This is the ‘problem’ with stuff like AT - it sucks in all the development resources and everything else gets pushed further and further down the priority list as everything focuses on sorting bugs and adding features to the headline ‘money-grabber’ that is AT. I guess you cant blame them as I doubt a new WC will bring in any new customers while AT is splashed everywhere and is probably directly responsible for a chunk of new revenue and retaining existing users over the dip that always happens in summer outdoor riding season.
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Why not buy a Cusick plan and use free TP? And possibly TP-to-TR instead of building all your own? I understand the draw of grandfathered TR pricing, particularly if you find Erg so compelling that its a primary reason to use TR.
I believe TrainerDay supports that, or perhaps switching between Erg and free ride (Zwift). Or Erg and Slope mode. Haven’t used it, I found it while searching for info on standard/level/slope mode support for Kickr and landed on their forum.
Chasing PLs? I’ve gamified parts of my power curve in the past, as well as supporting Strava segments, but always in support of an objective. The basic idea of PLs is sound - to support level setting and progressing workouts, plus the motivation of seeing progress even if FTP isn’t changing, but opens the door to chasing improvements to PLs without regard to the plan. Guess I prefer seeing progression in seasonal power PRs on my power curve.
Were failing on the TR ramps test and nailing the other training power assessment?
I would probably invert this for most rides, except vo2max
But yes, It would be nice to ride a hybrid of EGR and resistance.
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I’m a paying subscriber to TP and use WKO5 as well. Pre TR, I did use TP for both workout generation and annual planning. But at the time of subscribing to TR, TP did not have ramping capability (from one effort level to another) that I like in some of my workouts.
As for ERG/Resistance, about 95% of what I do is ERG-based. Mostly, I switch to Resistance for only 2 purposes: 1) to mentally test ability to hold a specific power level (sometimes closing my eyes), and 2) cadence run ups at the end of interval providing for appropriate increase in resistance to avoid bouncing.
Bottom line: I am willing to regenerate my workouts and get off TR, but I haven’t found a viable [Mac-based] alternative that meets my needs. And FWIW: I think TR is missing a large and growing opportunity within the self-coached athlete community.
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Wow, really like your requirements list. I would be far more likely to use resistance mode if could tune it this way.
I think this is happening as well. AT is definitely a big task, but I think they need to pay attention to other smaller bugs/missing features that affect general user satisfaction in addition to delivering AT. I think AT is big enough to suck pretty much all development resources for several more years if they aren’t careful. AT will not be ‘done’ for a very long time, and everything else can’t be put off indefinitely.
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Thanks and I understand your perspective. We all need something to believe in. After 2 years of using Erg, my belief is that Erg is highly overrated. Direct drive trainers are pretty sweet, overall pretty happy with my Kickr. Well, at least until buying a SRAM equipped bike and finding out that Wahoo considers the 2017 Kickr to be end-of-life and having no plans to support for XDR cassettes (should have bought a Tacx Neo that year!).
Not sure I understand your question, however prior to joining TR in late '17 I had 2 years growing experience with setting power/HR zones. By that time I had a good feeling for manually estimating FTP, including having completed 20 and ~60 minute field tests within a few weeks of each other. If a ramp test didn’t go well, I manually set FTP based on power-to-HR of sweet spot and threshold intervals.
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Fortunately, I bought the NEO in 2016 and have been extremely satisfied (worked reliably since day 1).
As for ERG, if for no other reason, it allows me to zone out and make sure I get the work done. With zoning out on Resistance mode, no doubt I’d be slacking off many times throughout a workout.
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My Kickr 2017 has been very reliable, unfortunate I can’t say that about Wahoo’s support policies.
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Its hard to organize my thoughts.
But I feel that comparing TR with other plans is not necessarily an apples to apples comparison. Maybe TR was giving certain WO that would cause your average power curve to be lower, while the other plan was giving you other things that would cause the power average to be higher… if that make sense.
Its just two different ways of training. Not necessarily mean one is better and i don’t feel the power curve is a great indication that TR failed you.
The only way to really know it how you performed at races and such…
I personally like my new coach approach better than what TR gives me for tri training. Its not super different but it is enough for me to feel better about my performance, which in turn makes me want to go harder…
(this is just unorganized set of thought).
It depends upon what your goals are. If you race, then as you said race performance is the best indicator of “success”. But if you don’t race - and I don’t - then the PDC is really the arbiter of success or failure for training. Are you getting stronger at every duration or not.
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Impressive! I’m not doubting you brother, but just saying it’s hard to A/B test yourself and assumed outcomes. There’s so much overlap it’s hard to credit outcomes in a binary way. I’ve worked a lot with analytics which did it’s damage 
I’m not sure that’s the reason behind the low level of attention given to refreshing the workout editor. I’d place my money on them looking at how many users run custom workouts - and in particular how many users who joined recently.
Why spend valuable dev hours on a feature that only a small fraction of your user base wants? Doesn’t solve the problem for that fraction, however.
So…does anyone have anything to say about this new app?
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Yeah. Onboarding is very strange. I played with it today (credit card required) and now cancelled. More thoughts to follow.
#1 issue: From what I could see, it doesn’t directly ERG. It pairs to your Garmin, which then controls the workout. That is a non-starter for me.
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Ugh. The website says that ERG control for the player is in beta - exact text below. So this “isn’t real”?
Smart Trainer Integration (beta)
Now in beta, you can pair your smart trainer and we’ll control the resistance via erg mode. If you are feeling good, you can increase the power target manually or decrease it if you’re not feeling 100%.
I was training both inside and outside with TR.
Back to Reddiyo… looks clean from the app pics on website. Poking around the website it appears to be early days for the company. Listened to the first ten minutes of the Bike Rumor podcast, guess I should finish listening.
Must be very early days for the company.
It looks promising, but some of the very little ‘bits’ seem casually unprofessional. In one of the YouTube videos, they show a user-signup process, and the name which is typed into the registration is “jspicoli@rhs.edu”. Cute and clever, yes… but probably not something you want to live eternally on YouTube.
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