Help us improve TrainerRoad! (Survey)

I agree. Did Nate pick the questions? LOL.

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All done - I’m an active user. As a Marketing guy I can see that the questions are aimed at getting insight at how to position TR from an advertising/communications perspective, not a product improvement perspective. A lot of varied feedback will reveal one or two ‘gems’. I guess in this age it’s hard to ‘sell’ things to people because there are similar concepts in the market plus people are skeptical about advertising, they want genuine anecodal evidence / reviews or to be able to try it first. I like the concept of the trial, but instead of just leaving people to it, offer access to a coach / support team for the first 30 days to handle questions and give advice…

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I’m always sceptical, and software products are like black magic to me. They can take months to learn only to find out you will never use, need or like them. When I saw my friends talking about it I didn’t pay much attention at first then next winter most everyone was using it but me. When I saw how much faster they had gotten and I went from top to bottom of the speed chain I signed up early that fall. Still not convinced even though the workouts seemed reasonable enough it wasn’t until I saw my FTP jump at the end of each block and I started to understand how training works that I was convinced. Educational and functional. Its a tough sell for someone like me who may be a avid cyclist but doesn’t really get the concept of specificity / less is more when it comes to training. Plus in a world of so many garbage products, its tough to find the real ones and then pair it with a good trainer like the Kickr. Not sure I would have stuck in there with a sub par wheel on device.

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done!

yesterday was on first group ride since Sept 29th. At least one guy is going to try TR after seeing the amount of time I spent pulling and going off the front with a couple other guys.

TR’s SSB is great at building muscular and aerobic endurance, allowing my average ftp to stand out on flat rides (until I land in a group of 300+ watt guys…). Anxious to get thru SSB-2 and move on to the build phase!

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You will be that 300+ guy one day!!

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Completed the survey.

On the question of “how did you sell TR to someone else?”:

My next-door neighbour here in Tokyo got me into cycling earlier this year, and we had been going out on the odd weekend for a long ride. He had never trained seriously, but would do a Zwift SST-short workout maybe once a week, which led me to asking him about trainers and Zwift.

I ended up switching to Trainerroad as the Zwift workouts didn’t do it for me. And knowing that my neighbour would likely enjoy the training aspect of it, got him a 3-month sub. I basically explained it to him that he could “train and get stronger during the week, and destroy it outside on the weekends with his mates”. It would be the easiest, most time-efficient way to get stronger while work and other responsibilities might limit your cycling time. Putting in those hours, and seeing the progress when you’re riding on the usual Sunday long ride outside is really motivating, and what ultimately sold him.

Anyway, hope you guys eventually get Japanese language support! Translating Coach Chad’s clever on-screen text hasn’t been easy. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I know I’m just asking one person’s opinion; but how do you think a fully translated TR app/web would do in Japan?

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@Nate_Pearson Quite well I would imagine. Cycling (Road) is quite popular here and the community is active and friendly. Lots of events throughout the year, as well as a well-developed transportation system, means there are ample opportunities to target (and train) for something.

Zwift has a Japanese-language UI available, and it seems to be the go-to method of indoor riding (I don’t think there are really any other alternatives with Japanese support). I say riding, because from the people I know and follow, it doesn’t seem that many use Zwift specifically for structured training, though perhaps that will change as the platform continues to add training plans. Interestingly though, the majority of cyclists I know do own trainers / rollers (whether for Zwift or just spinning inside).

Just my opinion, but I think having an alternative like Trainerroad accessible to the general cycling population here would go well!

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I think it would be an absolutely good business decision.

Done!

Rather an odd survey - you don’t actually ask us how we might improve TR…!

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Done

There’s one feature that I don’t think TR make enough of a big deal about - being able to create an optimized power plan for your race on Best Bike Split, then import that into TR as a race simulation workout. That’s really cool functionality, but it took me ages to realise you can even do it.

If you could create the custom TR workout direct from Best Bike Split (using a TR API) without having to go via Workout Creator it’d be even slicker :sunglasses:

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When I started XC MTB racing and was looking into training programs, I initially dismissed TrainerRoad because I thought that it was for roadies. I would think that many beginners would have the same misunderstanding.

Bought Carmichael’s Time Crunched Cyclist book and it was a pain having to manually set up the workouts. Loved the plug and play nature of TR…

I actually closed my TR account a month before its expiration and thought that I could just train using another company’s SW. But the game-ified training experience just didn’t do it for me. Hard enough doing VO2 workouts, but to have to stare at a pulsating screen…Next month, I re-upped for 1 year with TR.

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Not sure if it’s a big faux pas, but maybe ask US and European trainer manufacturers what they think about their Japan and Korean sales? Offer to swap that info with the info that you guys have? I know that for the past several years, there’s been a gigantic boom in cycling in Korea. At least on paper, it sounds like a good “blue ocean” strategy, especially if you guys are nearing the market saturation point in the English-speaking nations.

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Three of us have been out on the bikes today. We’re all training for a race in April. Two of us are TR users and the other is a Zwifter. We kicked his arse. Enough said.

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Done!!

Bought a kickr and a TrainerRoad subscription

Took loads of shit from friends about all the time I was spending indoors

Went from mid-pack cat 4 road to cat 2 road in one season

Same friends all joined trainer road and we all hate the cold now

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Hi @Nate_Pearson . tend to agree the questions were a little odd but sure your marketing folks know what they are looking, in relation to how i got two folks to sign up
1 - I did a demo of the calendar, assignment of training plans, flexibility to adjust workouts, assign rides if done outside etc.
2 - explained the wider interest areas, the podcasts, this forum, resources etc.
3 - did not say don’t use “XYZ” … .each to their own etc. but that i have found TR to drive the best results… also pointed out how this year why i was kicking their butt Feb > May (we are MAMILS… not racers ;-D)