freak who tracks progress in the Peloton app. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

I also like competing against myself and trying to beat the score I got the last time I played a particular level. There are a few hundred levels to choose from, and I really appreciate that they come in all kinds of lengths. Sometimes, I really only do have 10 minutes (or even five) to dedicate to getting a round in, so this makes it easy to stick with my goal of doing at least two or three rides per day. Unfortunately, Peloton doesn't release new Lanebreak levels too often, at least not compared to how often it puts out new classes. Where you'll find lots of new classes to take every day, you'll be lucky to get three new Lanebreak levels every 10 days or so. I've been playing this game diligently for over a month and, obviously haven't run out of levels, so it's not a huge deal, although there are some levels comprised of music genres I just don't like, and I'm not looking forward to having to play those in the event I ever actually run out. The good news is that redoing levels is still pretty fun, at least for me. I don't ever want to repeat a class, necessarily, but I've had no problem repeating Lanebreak levels and trying to beat my previous high score.

Overall, Lanebreak is a really solid option for a few different kinds of people. First, if you don't actually enjoy the class experience or don't want to hear an instructor talking, this is for you. It's also a lot more engaging and fast-paced than a scenic ride for me, since I don't really get blown away by digital images of Rome or whatever. If you get really into riding on a beat or even feel like zoning out (which is totally possible once you get a handle on the controls and gameplay) this is also a great pick for you.

Please try Lanebreak