An AI cycling coach that remembers your week

“AI coach” can mean anything from a chatbot with a cycling logo to something that actually pays attention to your week, so it’s worth being specific. In Etapa, the coach is the thing that turns your goal and your free days into a plan, watches how that plan goes, changes it when it needs changing, and answers whatever you ask, in plain English, whenever you ask it. It’s built for people who would never pay for a human coach and just want someone sensible to talk to about their riding.

What does an AI cycling coach actually do?

1. It builds the planFrom your goal, the days you can ride and what you’re riding now, it lays out two to four sessions a week, up to 24 weeks long, with a short note on what each one is for.
2. It watches how the week goesAfter each ride it asks how it felt. If Strava is connected, your rides come in on their own. At the end of the week it looks back at what happened and ahead to what’s coming.
3. It changes the plan, not the guiltMissed a session? Ill for a week? Say so, or let the missing ride speak for itself, and the plan rebalances around what actually happened. You can also just ask: “make this week easier”.

Then there are the questions. Why do my hands go numb? Can I ride the day after a big one? What’s a sportive? Is it bad that I stopped six times on that hill? A human coach gets these in a Monday phone call. This one gets them at 10pm on a Wednesday and answers straight away, and because it remembers your plan and how your week has gone, the answer is about you, not about cyclists in general.

How do the seven coaches work?

There are seven coaches: Clara, Sophie, Elena, Lars, Matteo, Tom and Kai. They share the same training knowledge; what differs is the personality, the nationality, the voice and the languages they speak. You pick the one you’d want to hear from, and you can switch any time without losing your plan or your history. The point isn’t that one of them is best. It’s that being told the same thing in a voice you like makes you far more likely to listen. Each coach speaks their own languages, so if you’d rather not chat in English, look for one who speaks yours.

What it isn’t

It is not a human who can see you ride. It can’t watch your pedalling, spot from across the car park that your saddle is too low, or notice you’re not yourself today unless you say. It is not a doctor, a physio or a dietitian, and it doesn’t give medical advice; when something hurts in a way that worries you, it will tell you to see a professional, and it means it. And it is AI (Anthropic Claude): well informed and consistent, but not infallible, so if an answer feels off, ask again or check it. It also can’t make you go out in the rain. It can make the ride you do go on the right one.

What about my data?

Your rides, check-ins and answers are used to build and adjust your plan, and they aren’t sold. Strava and Whoop are optional: connect Strava and your rides come in automatically, so the coach can see what you actually did and share what it noticed; connect Whoop and it sees how you slept and how recovered you are, and eases off or leans in to match. You can disconnect either in Settings, and the full detail is in the privacy policy.