I forgot to do much more than mention that I was getting a Schwinn 800IC/IC8 as I started out last summer using a cheapo Amazon special exercise bike along with Apple Fitness+.

I looked at what Apple recommended/were using for their Fitness+ workouts and they were Schwinn bikes.  In the UK they’re supplied by – amongst others, I’m sure – Fitness Superstore and they had an offer on the Schwinn 800IC (formerly the IC8): already listed at half list price, they had an additional 10% off for the Bank Holiday weekend, so I pressed the button on one for delivery in early September 2022.

With the Schwinn’s arrival came physiotherapy, pain consultations and then experiments with Apple Fitness+, the first year’s free subscription to Bowflex’s JRNY app, and a trial of FulGaz.  The latter two are different from Fitness+ in that Apple are offering different duration classes only whereas the other two offer virtual rides using video of the actual routes.

In FulGaz’s case, they are adaptive workouts: speeding up or slowing down the videos to suit your pace/power which the app reads from the Schwinn.  They’re also linked to my Garmin fēnix 7S for my heart rate.

The other benefit of using FulGaz is that after each ride, it emails you a FIT file which you can import into Garmin Connect giving you the full details of the ride.  JRNY does not do this, sadly, but you can manually add further detail to Garmin Connect if you record a ride on JRNY and your Garmin fēnix 7S.

Anyway, here are some photos of the Schwinn, which has now done 2,800km…  I simply use an old iPad Air 2 to run FulGaz of JRNY and then after a workout, plug it back into the Schwinn’s USB port to charge it again.

Schwinn 800IC

Schwinn 800IC

Schwinn 800IC with a Tablet