After pairing your smart trainer and heart rate monitor to the TrainerRoad app, it’s a case of following the evolving timeline during the workout and hitting the respective power targets represented by blue blocks. The actual user interface during workouts is, like the platform itself, simple and to the point. The Calendar feature provides an easy to use format to organise your training both indoors and outdoors. Workouts can be easily rescheduled by simply dragging and dropping to a different day, so that when life gets in the way you can adjust things and still keep your goals on track. Once your plan is selected, the workouts will appear in your Calendar, a highly intuitive feature which houses your whole riding season, keeping track of TSS including that from outdoor rides. The theory is that if you work back from your main event, you’ll arrive in the starting pen of your A race in absolute peak condition after 28 weeks of solid, high quality, structured work.
What it does offer is an unrivalled catalogue of tailored, structured training plans, over 1,000 highly effective, adjustable workouts and an online ecosystem that can make it the single online hub for all of your training including outdoor rides.Ĭonceived by TrainerRoad’s head coach Chad Timmerman, the plans are based around a logical ‘Base, Build, Speciality’ structure (between 8 and 12 weeks per block) that you follow in order after completing an FTP test. If your motivation is reliant on any one of these things, look away now. There are no video game graphics, no virtual worlds, no prizes, no videos, no music. Unapologetically focused, The one and only objective of the TrainerRoad app is to make you faster. Look further afield, and other apps like Rouvy, Bkool and Fulgaz all offer their own take on things.īut from my personal experience, having been consistently indoor training for 12 months now, if your goal is simply to have the most effective indoor training, and your only motivation is to be a faster cyclist when you head outside into the real world, there is only one power-based cycling app to seriously consider – TrainerRoad.
This works for many, but the slightly cheesy obsession with ‘pain’ and ‘suffering’, the repetitive videos and heavy rock music may grate on some.
Other popular options include The Sufferfest – a training-oriented program that combines hard structured workouts with real-life pro racing videos and ‘energising’ music.
The app is compatible on iOS as well as Android, Mac and PC Whilst there are training plans, the focus of Zwift is in the social aspects of riding in a simulated virtual world. If you want to recreate the experience of riding outdoors then for many, Zwift is as close as you’ll get. Virtual, simulated riding around a range of courses, organised group rides and races, and a video game-style reward structure that unlocks new bikes and other ‘prizes’ as you go up the levels. Zwift is far and away the most popular, and it’s easy to see why it appeals to the masses. So which is the best training app for you? From my experience, this entirely depends on your objectives and on what motivates you to get on the bike.
At September’s EuroBike trade show, indoor cycling was the biggest talking point, with several of the big brands unveiling full-on indoor bikes and the sudden explosion in Esports from platforms like Zwift.
With the influx of slick, bluetooth enabled smart trainers from brands like Wahoo, Tacx and Elite, and an array of digital platforms that make it more engaging and motivational than ever, indoor training has transformed from the ugly duckling of the cycling world to the biggest craze sweeping the industry.