Yes, you do. We feel a defining feature of the WattsUp program is that you ride on your bike. Let's face it, cyclists and triathletes love their bikes. Their position on their bikes are unique and individual. We believe it makes a whole lot of sense to train on the equipment you'll be riding and racing with outdoors. We offer convenient on-site bike storage which is part and parcel of the monthly riding membership.
STUDIO CYCLING FAQ
No, you don't. We have the trainers. CompuTrainers, in fact, the industry's leading indoor power-based trainer. Your bike, our trainers.
Our instructor led classes throughout the weekdays (Mon to Fri) are 90 minutes long. The "meat and potatoes" of the workout are from 30 to 75 minutes of the 90 minute workout. We have athletes who wrap it up after 75 minutes to get a head start off to work/home. Our weekend classes are up to 2.5 hours in duration.
Yes, most of them are. Our weekday classes, and a couple of our weekend classes, are coach-led. While our coaches each have their own unique personality and set of experiences within the sport, they are all delivering the same workouts and program. That is, each coach is delivering the same workout but adding their own style and flavour to it's delivery. Our coaches all have extensive experience in cycling, triathlon, and endurance sport in general.
Good question. That depends. On your schedule and your goals. Generally speaking, for the majority of our athletes, once per week riding is the bare minimum we'd suggest riding through the fall/winter/spring. Once per week riding will, essentially, minimize the loss in fitness experienced during those months. Twice per week riding is encouraged, if at all possible, as it will for the most part maintain your end-of-summer fitness throughout the winter. Giving you an edge when you start the following season fitter than your mates. Three or more rides per week and you can expect some serious improvements in your riding for the start of the following season. In reality, the majority of our athletes ride once to twice per week.
No, most likely it's not. If you're online reviewing our site and have made it as far as our FAQs, we want you at our studio. At least give it a try. The majority of our athletes are between 45 and 70 years old. And are serious about their cycling/triathlon. But it's not all that they do. Our program has you working at your own unique fitness levels, which will change (ie, improve) over time. And you feel part of the group, like you belong. You can have the studio's fittest athlete riding beside it's most novice athlete, and they're both following the same program and working at their own unique intensity levels. Do not be intimidated, we pride ourselves on bringing people into the sport of cycling, not deterring them from participating.
Ideally, yes. For the first few sessions, no you do not. But we recommend that you do should you choose to enrol in the program for any extended length of time. We sell and install indoor training tires on-site.
No, actually, it's not. It's a 12-months-of-the-year program that we offer. It is designed to re-start annually on October 1st. And it gradually builds your fitness to a peak for late spring, when the majority of us take our bikes outside to ride. During the summer months, we hold your fitness at a high level, and balance our workouts with the style of outdoor riding that most people perform. The meat and potatoes of the program are November to April.
Two months if you join our Level I program. But only one month if you join our Level II or III program. Obviously, we want to see you riding with us much longer. But our memberships, aside from the initial two month Level I commitment, are month-to-month.
HOME CYCLING FAQ
HomeCycling is the very same program that we deliver on site in our studio but is delivered to you online for you to perform when you want, where you want.
Easy. You visit our website. You log in. You select from five possible workouts. You hit 'start'. You follow the instructions shown on the screen.
You watch your monitor/device which has our display which at any given time instructs you to be at a specific power (Watts), cadence (rpm), for a defined period of time. Within each workout segment there are several coaching/instructor tips/pointers. At the bottom of the screen is a heads-up as to what the next workout segment is (ie, what power, what cadence, and for how long).
Each week five new workouts are presented. Three of them are what we call "quality" workouts, which are designed to challenge and increase your fitness. One of them is a base workout (ie, an easy aerobic session). And the fifth is a recovery workout (ie, a very easy recovery session). The "quality" workouts come in 60, 90, and 120 minute durations, for you to choose on the day. The base and recovery workouts come in 30, 45, and 60 minute durations. The nature of the workouts change throughout the year. What you're doing in October is different than in December which is different than in March, for example. The workouts are varied, progressive, engaging, and make the time on the trainer fly by.
You do. The HomeCycling program instructs you what power to be at. But it is up to you to get to that power by altering your trainer's controlling device, or by using your gearing on your bike to alter your power meter's reading.
Good question. We need to collect from you an estimate of your training zones. If you don't know what those are (and 90% of our HomeCycling athletes do not know), we have a few simple questions that help us to determine what your starting zones/workloads should be. If you want to go all in, you'd come in for a test/assessment. Where we run you through a ramp test and time trial to determine, quite accurately, what your training zones are.
No, not necessarily. Workouts can be pretty closely approximated using an on-the-bike power meter with a regular (ie, non-power) trainer. But, ideally, you would have a power-based trainer. (We sell the industry-leading power trainer: CompuTrainer. We also partnered with an outfit that provides monthly rentals of CompuTrainers.)
No, you don't. The only 'computer' you need is some sort of internet-enabled device so as to log in and retrieve/display the HomeCycling workout.
Nope. It's just you, our instructions, and your effort. This is a training program, not a racing program.
Yes. It's been proven time and time again with our Toronto-based in-studio athletes. The program isn't rocket science, but it is science. And we've laid it all out so that your fitness will build gradually through the winter and spring and peak for the summer months of riding. Try it, you'll see.
Yes and no. At the end of each completed workout, you are presented with an option to send feedback our way. Which if you do will go answered quite quickly. But the program/system doesn't reach out to you to provide feedback on it's own.
Because you want to get fitter. Because you prefer riding your own bike and not a generic spin bike. Because you like to work on your schedule, not on a studio's schedule. Because you want your workload precisely controlled/monitored. Because of it's cost-effectiveness.
Good question. Our product isn't for everyone. But we truly believe that for convenient, effective, personalized, cost-effective home-based training that nothing will top HomeCycling. We have five workouts per week to choose from, each with a couple of different duration options. Workouts change each week. You therefore don't have to do much thinking about deciding which workouts to do. The workouts are designed to make you a fitter cyclist come summer. They're training workouts. They're not racing workouts. Too much racing (on the road or online) won't lead to increased fitness. While there is some data (ie, power, cadence, time, duration, etc), there is not a data overload. We keep things simple. Effective. Personal. Affordable. Convenient.