It has finally arrived. The much anticipated and hotly debated Peloton Pause Button. If you're a member of any Peloton online groups, you know first hand how frequently this issue is discussed. And speaking from personal experience, my wife's first question on her very first ride was “Can you pause a Peloton ride?”

The rationale behind NOT having a Peloton pause button was pretty intuitive… Peloton users want to feel like they're in a real live spin class. Once you hop on that bike you're committed. There is no pause button in a spin studio! I think we've all been on a tough ride when taking a quick pause seems like it would really nice. But there's definitely potential that this temptation might detract from your experience. Would you be as pleased with your ride afterwards if you took breaks? Probably not.

One of the flashpoints in this debate has been from Peloton owners who have no intention of ever using pause themselves, and believe that other riders abusing it will ruin the integrity of the leaderboard. “Did I lose to a bunch of people who took 5 minutes refresher breaks in their rides!!!???”

How To Pause Peloton Class

As you would expect, pausing a class is very simple. Tap the center of screen to bring up the pause button. Then hold the button until the surrounding circle fills. That's it. Do be aware that pausing a ride will remove you from the leaderboard.

Initial Reaction To The Peloton Pause Button

I've been reading literally hundreds of comments on social media since the pause button began rolling out earlier this week. There are definitely several strongly held opinions on its introduction, but for the most part users welcome it. And not because they are excited about the opportunity to slack off for a minutes in the middle of each ride. It's simply useful for life's unexpected interruptions.

Many Peloton riders are parents. Young children in particular are extremely adept at knowing when you're really getting into a ride and then demanding your immediate attention. Dog owners may sympathize! It just makes sense to be able to pause a Peloton ride in situations like this. Most people in this situation would agree that it's much more preferable to pause and quickly resume their workout rather than abandon one that won't wait for you.

A small minority of owners have voiced their displeasure at a feature they view as watering down the integrity of the rides. These complaints are quickly met with a typical flurry of “Then don't use it!”, “Why do you care what others do?” responses. And Peloton's wise decision to remove riders from the leaderboards should they dare pause a workout should appease the purists who are concerned about losing to riders gaming the system. If another rider finishes ahead of you, it's not because they hit pause!