@JonasP, @Dougal.Doughnut and anyone else getting hosed by their bank for international transaction fees, it may be worth setting of an account with Wise. It’s almost like a VPN for banking in that it lets you access banking in over 80 countries as if you were actually there (or something like that).
I’ve used them for purchases in the EU that I’ve shipped to the USA. I think I used it once to pay for a Eurosport membership so I could watch World Cup XC skiing and bike races in Europe. It won’t help with exchange rates, but may save you a bit on bank fees for international transactions. YMMV
@Nate_Pearson you put me on a UCI Masters World Championship Podium- I’ll pay what ever you charge and thank you so much - from fat to fast in 6 years, I’ll take that anytime
@Nate_Pearson I fully understand where you are coming from on this, the loyalty you have shown to your early customers and promises held speaks a huge amount to your personal character and this doesn’t go unnoticed. From my perspective, the additional payment alongside my current lack of structured training and the current cost of living climate would mean I couldn’t currently justify the money, however at my grandfathered price I can view this payment as more of a supportive payment for a great company. Keep up the great work
Same issue for me, but coming from the $99 tier to the 15% discount.
Shows next payment as $189 in both Windows app 2022.48.0.164 and iPad app 2022.48.0 (92088).
The correct amount is showing on the website so hopefully that’s the one you’ll bill
edit: sorry should have read further down, didn’t see @nick 's post.
Yes, they’ve already said they would leave the option up for legacy users.
I still hope the team figures out a way to allow legacy users to make additional payments - pretend you’re allowing us to buy you coffee (and IIRC, per coach Chad, it won’t be Starbucks because if it is, I’ll want my money back).
If I had to make the choice between having a viable company continuing to employ 90+ people, or honoring a promise I made in a garage at the very beginning; and that choice was making people pay $10 more a month for a service that has grown such as TR…
A lot of people making the assumption that TrainerRoad won’t survive without this. When it was first presented, it was presented as, “if we do this it will be to develop new features faster”. There’s a big difference imo.
I’m a legacy subscriber. I haven’t used a plan in a long time, however I have stay subscribed mostly because I am capped at $99/yr and wanted to keep supporting a company I respected and thought was doing some cool stuff. If my price had increased several years ago I probably would have canceled, since I really didn’t use the plans. I’m going to stay on legacy and continue to support the company.
Everyone has their own decision to make - some of this forums users would pick a fight in an empty lift/ elevator (and blame Nate)! You can keep legacy, get a discount or pay full whack - don’t really see the hate tbh!
In other news, I must be one of the few grandfathered at a monthly rate - even though I’m committed (clearly as since 2015!), it still suits better than a large single outlay.
I pay $190/year and happy to pay more, if TR would do more for multi-sport athletes - I use TR to plan, support, perform and analysis my biking workouts -
use Training peaks to plan ALL my workouts in one spot so I can keep track of my overall actual and planned Training Stress Score - and to keep me accountable - I would LOVE if TR could just export the planned TR workout details (TSS, duration, Calories, etc.) to Training Peaks. This would help multi sport athletes plan their weekly/monthly/annual, Training Plans in Training Peaks or other apps.
BTW - I love the podcast and hope TR keeps this a focus going forward.
@Nate_Pearson I’m in and I hope a majority do the same. I’ve been on-board since 2015 and enjoyed the benefit of $99 annually. I could have continued at the current cost or a 15% discount but this ride has been way too fun to stop because of a few bucks/month. Chapeau to the crew and if you ever find yourself in northwest lower Michigan, I’d love to show you around our beautiful area…by bike, of course
Let me start by saying that I’m a TR fan, and the product has certainly elevated my performance on the bike. I appreciate the transparency, the opt-out options, and all the work that TR has put into this for athletes just like me.
I think the “optional increase” would be a little easier to stomach if TR could help cover some of the other subscription services that are out there. For example, TR has soooo much of my power and HR data, it sure would be nice to have some of the Training Peaks features inside of TR. Threshold curves, form, CTL, etc. I know ya’ll are constantly developing features and that inflation is also part of the story, but this is something that I would find real value in by then being able to cancel something else that I have a sub for.
I’m an advocate, and I like the way you’ve been able to keep up with competitors using data and AI to improve the product. I too received the email and fortunately I’ll have to decide in september.
Anyway…
as others said, as a casual cyclist I’m fine with paying my legacy price even in times when I don’t train much or at all, like these are, or when the exchange rate or costs skyrocket. I consider this as my “membership” fee.
The legacy price locked me in last time you did the price change: if I wasn’t given the opportunity to stay with my price then, I’d have considered alternatives. I believe a subscription shouldn’t outweight the cost of a BigMac meal (BigMacs can’t be wrong!). That’s my “utility price” for any subscription service.
Due to my intermittent training, I would favor a pay-per-ride option. 0.05 BigMacs per ride, maybe? or a t-shirt size pricing model based on training volume. Competitive cyclists probably use TR extensively more than us Sunday Warriors… and prices should accommodate different usage and individual utility.
TR is a community of enthusiasts, did you consider crowdsourcing some features / packages of features? This could help keep subscriptions low, prioritize investments and outsource costs and risks of development.
Talking about this… I guess I’ll Train Now, because, why not? I have a membership after all…
It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out, and if it’ll have the intended boost in revenue.
I totally understand Nate’s predicament, and he’s doing an incredible thing trying to abide by the agreement he made when he had no idea what TR was going to turn into.
I think the “we made a deal!!” camp forget what the product was, and what it has turned into.
I think the approach I would’ve taken is a tiered model where you have TR “Basic” where you have access to all the pre-made training plans and FTP tests and everything, and gave all the legacy people the option to stay in that tier with current pricing, basically what TR was a couple years ago. Then have a “Premium” tier at current pricing that had all the AI features, adaptive training, and FTP detection. That way you’re fulfilling your end of the “deal” by continuing to offer a plan to the OGs at legacy pricing, but you’re allowing a little bit of pressure to upgrade to get the better features now and into the future. No doubt you’d have gotten some flack, but…
That being said, I really hope that this approach gets the added revenue you’re hoping for. TR is a an awesome product, and it’s only been getting better.
I have had long periods of time where I don’t use the training platform, but stayed signed on at my legacy rate and considered it to be helping fund the podcast.
I will opt into the old pricing for now, if that options goes away in the future I will likely only periodically activate my account.
That said I understand why you guys are needing this hard change. I really like how transparent you are being.
