Review TrainerRoad
WORKOUTS AND COUNTING
HERE’S WHAT RIDERS SAY.
Helping to Save Lives!
Hello! So just to be up front, I am not (yet) a paid subscriber. I'm 40 years old, live in Washington State, a husband & a father. I turned to cycling 4 years ago as a way to change my life. I bought a '04 TCR from Craigslist, rebuilt it from the frame up over winter learning as I went, & have just over 7k miles on it since Aug 2018. In 2013 I retired from law enforcement after 13 years at 315lbs, a raging alcoholic, & physically a real dumpster fire. At the time I thought medical problems were my reason for leaving, I was told I need a hip replacement, back surgery, & would most likely walk with a cane the rest of my life. After watching a documentary on a childhood "hero" using yoga to reinvent himself, I sat on my couch crying & decided to give it one last shot before succumbing to the knife. Yoga built me up so I could ride & I've reinvented who I am as a father, husband, and human being from the saddle. Yes my body was broken & weak, but I was suffering misdiagnosed PTSD (as are 80% of police officers) & I can now be honest with myself & the world at large. I never had any surgeries, I became plant based as did my whole family, quit alcohol & nicotine, & most everything that crippled me was my own doing....... apparently. I've turned myself into an amateur endurance athlete regularly completing 20+ hour training weeks riding 4 - 6 days anywhere from 3 - 5 hours generally. I'm 170lbs, still riding the Giant, & 100mi+ at 18mph+ average is my current fitness level. In fact tomorrow I set out for a solo 150 on my birthday just to prove I can! So how has TR played a part in all this? As I mentioned, I have yet to subscribe but if life ever blesses me I would love to. Honestly my family has to come first, the last couple years have been a struggle for us, so I stay on my trusty older bike for now. I have full sensors, but never could ethically spend the money on a power meter or personal trainer while my family still has needs. That being said, I'm a person with a high cognitive load & my favorite for long rides is podcasts, which is where TR has become a constant source of information, science, & companionship during huge days in the saddle. You truly are "tip of the spear" & along with other learning I've been able to change my life; & in no small part you have helped to save me. Thank you SO much for EVERYTHING you do for the cycling community & sports science in general. I truly hope life affords me the ability to view power & a program one of these days, but until then I genuinely appreciate what you've done for my life. I'll never be a racer & that was never my goal, just health, fitness, and optimizing who I am today to be better for tomorrow!
Travis S. / United States
Best gets better
Triathletes that take variable durations of downtime really appreciate the new Plan Builder. It really fills the gap. TR was already the #1 virtual training coach for our team. It allows those of us that don't have a human coach to plan. But, it keeps us all in sync by allowing our human coaches to use TR rides to dictate indoor training. Now that there's a super easy way to transition a TR ride to "outdoor" it's just literally "The BOM". Beyond that TR dev team is awesome. They have a regular bug release schedule and feature release schedule. This eliminates my need to "pester" TR with every little bug, annoyance and wish I see or imagine day, by week, by month, by year.
Pete K. / United States
What they said
TR is great: the software, the forum. the YouTube vids, the podcast (of course), all of it. I trust them. I trust their motives. Yes, they're a business, but they are cyclists, and they are dedicated to making us (as the say) faster cyclists. The podcast is entertaining and informative. The training software is simple and elegant, but it's bottomless in its potential. I am very glad they do what they do. Thanks, guys.
John H. / United States
This is next level stuff
I can't thank you all enough for putting such a good product and podcast in our sport. That's what got me into racing and improving myself. I have learned so much new stuff about training, racing, nutrition, health related stuff and list goes on and on.. I am relistening to all of your podcasts from the start as I did before in random order. It's an awesome podcast, the best for me actually and I'm never bored of your voices. Keep on doing what you are doing - you are the rare diamond in the cycling community! Cheers guys!
Tadas K. / Lithuania
Great product
Stick to the training plans and you will get faster.
Philip C. / United Kingdom
Painful but works! So nice to have contact with the founders and creators
If you put in the hard work, then these training plans and the platform yield great results. The biggest selling point for me is the contact with the designers and coaches of the platform. Seeing them weekly on YouTube or listening via podcasts respond to users questions or making changes/ requests to the app keep me coming back. And it also spurs me on to keep training.
STUART G. / United Kingdom
the Best tool beginners like me
Thanks for a great training resource and the other bits like "ask a cycling coach" podcast and the forum it creates a great environment for helping people like me. I've only been cycling for a year and half so a lot to learn and a long way to go.
Dexter C. / Australia
Fantastic virtual trainer!!!
Hi,I would like to share my little story about this app. Last year (2018) I have signed up for Ironman UK - my first long distance ! As a many of us ,to be a parent and have full time job is not easy ,especially to train,have personal coaches or be a member of the clubs so I have decided to choose Trainer Road. I start my training about 7 months before the race with FTP 270 and few weeks before the race day I was on FTP 315 .I have really enjoyed all of the workouts including swim and run ( forgot to say I ran my fastest London Marathon 2:57:03 in the middle of the preparation for IMUK). After the hard work I put through I knew I was quite ready for the challenge but I didn't know I will do it so well: - I have finished 76th of over 1700 - 10th in my age category (just 5 slots away from Kona Qualification) I have to say big THANK YOU to TrainerRoad for helping me for achieving this and I know TrainnerRoad is worth every penny. THANK YOU !!!
mariusz c. / United Kingdom
Very Helpful
I bought myself a Wahoo Trainer and was ready to rock and roll. I researched the most common training apps. I settled on TrainerRoad. I could not be happier. Customer support is excellent and the FAQ section is easy to use. I am a sales person not an I.T. person. I have added a training plan to the calendar they provide. TrainerRoad dumbed down the software enough for a simple person like me to use flawlessly. I am going to recommend TrainerRoad to the 1647 members of my triathlon group.
Allen / United States
Best in Class
Great product to effectively train towards your cycling and triathlon goals. People at TrainerRoad are striving for faster riders and great user experience, with a very large array of training, great planning tools, allowing a good platform for trainer and riders alike. Check also their Podcast "Ask a Cycling coach - Trainer Road" on your favorite podcast app for in-depth advice and tricks to become faster, smarter and have fun doing it Professional engineer working on a professional product. 5* all day
Jasmin T. / Japan
Amazing!!!
The information provided in these podcasts is amazing! Very well researched and explained well. I specifically like how even when they do not agree with a certain type of training, or style of dieting, they still uphold the merit of that fad, or what have you. Intermittent fasting for example - Coach Chad talks about how intermittent fasting is extremely effective in losing weight; referencing Jason Fong multiple times, but it is not effective for endurance athletes like us cyclists. It gives us looking for answers a unique understanding of what is essential for cyclists to maintain performance and increase FTP, W/kg, or whatever it is we seek, rather than focus on what can help you attain the best results with a certain factor of racing, i.e. weight. The other thing I enjoy is the race results, as well as the guest starring of THOR - Pete. It's nice to have real world contribution from a Pro Conti rider! 5+ stars for these guys! Amazing content and always fun to see them at my local races.
Griffin N. / United States
From 2.5w/kg to 4.35w/kg
TR hurts in the pain cave but it makes you faster - for sure. You'll beat guys with 5000km or more on the road because - not all TSS are created equal. On peak times, I ended up on roughly 4.7w/kg - on the same trainer with the same bike settings. This is fun on the roller and even much more outside!
Matthias / Switzerland
So much good stuff!
I'm just getting back into serious cycling in the last 6 months and started using the "video game" app to help make indoor riding more enjoyable. I quickly burned through their intermediate/advanced plans and after getting hooked on the Ask A Cycling Coach podcast I signed up for TrainerRoad to take it to the next level. I was able to easily build a tailored plan for my goals this year and the calendar has been amazing! I love the in depth descriptions provided by Coach Chad for both the plans and the workouts, you really know what you're getting into and what you'll get out of it. Amazing product, great resources with things like the forum and I'm expecting big things coming into this years road race season. Thank you!
Jason B. / United States
Trainerroad really does make you faster
Trainerroad doesnt need gimmiks to make you faster it just works, with a great team behind it, support is always fast and freindly, the podcast is always informative, helpful and with a sprinkle of humour.
Neil P. / United Kingdom
Everyone is faster than me, I'll never be as fit as them....
Your heart is racing, legs weak and wobbly, and the rest of your riding buddies are heading on up that hill you dread. This isn't any fun, and you'll never be as fast as them will you? sure they've been riding for years! Think again. TrainerRoad works, simple. All you have to do is commit and be consistent in your training and you *will* see improvements. Signing up and committing to a TrainerRoad plan is the single best thing I have done to improve my ability on the bike. I wish I had done it years ago. The structured training plan takes you through two phases of sweet spot work to build a solid base, after that you move on to building your power and then speciality, depending on your chosen discipline. The options for training are varied but revolve around a common theme of hard but repeatable efforts that can be completed without dedicating hours and hours to your ride. Most workouts take place over a course of 60-90 mins and are designed to give the maximum benefit in the least amount of time, and give you a quick recovery so you can train again the next day. TrainerRoad is more than just an app, it's a motivational tool, support structure and social environment. The team publish a weekly podcast 'dedicated to making you a faster cyclist' that is a great source of motivation and learning. The website is crammed with useful information and blog posts, and the forum is a great place to share, be inspired and also see for yourself how people just like you have seen huge gains in their fitness and speed. If I can give one bit of advice it is be consistent in completing your workouts and plans, with TrainerRoad that is the key to success. If you do that you won't go far wrong. and you'll be at the front of the pack when cycling soon enough.
Jon S. / United Kingdom
Best Complete Solution for Cycling Training
The list of features and functions is the best in the industry: - Large library of workouts - Many training plans from Base, Build and Specialty Phases. Each includes 3 volume options to meet any schedule needs. Many plans tailored to the wide range of cycling disciplines (road, dirt, etc.) and triathlon world. - Solid and easy to use analytics tools that avoid the tendency to dive too deep and lose the forest for the trees. - A scheduling calendar that makes adding and adjusting training plans easy. Includes the option to add events and annotations to fully document your training history. Then you get access to the quickest and most responsive technical support of any tech company that I have used. They work on your issue right away and respond with knowledgeable solutions to problems in short order. The free items of the TrainerRoad Forum and Ask A Cycling Coach podcast simply add to the paid value. The level of info and support from both of those is unmatched as a single source in the training world. Simply put, it's easily the best bang for buck on getting faster compared to any other expence.
Chad M. / United States
Best bang for your buck if you want to be faster
You can spend money on gear to make you faster, but we all know how that goes. Last year was my first year on TR and I can't tell you how much of a difference it made in my performance on the bike. The structure and the progression that is built into TR is specifically designed to make you faster and it works. With the new calendar and their constant integration of new features TR is the place all of the cool kids go to get faster!
Michael R. / United States
Trainerroad's simple and easy method of giving indoor training sessions some structure, which results in faster real-world times
Trainerroad gave me a simple and easy method of giving the indoor training sessions some structure. This last year I have also been following the training plans, and they are well rounded and they give measurable results. I really like the "simple" no-frills design that does not require a lot from the hardware or the idiot running it.
Stefan F. / Norway
Best Value Cycling Coaching and Training There Is
I've been using TrainerRoad for about 6 months now, 3 of which with a new born baby. I'm the fittest on the bike and most committed to training now than I ever have been since I started using TrainerRoad. The ability to train at home and be available to my family if needed halfway through a session is the main reason I decided to start training indoors on a trainer with TrainerRoad. Listening to the Ask A Cycling Coach podcast made me confident that the TrainerRoad plans were thoroughly researched and would be effective in improving my fitness. Now 6 months later I can definitely say that they work! I've completed some long rides (180km rides) no problems and started criterium racing and have podiumed in a bunch of those too. There's no more time efficient way to get fitter and stronger on the bike than with TrainerRoad in my opinion and definitely no cheaper way to get access to the depth of knowledge put into the training plans.
Kendrick W. / Australia
My first experience with TrainerRoad was before my 2nd season as a competitive cyclist. Coming from a long running soccer career I was still testing the waters and beside my bike I was hesitant to dive in financially. TrainerRoad was recommended to me from a team mate, I didn’t have a power meter or smart trainer but using the estimated power and a consistent routine I was able to follow an entire training plan. The low cost wasn’t intimidating and was equal to what I would have paid for a common gym membership. My first season racing, I could barely hang on during group rides and was dropped almost immediately in the two races I entered. After TrainerRoad I wasn’t only able to hang on to the pack I won with a 20 mile solo breakaway.
Tyler H. / United States