Meet Colorado-based Reddiyo, a Customized Cycling Training Program Based on Your Goals; Constantly Updated based on Your Results and Feedback
Reddiyo was developed by two cyclists, software engineers, Craig and Rona here in Colorado. Its grown into a great tool for all levels of cyclists who want a customizable training program at an affordable price. Reddiyo utilizes all popular devices such as Garmin and once you determine your goals it builds out a plan for you. This plan changes constantly based on device feedback, personal feedback and unforeseen changes in schedule to keep you on task.
Their plans can prepare you for a long ride like the Triple Bypass or specific crit training or long gravel grinders like SBT GRVL. Its affordable at $14.99 per month. Check it out here: https://reddiyo.com/cycling-training-plans
We chatted with Craig and Rona to learn more and get to know them better!
Reddiyo founders Craig and Rona comparing notes on a ride
What are some of your favorite rides?
My go-to weekday ride is Lookout. I live in the Highlands so it is so easy to head on out 32nd and then shoot up Lookout after work. When I have more time on the weekends then I really enjoy Crawford gulch into Mountain Base. I like this one because the gravel portion tends to keep people away and Mountain Base has some definite sting in the tail. I often will join this with a Coal Creek descent but given the construction last summer I often found myself going back down Golden Gate Canyon. I feel remiss if I didn’t also mention the Bergan Park → Idaho Springs → Floyd Hill loop. That descent from Squaw into Idaho Springs is glorious.
When did the idea for Reddiyo start and why?
We first started discussing it in earnest late in 2018 and did a soft launch in early 2020. Everything was strange that year because it was right when the pandemic was taking hold and events were being cancelled left and right. We didn’t really start our major push until early 2021.
We started Reddiyo because Rona and I saw a gap in the marketplace. We saw a lot of hardware manufacturers capturing data and even some software companies gathering and showing that data. But we quickly realized many athletes, particularly those without coaches, struggle to know how to make sense of their data, and adjust their training accordingly. We did not see many companies doing a good job of using training data to help cyclists get the most from their training. Our goal is to fill that gap, take the burden off the athlete, and allow them to focus on the actual training.
Craig on one of his favorite rides, looks like near White Ranch!
Describe the overall vision of the company and how it fits into your personal passions
The overall vision of Reddiyo is to provide the simplest yet most effective training platform possible for endurance athletes. Our mission is to take the complexity out of endurance training. Endurance training is hard work but it doesn’t have to be complicated.
With this vision, we were able to combine both of our largest passions. Technology and Endurance sports. Both Rona and I come with years of software experience and endurance training experience. Prior to Reddiyo, our professional interests were software engineering and our personal passion was filled with endurance sports (cycling, running, triathlon). Reddiyo allowed us to combine those two things into one vision and set of goals.
What do you feel makes Reddiyo stand out from competition?
Simplicity! Our goal is to build a platform that does very complex stuff behind the scenes but is actually quite simple and easy to use for our athletes. We always say that we are trying to build a rocketship that is as easy to use as a toaster. Obviously that is an unrealistic vision but we try to use that as our north star.
With A.I. becoming more and more prevalent, do you anticipate other mainstream training ap organizations incorporating technology like yours?
Yes, for sure. And we actually want to see more organizations move in this direction. It is good for athletes and for the industry as a whole. We are so convinced of this that as a complement to our current offering we are in the process of releasing our B2B offering where both hardware manufacturers and traditional static training plan platforms could consume our APIs and get the benefits from our dynamic training plans.
Why did you only want to focus on cycling? Do you see that ever changing?
Cycling is our beachhead strategy. We have plans to bring in running, swimming, and triathlon training as well. But we started with cyclists because they have the most mature data offering (e.g. cadence, power, hr, thresholds, etc). This is slowly evolving (e.g. running power, etc) but starting out with cycling has made it easier for us to stay focused on developing a really great product for one sport before expanding out to others.
How specific do training goals need to be? Based on watts, FTP, distance? Or an event or result or FKT?
The short answer is yes, absolutely. The longer answer is that our platform handles event specific goals and more general non-event specific goals. Event specific goals are all about training up for a specific race or ride. There are characteristics (e.g. hills, distance, date, priority, etc) about event goals that drive the types of training we recommend and the progression of the plan. Non-event specific goals tend to focus around a specific limiter or area of interest. For example, improving climbing, power, endurance, or even just staying fit. Identifying these helps us determine the proper types of workouts and appropriate distribution for each athlete.
How long does someone need to try Reddiyo to see a difference?
Consistency is key and athletes committed to sticking to their plan should see improvement quickly. Plans are built to progress the athlete appropriately and that includes balancing the right type of training focus (endurance, tempo, anaerobic, etc) with proper recovery. It doesn’t matter how hard you work, if you don’t allow for recovery, you won’t be able to maximize performance.
As far as plan adaptations go, it takes the platform a couple of weeks of consistent riding to get to know each cyclist and adjust future planned workouts if necessary. However, you could see notifications around an improved FTP/LT, notes about missing workouts, or data integrity issues right away.
What have some of the biggest challenges been developing the software and company?
This stuff is hard! There is a reason why there are not many companies who have been able to build similar platforms. No two cyclists are the same. Building a platform that is flexible enough to accommodate everyone’s uniqueness while ensuring that we keep to good solid training principles is very challenging.
We have some big audacious goals and our roadmap of new features is long. It can be a challenge to prioritize which features are the most important at any particular time. We are excited about all of them so of course we want to do them all right now!
What have you loved most, least?
It is an old adage but I was told to “do what you love”. Reddiyo has allowed both Rona and me to do just that by combining two of our largest passions in life, endurance training and cutting edge technology. We have not regretted a second of it.
It’s also been really fun working with athletes on a day to day basis. Hearing directly from our users really helps us fine tune the platform and prioritize our feature roadmap.
As for enjoying the least, I would have to say that the marketing side of the house has been my least favorite. This is the area that I am the least familiar with and I find it hard to know what is working and what isn’t. In computer science, things tend to be very black and white and binary by design. Marketing has long lead times and is more of an art form that I don’t have a lot of experience with. This causes me to second guess myself a lot.
How has being in Colorado been an asset for you?
First off, it is objectively the best state in the US. Everyone knows that! In all seriousness, Coloradans are passionate about being outdoors and love to get the most from every day. Being a part of this community has shaped me into the athlete and person that I am today. We have a strong “work hard, play hard” mentality and without that I am not sure that I would have even pursued Reddiyo at all.
Aside from the personal impacts that Colorado had on me, it has been very beneficial to Reddiyo overall. It is so easy to go out and do group rides and just be a part of such a vibrant community and discuss Reddiyo. People are excited to learn more and have a lot of great questions and ideas. This helps us to ensure that we are building a product that is exactly what our athletes want.
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