Our Mission

Quality coaching for every cyclist

Your training effort should lead somewhere. WattPlan exists to help cyclists turn commitment into real performance improvement.

The Problem

Coaching is inaccessible

Good cycling coaching costs $150-400 per month. Most cyclists can't justify that expense, especially when starting out. So they turn to generic training plans that don't adapt to their lives, or they piece together advice from forums and YouTube videos.

The result? Wasted effort. Inconsistent progress. Frustration when life disrupts a rigid 12-week plan. Many cyclists train hard but never see the improvement they deserve.

WattPlan was built to change this. We believe intelligent coaching should be accessible to everyone who's willing to put in the work.

Our Approach

Evidence-based methodology

WattPlan is built on proven sports science, not fitness trends. Our training methodology draws from decades of research into power-based training principles that have guided elite athletes to podiums worldwide.

The Science Behind WattPlan

  • Coggan's power-based metrics: Training Stress Score (TSS), Normalized Power (NP), and Intensity Factor (IF) — the standard framework used by TrainingPeaks, WKO5, and professional coaches worldwide
  • Banister impulse-response model: Fitness (CTL), Fatigue (ATL), and Form (TSB) tracked using exponential moving averages — the same model used in peer-reviewed exercise physiology since 1975
  • Monod 2-parameter model: Critical Power and W' (anaerobic work capacity) estimated via linear regression of your power curve data
  • Banister TRIMP: Heart rate-based training load when power data isn't available, using zone-weighted impulse calculation with gender-specific coefficients
  • Efficiency Factor & cardiac decoupling: Cardiovascular efficiency tracking (NP/HR) and aerobic endurance assessment via HR drift analysis — standard metrics in endurance coaching
  • Hawley & Noakes VO2max estimation: Estimated from maximum aerobic power (best 5-minute power) using the established regression formula
  • Periodized training structure: Base, build, peak, and taper phases following Coggan's power zones — the same progression used by elite coaches

Every calculation is deterministic and testable — not AI-generated guesswork. The codebase includes nearly 4,000 automated test assertions validating these formulas against known values. The AI coach is an intelligent layer on top of this foundation — it interprets your data and communicates in natural language — but the underlying training logic is hard-coded sports science, not a language model making things up.

If you recognise these models from TrainingPeaks, WKO5, or your coach's spreadsheets, that's the point. WattPlan applies the same proven methodology — it just makes it accessible without a $200/month coaching fee.

Design Philosophy

"Less, but better"

WattPlan follows the design principles of Dieter Rams. We believe a training tool should be like a precision instrument - unobtrusive, honest, and thorough down to the last detail.

"Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better - because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials." - Dieter Rams

We reject the gamified, neon-colored aesthetic of typical fitness apps. WattPlan looks like a high-end bike computer or precision instrument. The UI recedes so your data can speak.

This philosophy extends to features. We don't add capabilities for their own sake. Every element serves a purpose: helping you train more effectively and understand your performance more clearly.

Your Data

Used for coaching, nothing else

Your training data is used for one thing: giving you better coaching. The AI coach reads your workouts, fitness metrics, and conversation history to give personalised advice — but that data stays within your account and is never used to train AI models.

In the future, we plan to use anonymised, aggregated training data to build smarter coaching models — understanding how athletes at different levels respond to different training loads, what progression rates work best, and where common plateaus occur. This will never include personally identifiable information, and you'll always be able to opt out.

Specifically

  • No selling or sharing: Your data is never sold to third parties or shared with advertisers
  • You own it: Delete your account and all your data is removed — workouts, plans, conversations, everything
  • Future anonymisation: Any aggregated insights will be fully anonymised with an opt-out option
  • Server-side only: OAuth tokens for Strava, Garmin, and Wahoo are stored server-side and are never exposed to client code

What we believe

Objectivity

"Your FTP is 250w." Not "Great job! Your FTP is 250w!" We present data honestly and let you draw your own conclusions. Encouragement comes from progress, not empty praise.

Adaptability

Life happens. Training plans should adapt to missed workouts, schedule changes, and unexpected events without guilt or judgment. Flexibility is built into the system.

Privacy

Your training data is yours. We don't sell it, share it with advertisers, or use it for anything beyond improving your coaching experience. Period.

Build in Public

We ship in the open

WattPlan is built by a solo developer who rides, races, and uses the app every day. There's no venture capital, no boardroom, no marketing department writing copy about features that don't exist yet.

Every feature ships because a real cyclist needed it. Bugs get fixed the same day they're found. Ideas from users become features in days, not quarters. You're not a data point in a growth metric — you're someone who wants to ride faster, and so do we.

What this means for you

  • Direct access: Feedback goes straight to the person who writes the code
  • Rapid iteration: New features and fixes ship weekly, not quarterly
  • Honest product: No inflated claims, no phantom features on the roadmap
  • Aligned incentives: The app gets better because its builder depends on it too

Why "WattPlan"?

Power output is measured in watts. Watts are the universal language of cycling performance — objective, measurable, and honest. WattPlan exists to help you put those watts to work.

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