Except, as I said previously, I had a TP and Zwift subscriptions when I was training with TR. I like Zwift races and group rides enough to justify the $14/mo and I’ve been using TP as my training calendar/training log and for analytics for years, long before TR started messing around in those spaces. Those two are not additional costs for me. The plans I bought cost me $61 more than a TR subscription for the year. But next year my plan cost is $0. So I’m out a one time cost $61 vs a yearly $189 subscription.
All that being said, cost had nothing to do with my decision. I needed to shake things up a bit and wanted something different after several years on TR and in particular a more masters friendly plan.
@Nate_Pearson it is probably a bad idea, but I am not even going to watch the video! I am very happy with TR and all your work you and the team are putting into it.
As you said in the latest podcast, there is always room for improvement and we all are probably never ever reach 100% of our abilities. No matter if it is ourselves or our product we are selling, there always may be a little bit better solution.
Nevertheless, I like TR a lot and are more than happy using it!
Of the apps you reviewed, we are the only one with a training calendar (which I think is best in class; and lots of users agree) and analytics. These replace the need for other platforms (and $$$) but you don’t mention these features in your review. Outside workouts (which is a huge plus for people) is also glossed over. We’re the only ones who do this today from those you reviewed.
yeah, fft ends up giving out some pretty questionable advice/opinions. i like that this alex guy tries to be objective and not accept marketing on it’s face value (most of the time, apparently), but then again he’s not an expert on any of these cycling related fields and lacks the ability to do his own testing with regards to his opinions on equipment and his training.
it’s just another data point to be considered while reflecting on your own experience.
For me, TR is way more accessible as a new-ish cyclist to structured training and the focus and dedication to scientific and evidence based training gives me a lot of trust in the platform. I’m sure the sufferfest is very good as well, but zwift’s workouts and plans are ehhh and trainingpeaks made little sense to a person who wants a bit more structure but also doesn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars a month for a personal coach.
This video was very poorly done. He gave very little review on Sufferfest or Zwift(and none on other lesser used apps like Xert or Rouvy) but railed against TrainerRoad for half of the video for some reason.
Very confused as to why he’d make something like that, but I guess got a good number of angry views from this thread.
I saw the video the other day and clicked on it thinking it was going to be actual review since all I’ve tried was Zwift and TR. I learned nothing about the other programs . Pointless video.
that’s my impression of it as well, I didn’t watch the video because I think there was another one of that channel’s videos that was kind of off the mark with a topic.I see it pop up in my recommendations but I never watch that channel
He was so far off the mark with his assumptions it was laughable. The sufferfest code lost him even more respectability too.
My take. Zwift, I don’t think people are headed there for structured training, they want the visuals, the feel like they are riding outside, the social aspect or somewhere to display workouts from a coach or something they were knowledge enough to make.
Sufferfest. Interval training, people have an idea what this is about. The no pain no gain type of experience. Personally I think it’s good for certain times of year when you just want some varied intensity sessions, it’s failing and the reason I chose TR was the lack of analytics or structure.
TR. Its for people who don’t want to pay pay for a coach but know they want some structured training written down for them. Most likely they have also come across the podcast and liked what they heard. TR for me has a family feel, it’s encouraging, knowledge is easy to come by and whilst a long way to go, it also has a calendar analytics negating the need for training peaks.
There is something for everyone out there, that guy tried to do a hatchet job and made himself look clueless.
Also if you’re going to have rules. I’d spellcheck them first. I’ve spotted at least 3. “Bakward”, “Weakneses” and “Prioritze”. Not great attention to detail.
Freely admitting that I’m paroting something (I think Nate) said on the podcast, but:
TR is probably the cheapest way to get fast compared to any other money people spend on cycling.
Like, I’m not here to quibble about this detail or that detail, and hey, I’ll save money wherever I can too. But compared to the dollars people spend for practically no effective gain? Or, gain that exists because you bought fancier gear, without improving yourself?
We all agree that if you ride your trainer a ton, of course you’ll get faster. But I also think it’s reasonable that within “ride a lot,” there are more effective and less effective ways to spend that time. EVEN IF we presume that TR serves zero purpose other than to get people riding a lot (and I think it offers much more value than that) a couple hundred dollars a year is probably worth that, if you want to seriously improve. In the scheme of things, I’m content with saying TR is one of the best things I spend my money on.
I agree that fast Training Tips are trying to sell plans, I did have a quick look and their plans and the site is confusing as heck.
I like TR, although once you have had done a couple of programmes you can easily continue on a another platform such as Zwift and make your own, there is nothing complicated about them. I still use if for their stats and I like the guys and their podcast.
It would be interesting for us/me to see TR publish results from users FTP at the start of using trainer road and FTP later times, say at 6 month intervals. There is probably
a reason why they haven’t.
For me I have been using the platform for about 2 years. I think my fitness has improved but not as much as I would have expected. My FTP hasn’t budged, I might have to try a different tact if I don’t see the results this year.
When competitors try and take you down you need to take it as a compliment and don’t worry about what competitors are doing as they sure aren’t worrying about what you’re doing. Sage and valuable advice from an old business acquaintance as the TR product is best in class, the product development is aligned with user input and is launched bug free and that requires focus, ability and resilience.
Keep on doing what your doing folks, haters are always gonna hate.
I’d suggest the biggest concern we ( the users) should have as users is TR being swallowed up by a competitor as it’s a strategic fit for an organisation like Zwift especially as TR is penetrating the tri market and by extension the running market.
. Pointless video.