Category: Training

The View From An Original Tiler

Posted on | by Lucy Sibbald | Leave a Comment on The View From An Original Tiler

Torsten Frank VeloViewer Tile HunterThe tiling community never fails to impress us, and for this tiling Q&A we go inside the mind of one of the original VeloViewer tilers. Torsten Frank has a rare four digit Strava user number which is indicative of his time on the platform, and he was quick to get on board with VeloViewer, exploring its functionality to maximise his riding experience.

Torsten has a passion for ultra distance racing and regularly blogs his adventures, both on his travels and in his homeland of Germany.

After his Instagram posts caught our attention we got in touch with him to uncover more about his interest in tiling. Continue reading →

Race Across America Solo Challenge for Alvaro Nunez

Posted on | by Lucy Sibbald | Leave a Comment on Race Across America Solo Challenge for Alvaro Nunez

When we were approached by entrepreneur and bestselling author Alvaro Nunez to support his Race Across America (RAAM) Solo attempt, we were keen to support his challenge with our WorldTour package. 

Alvaro will tackle the 3000+ mile ultra race across the breadth of America from the 10th June and will have a dedicated team on hand to support him on the journey. 

Predominantly used for professional teams, the WorldTour package also provides specialist logistics and performance planning perfect for ultra events such as RAAM. Alvaro and his crew will use VeloViewer to help plan for the challenge. This will include detailed daily planning around the race route, choice of equipment, weather updates, fueling and rest strategies and tracking support vehicles.

As an ultra-endurance athlete we were impressed by Alvaro’s dedication and determination to take on the RAAM Challenge, and with a strong mindset he is focused on completing in under 12 days. Continue reading →

Intro to Tile Hunting Series – From Roadie to Gravel Rider

Posted on | by Lucy Sibbald | Leave a Comment on Intro to Tile Hunting Series – From Roadie to Gravel Rider

Gravel bike in woodsHearing how tile hunting has totally changed riders’ approach to cycling is very rewarding, as it is often a gateway to inspiring new adventures. In British tile hunter Matt Fletcher’s case when he realised the limitations of road cycling, and the squares he was missing out on due to accessibility,  it encouraged him to start gravel riding. His switch to off-road has allowed him to achieve a 47×47 explorer square, with plans to grow this even further in 2025.

Read how Matt introduced a new cycling discipline to his ride outs, and how this increased his rate of tile collecting. Continue reading →

Intro to Tile Hunting Series – How to Get Involved

Posted on | by Lucy Sibbald | Leave a Comment on Intro to Tile Hunting Series – How to Get Involved

Mathew Grove's tile hunting map

If you’re not already, inject some new energy into your local riding with our VeloViewer Tile Hunting tool. There are 27K Pro VeloViewer users, and an ever increasing number of them regularly tiling, and exploring new routes to increase their Max Square or Max Cluster of tiles.

For those new to the sport, here’s what tile hunting offers and how it can spice up your riding.

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Intro to Tile Hunting Series – Sweet Treats

Posted on | by Lucy Sibbald | Leave a Comment on Intro to Tile Hunting Series – Sweet Treats
Photo credit: Jason Burns

Explorer tile hunting has been in the spotlight recently and becoming an increasingly popular pastime with VeloViewer users. If it’s new to you, discover how others are using the VeloViewer platform to collect tiles and give a new focus to their riding, which isn’t all about chasing KOMs/QOMs.

In our Intro to Tile Hunting Series find out from everyday riders their motivation to claim tiles, equipment they use, and the adventures along the way.

For British cyclist Jeffrey Ott tile hunting has helped to give him focus in the British winter, and when faced challenges claiming squares he’s resorted to offering home-baked goods to try and ‘sweet talk’ residents to let him gain access – unfortunately yet to be successful!

Continue reading →

VeloViewer Wrapped  – Grace Brown’s 2024 Infographic Story

Posted on | by Lucy Sibbald | Leave a Comment on VeloViewer Wrapped  – Grace Brown’s 2024 Infographic Story

To kick off the VeloViewer infographic season we caught up with Grace Brown, Australian road racer and World Champion. After an epic season which saw her win Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the Olympic and World Championships time trial, we were keen to review her infographic which visualises her stats for the year.  Continue reading →

60 Days of The Sufferfest for Free with VeloViewer PRO

Posted on | by Ben Lowe | 21 Comments on 60 Days of The Sufferfest for Free with VeloViewer PRO

Yep, you read that right, new and existing VeloViewer PRO (or PRO+) users get 60 days full access to The Sufferfest! A great opportunity for you to thoroughly try out their new 4DP workouts and training plans. As well as being able to use The Sufferfest workout videos, optionally controlling the ERG of your smart trainer, you also get to treat your body and mind to the integrated yoga and mental training programmes.  With The Sufferfest’s usual price of $10 per month, this is a great offer for just a £10 VeloViewer PRO (or £20 PRO+) membership! Not to mention having a year of access to VeloViewer of course.

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Turns out having a coach helps, a lot!

Posted on | by Ben Lowe | 2 Comments on Turns out having a coach helps, a lot!

Some of you may have read my previous post about my use over the winter months of a coach for some structured training to see how effective it really is.  This is my first experience with proper training having previously just free-style “trained” by trying to beast myself on Strava hill segments.  The goal of my training was the Strade Bianche Gran Fondo in early march which unfortunately ended with a puncture and a near hypothermic brother which combined to result in a DNF at around the halfway mark, but the more measurable gains had already been recorded – at 12% increase in FTP.

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First Time Using A Cycling Coach – Preparing for a Gran Fondo/Sportive

Posted on | by Ben Lowe

Despite taking up cycling at the tender age of 13 (30 years ago!) and doing numerous types of racing over the years, I’ve never actually done anything that resembled structured training in any way. The closest thing I’ve done is go out attacking local Strava hill segments for a summer on the run up to the 2014 Hill Climb season. So, with an Italian Gran Fondo in the diary for early March as a target I thought it was a great opportunity to hook up with a coach and see what gains can be made from a more structured approach. Spoiler alert, it helps, a lot.

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Getting your Power/Heart Rate FTP and Normalised Power from your Strava data

Posted on | by Ben Lowe | 5 Comments on Getting your Power/Heart Rate FTP and Normalised Power from your Strava data

FTP and Normalised PowerFinding your FTP (Functional Threshold Power/Performance) is a unavoidably painful experience but getting a number out the other end shouldn’t be, which is why I’ve tried to make that part of the process as simple and versatile as possible. Just sync your data from Strava over to VeloViewer and let VeloViewer do all the number crunching on your behalf. Instantly see your power, normalised power and heart rate based FTPs against all your segments or over any part of any of your activities including your best splits.
Continue reading →