I don’t understand the logic here. Erg or not has no impact on 99% of what a coach does for an athlete.
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Okay: A couple people I rode with were paying for real human trainers, and they ‘prescribed’ rides for them to do as workouts, riding outside (preferably) and they would report back their telemetry and would be prescribed other rides.
I thought that it would be easy to eliminate their function through a website that basically did the same thing. I felt, at the time, that my workouts were potentially just as good as theirs they were paying more money for, and, yeah…
So if the function of a human trainer is to prescribe ride workouts for their clients, while also potentially advising on overall body conditioning, then an app and a smart trainer could replace them. It’s why I never got a human trainer. Well, aside from the fact there aren’t that many around here ‘that I know of’.
But anyway…
Do I misunderstand the purpose of a human trainer?
If you assume both the human trainer and the app are equally good at reviewing ride data and creating/adjusting plans, they are largely interchangeable for prescribing workouts. That’s a big “if”. If we are comparing to TR, I’m sure there are coaches who are better at prescribing a workout plan and there are certainly human trainers that are worse.
But there are other aspects to training like motivation and accountability. Some people do fine with a system like TR where you are accountable to yourself. Some people do better interacting with another human being for accountability/motivation/etc. And a human coach can also be helpful with race tactics, nutrition, equipment, etc. Yeah, you could argue that TR covers a lot of this as well (podcast, forum, etc.), but that part is much less individualized compared to their training tools.
No right or wrong answers, it’s very individual. It’s hard to beat TR as a low cost point of entry for structured training. Whether that makes it a perfect fit for someone long term is highly dependent on how the athlete is wired and what their goals are.
Hear, hear.
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If erg mode being used is the difference between an athlete doing their workouts and not doing their workouts then they should use erg mode. But don’t discount that not using it can be helpful as I have said above.
Not sure about the second bit at all. There is much more going into personal coaching than this. Prescription of workouts is not the only thing a coach does.
The difference is that a good coach is constantly adjusting the workouts to the fatigue state of the rider. An app/plan doesn’t factor that in and athletes are often not self aware enough to auto regulate.
The other point of a coach is the bring you into a peak for an important race (nationals, worlds, etc). Whether a masters athlete needs a personal coach to peak for their local cat 3 race is debateable. 
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This is a really old resurrected thread (probably one I should have read to before buying my smart trainer) 
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I just did research watching DC Rainmaker and GPLama video reviews and found an H2 for sale in a FB group I was in. Worked for me, but wow I was luck from what I’ve read about buying stuff off of FB and ebay. (Added for anyone that trips onto this thread looking for help choosing, etc)
And on that group, on some rides, I heard nothing but carping about some of the local trainers that people had, or had tried. I really didn’t know if one would be helpful, but didn’t feel I was ‘trainer material’ as I was already past my prime for serious racing, and then the Great Pandemic hit us all in the chest. I still doubt that I’d really benefit from a trainer/coach, and it looks like we’re heading back into a pandemic again so yeah…
Tangent on racing as an old man: I do have to laugh though that one of the guys I used to ride with came up to me and said ‘we’re both about the same age, don’t give up training! If you live long enough you will start winning races!’ Because I’m that good? ‘No, because you’re one of only 2 or 3 that show up! How do you think I win so much? Last race I won, and the other guy was 2nd. The last time, he won, and I was 2nd. We tend to trade off, until one of us dies!’ It actually gave me hope. 
(He was actually 5 years older than me, but looked great!)
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It is, but I think that’s an entirely separate topic to erg mode. I know coached athletes who use erg mode for some of their workouts, and I certainly use TR for both outdoor workouts and indoor workouts with erg mode turned off.
(FWIW I find erg mode great for workouts of sweetspot and below. Those workouts I don’t find very engaging done indoors and just want to zone out watching TV or a movie and get the work done. I do plenty of outdoor riding and not in any way concerned about my ability to hold a power number without erg mode. And I tend to do threshold and above workouts outdoors by preference)
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Ahhh, damn, normally good at spotting that but all the ERG chat threw me off the scent of old stale thread.
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TR and other training apps do that, too. I don’t think this is what separates human from silicon-based coaches.
Again, I don’t think this is unique to human coaches and really misses what human coaches are better at:
- Setting the right goals, i. e. what an athlete should improve and know why.
- Use human connection to prevent athletes from making mistakes (e. g. be too ambitious when choosing a training plan) and keep them on target.
These first two points are the biggest ones in my opinion.
- Teach the athlete about training and other skills (as wanted/needed).
- Adapt the training to accommodate life circumstances that don’t fit the mold.
- Use empathy and understanding to connect with the athlete and “spark joy”.
- Discuss e. g. changes to equipment and maintenance.
I don’t think that’s the right lens: almost nobody “needs” a sports car. Still, many people drive one. Cycling is a hobby and to some training (with or without a coach) is fun.
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