Whether tracking distance, monitoring heart rate or providing in-depth analysis, training apps can offer cyclists multiple benefits.
Maybe you want to know the minutiae of your performance metrics; or keep in virtual touch with cycling friends; or you could be looking for structured workouts to hone your fitness and skills.
There is plenty of choice when it comes to cycling training apps, so what does JOIN offer cyclists that nothing else does? According to its CEO and founder Jim van den Berg, JOIN is the most simple, adaptive and actionable cycling app yet.
Balancing cycling data with a human touch
JOIN launched in 2020. Its founder, van den Berg, is a former semi-pro cyclist and coach to the professionals. He built JOIN alongside a team of WorldTour-level pro coaches, sport scientists and physiotherapists.
“Training platforms are great,” he says, speaking from his home in Amsterdam. “But they’re mostly great for a small proportion of the population. A lot of cyclists aren’t looking for graphs and tables and insights. They just want to know, ‘What do I do tomorrow in order to keep progressing towards my goal?’.”
JOIN collates data, both current and historical, to create a predictive training schedule – all familiar so far. However, the app also asks for your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) after each workout to build an accurate profile. Whether you’re using a power meter, heart-rate monitor or your own judgement, JOIN asks if the intensity matches what you’re ‘supposed’ to feel.
JOIN also enables its users to adjust their training schedule to accommodate the sort of real-life changes the average cyclist encounters.
For example, your friends invite you on an impromptu group ride. Or the weather is horrific so you opt for a Zwift race. Or poor sleep and stress mean your energy levels are low. When life inevitably chucks variables in your path, the app adjusts so your training programme doesn’t suffer.
“There are no bad workouts,” says van den Berg. “Just a bad combination of workouts.”
JOIN: the joy of cycling
JOIN is not aimed at professional or semi-professional cyclists, it’s for the “enthusiastic amateur,” says van den Berg. It’s for riders who want to learn how to work with a power meter; cyclists who are exploring how their bodies adapt to training; or those who would like to know how to manage energy levels to get the most out of a structured workout.
Most of all, the app is designed to keep the fun in cycling. “It’s all about consistency,” says van den Berg, “and the only way to keep that consistency is by keeping it fun. Structured workouts can be a part of it, but I don’t think you should only do structured workouts. Whatever you do today, if you decide to ride your bike, that’s great. We can just adjust your workout for tomorrow.”
The app that asks, ‘How do you feel?’
The team at JOIN say this is an important question. This human approach towards training and the value of perception is also set to feed into a new recovery feature due to launch soon.
“The best question is, ‘How do you feel this morning?’,” says van den Berg. Users will be able to report, in simple fashion, levels of soreness and recovery. While the assessment of practical data can be analysed to a high level of efficiency by software, van den Berg says “the basis of a good training plan is a lot of subjective data”.
JOIN plans to add running training advice to the app later this year for those who want to combine different sports in their workouts.
8 simple steps to get started with JOIN
If flexible training that keeps the fun in riding sounds tempting, it’s easy to sign up to JOIN. Here's how you can start using the app.
- Complete your profile
- Set your training goal
- Enter your weekly availability
- Connect your accounts: Garmin, Strava, Wahoo, Zwift
- Start your training plan
- Provide your feedback
- Track your progress
- Invite your friends