Wired just published an article about AT. Gave it 7/10. It’s more a teaser than a thorough review that DCRainmaker or GPLlama might do. Will this start a Peleton-like stampede? IPO next? 
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I’d give that article a 2/10. The connectivity issues seem to be her own fault and she attempted to do a workout on a fat bike in 9* weather. It also ends abruptly after rehashing her failed outdoor workout with no talk of indoor training at all. Unless I missed something.
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Agreed. Shallow and at least partly incomplete. I don’t expect a full end of a full Build, Base, Specialty wrap up, but there is no real conclusion that I would expect in a “review”.
- That outdoor excursion is a lesson in bad planning and how NOT to sub a TR workout.
- The tech issues could also exist in any app, so I have problems with that as the leading negative.
There are some good observations, but it’s lacking and not worth much.
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its a good high-level review IMHO.
@gally24 re: connectivity issues… its a real thing. The first 4 months of using TR I had intermittent dropout problems using ANT+ and a MacBook Pro. Not enough to file a support ticket, but definitely crazy making. Switching to Bluetooth and my iPhone was the best solution, at least in my garage. Old post of mine: Intervals not starting/ stopping on time - #9 by bbarrera with Nate mentioning the number of dropouts he saw in my files.
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I suppose that’s valid but if Bluetooth is the better connection I don’t see why anyone would choose to use ANT.
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In my case, to run Zwift in parallel.
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Ahh, I see. That makes sense in your case. In the case of this “reviewer” who used connectivity issues as a leading negative attribute of TR, it seems misplaced and misleading, really.
Hmm. Here is the lead:
And then:
My ad blocker somehow didn’t stop what appears to be a TR ad. I clicked it and it took me to TR sign up page but without a mention that f a $20 offer.
And then 6 very positive paragraphs. And finally the connectivity issues in the 7th paragraph.
It’s an honest review IMHO. You would not like my long-term review, I got faster twice after an off-season, but not as fast as using other plans with different training intensity distributions 
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I just think it’s funny that the leading negative is self induced connectivity issues and the one workout she talks about doing is RPE based, outside, on a fat bike, in mixed snow conditions with 9* temps. I don’t “like” the review for those reasons. Even if it were completely glowing it wouldn’t change my opinion of my experience with TR, and neither would a long term review from you. No offense.
None taken.
TR supports ANT+ and the TR app in 2018 never told me about the dropouts or issue. I would not call choosing to use supported options (Kickr and ANT+) to be inflicting a self-induced issue upon myself. The TR CEO was kind enough to take the time to look and saw my dropouts, see my link above.
The current support article is pretty darn informative for people like me that tend to RTFM before posting on a forum or sending support email: https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360027776531-Wahoo-KICKR
p.s. I still recommend TR and helped my sister a year ago get started, and again now to restart after a 6 month break.
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I dunno, I guess I expect a little more technological wherewithal from a journalist at one of the most prominent tech publications in existence when it comes to setting up devices for proper functionality. She was connected via BT and ANT simultaneously, which was the problem.
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I feel we are all going to be defensive of TR. My issue, though, is this:
I have a Wahoo Kickr and never had any issues with connectivity. But they did and went into depth about it: fair. Everybody has different experiences and mine doesn’t invalidate theirs.
But she doesn’t go into depth on why connecting to Strava was ‘time-consuming’. It is a pretty straightforward process and I am having a difficult time figuring out why it would be a bad experience for them. Consider this TR fanboy triggered.
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Yeah I didn’t understand the Strava comment.
Maybe the sync issue? Last year TR had a lot of problems (for me) to sync workout that was not finished fully. The fully ended were syncing on the spot, but others - there was a lot of re-sync, re-joining and resuming.
I think in the context of competing against peloton then mentioning connectivity issues is fair - it isn’t plug and play like that is.
But for software that supports multiple communications protocols, dozens of equipment manufacturers and multiple client devices I don’t know of any better?
I admit I haven’t read the article but I sure hope she contacted TR support with her issues and reported on how good they are?
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Along with the errors mentioned above, this one really bothers me. If I read this quote, I would not try TR. “If, for example, you crush a VO2 max workout, the program will adapt and spit out a more difficult workout option the next day. ”
So, according to that sentence, if I crush a VO2 max workout on Thursday, TR will recommend an even more difficult workout on Friday. Even if I’ve done very difficult workouts on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, for example. This simply is not true. It should say “it will ramp up the intensity of my next VO2 max workout”. I don’t mean to be a hypercritical fanboi, but I think that’s a pretty important distinction. She also implied, twice, that you can’t be on a plan if you don’t have a target event.
On a side note: I’m sure the folks at Xert aren’t exactly happy with the “first of its kind” comment in her executive summary either.
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We also reached out to her about her connectivity issue and how to fix them but she didn’t respond.
And as stated above, there are some inaccuracies in the article.
And since Brian’s issue in 2018, we have a new process that looks for lots of device dropouts in ride files. We have support pro-actively reaching out to those people and giving them tips on how to improve their setup so they don’t have outside interference.
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Thanks Nate, I was impressed by the updated support article. While I come across as critical from time to time, I really do recommend and help people get started with using TrainerRoad.
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Just time to time? 
I appreciate you, Brian. You can always direct message me on the forum, email, or IG if you feel like there’s something happening that I’m not seeing/aware of.
That goes for anyone.
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As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You guys are doing a great job, and several cyclists I helped out recently are in good hands. 
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