Frequently Asked Questions

You will need an indoor trainer, a device that measures power, and a device to run the TrainerRoad app. Your indoor setup will vary depending on whether you‘d like to use a smart trainer, a power meter, or VirtualPower™ as your power source.

We don’t offer a free trial, but we do have a 30 day money-back guarantee. If you sign up for TrainerRoad and decide within 30 days that TrainerRoad isn’t a good fit for you, then you can cancel your subscription and request a refund.

We don’t offer any discounts on the monthly or annual subscription. That being said, if you plan on using TrainerRoad year-round, choosing the annual subscription offers a significant discount over the monthly subscription.

With an active TrainerRoad subscription, you have unlimited access to all of the TrainerRoad training plans. You can use our training plans to plan out your season, or you can use the TrainerRoad Plan Builder to get a customized training plan for the entire season.

ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart (sometimes referred to as Bluetooth 4.0) are the wireless languages TrainerRoad uses to send and receive data back and forth between your devices. Many devices are compatible with both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart.

Following the initial download, you won’t need an internet connection to use the TrainerRoad app. When you download the TrainerRoad app, all of the workouts and programs are downloaded and saved locally. You will, however, need to connect to the internet to back up your ride data. In addition to this, there are many useful features you can only access on our website. This includes analytic tools and custom Calendar functions.

You will need a trainer for all of your indoor workouts. You can use any compatible smart trainer, magnetic trainer, fluid trainer, rollers, and spin bikes. If you’d like to see if your trainer is supported, check out the TrainerRoad Equipment Checker.

Nope! When training inside, TrainerRoad acts a lot like a head unit by displaying your ride data while you work out. You can use a head unit alongside your computer or mobile device while you train, but it’s not required. When outside, you can make a note of the instructional version of your workouts beforehand or view it in the TrainerRoad app.

Absolutely! TrainerRoad is compatible with Android and iOS devices. You can find our mobile apps on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Yes! You can set TrainerRoad up on multiple platforms and login to multiple devices at once.

Starting a training plan is the best place to start. To build a custom training plan, follow the steps outlined in this Plan Builder article. Once you have a plan added to your Calendar, you can start with the first workout.

A training plan is a series of structured workouts strategically designed and organized to prepare you for your priority event or training goal.

Plan Builder takes all the uncertainty out of finding the right training plan. Using your current training load, schedule, and goals, Plan Builder will build you a custom training plan for you. For more information on Plan Builder, check out this post: Plan Builder.

Yes! Using your current training load, schedule, and race goals, Plan Builder uses our vast library of training plans to build a custom training plan specifically designed for your goal event.

You can adjust and customize your training plan within the TrainerRoad Calendar. For more information on how to make adjustments to your Calendar, check out this help center article: Editing Your Calendar.

If you need to take time off, you can edit your training plan and adjust days in your schedule. If you need to take an entire week, or more, off you can push entire training weeks forward.

If you don’t have a goal event, you can still benefit from structured training and get faster for your training goals. Plan Builder will outline a structured training plan based on your training history and your primary discipline or training goal.

All plans will increase your aerobic fitness and help you burn extra calories. Rather than concerning yourself with weight loss, we encourage you to chase performance by following a structured plan for your goal event or discipline. As you do this, you will increase your ability to tolerate training stress. This means you will be training more, and that means more calories burned in a sustainable, healthy way.

A typical training progression takes 28 weeks. If you have the time to do so, starting about 28 weeks before your goal event is a good place to start. If you have more or less than 28 weeks until your priority event, you can jump into training. Plan Builder will create a training plan that accommodates your time frame.

None of the TrainerRoad plans are structured around nutrition; all of our training plans are power-based plans focused on making you a faster cyclist. If you are looking for advice around cycling-specific nutrition, check out the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast, or the TrainerRoad forum.

TrainerRoad does not have any strength; or weight-based training plans. If you are looking for advice around cycling specific strength training, check out the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast or the TrainerRoad forum.

Yes, you can! Every indoor workout in the TrainerRoad library has a corresponding outdoor workout that can be taken outside using your Garmin or Wahoo head unit. Learn more about Outside Workouts on our blog.

The difficulty of your training will be proportionate to your fitness. Each workout will use your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) to tailor your scheduled workouts to your personal fitness. You will test your FTP at the beginning of each training block to keep your workouts in line with your fitness. In addition to this, you can choose how much you’d like to train each week by choosing your training plan volume. Your workouts will be hard enough to be challenging, but not so much that you cannot complete them.

TrainerRoad is for any cyclist that wants to get faster. It doesn’t matter what your current level of fitness is, or how much experience you have with structured training - Plan Builder will build a training plan for you and your goals.

Interval training is a workout with timed segments. Each segment targets precise power zones. By repeatedly training within specific power zones, athletes can improve the strength and power needed for their goals.

While we don’t display speed or distance anywhere in the TrainerRoad app, speed data will be recorded during TrainerRoad workouts. When you complete a workout with a device that measures speed and distance, data can be pushed to platforms like Strava, TrainingPeaks, and Garmin Connect using Activity Sync.

The Ramp Test evaluates your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). The Ramp Test has a five-minute warm-up, followed by one-minute steps, each step increasing the intensity by 6%. To effectively evaluate your FTP using the Ramp Test, an athlete should focus on riding as long as they can, for as many steps as possible, as close to the target as possible.

Your hard work and progress will be apparent in your workout data. You can actively track your progress using TrainerRoad analytics. Power data, changes in FTP, fluctuations in training stress, and all of your personal records will show the progress of your training.

Two people cannot share one account. Each TrainerRoad account is specifically designed to make you faster through custom training plans, individual metrics, and personal data analysis.

Ride indoors with your favorite form of entertainment - whatever that may be! The TrainerRoad desktop app can be easily switched to minimal mode so that you can watch any entertainment you want in full screen while your TrainerRoad workout is displayed below.

TrainerRoad’s Performance Analytics allows you to track and analyze all of your training data in one place. With a training stress score chart, in-depth ride data analysis, personal records, and TrainerRoad Seasons, you can track all of your data in a clear and organized way.

Personal Records (PRs) show your highest power output for a specific duration. You can earn a PR for any duration, both outdoors and indoors. TrainerRoad uses power outputs from every imported workout and completed in TrainerRoad to evaluate your personal records.

TrainerRoad Seasons is a tool that can be used to define and track your data and progression within specific periods of time. You can create one season if you race one season each year, or you can make multiple seasons each year if you are an interdisciplinary athlete.

SeasonMatch allows you to compare and match data points from your current season to data in past seasons. SeasonMatch is a great way to actively track the progress of your training this season to your fitness in previous seasons.

No. TrainerRoad constructs your training so that your fatigue is progressing in relation to your growing fitness. As you near your goal event, the Speciality Phase of training will help you shed fatigue, sharpen your fitness, and have you in top form for race day.

Not yet, but this is a feature we plan to add down the road.

If you have a TrainerRoad account, you are welcome to join just to spectate. If you do join, you will still be doing a workout, so if you aren’t riding, it will show that you did a workout with no power data. You can delete this workout in your career at any point after the workout.

You can train with up to 10 other athletes, so the max room limit is 11 riders.

No.

You can invite somebody by using a shareable link that will allow them to RSVP to the Group Workout, as well as add the scheduled workout to their TrainerRoad calendar.

Make sure the microphone input is selected to the built-in microphone of your laptop or computer and that the fan is pointing at you instead of the computer.

No problem! Group Workouts is a cross-platform experience for Mac and Windows.

No. As of now, this is just a Mac and Windows app feature.

Athletes must be at least 13 years old to join a group workout.