“JOIN was born out of two decades of coaching experience and one simple belief: that every cyclist deserves guidance that adapts to them. Training shouldn’t be about guessing, burning out, or feeling guilty. It should be about steady progress, clear goals and enjoying the ride. Whether you’re new to cycling or chasing peak performance, JOIN helps you train smarter, ride stronger, and stay motivated 12 months a year.” That’s how Jim van den Berg, the founder and CEO of the company behind Join.cc, describes what the JOIN cycling app can offer gravel riders, bikepackers and ultradistance riders. If you would like to find out more, then read on. 

“One of the biggest mistakes cyclists make is overthinking the details and underestimating consistency. Progress doesn’t come from hitting the perfect interval set once, it comes from stringing together weeks, months and years of steady training.” With a master’s degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology, a background as a semi-pro road racer and more than 15 years of experience as a coach and sports trainer, Jim has the perfect combination of training and experience to understand how to help cyclists improve their fitness, but in a way that’s flexible and adaptable. 

Jim came up with the idea for the JOIN app back in 2019. He explains that the concept behind the app was “Simple but powerful: take the daily decisions I made as a coach - adjusting training plans, balancing intensity with recovery, setting the right goals and scale that into an algorithm that could help thousands of cyclists, not just the handful [that] I could coach personally.” Jim explained how JOIN differed from traditional coaching and training plans “JOIN was an adaptive training plan. It was a massive improvement over the static PDFs and generic schedules riders were used to. That breakthrough marked the shift from a simple concept into a true game-changer for cyclists.”

After a year of intense development, JOIN was launched to the public in October 2020. Jim explains how the new app was received: “Growth was gradual at first. We launched after the first COVID lockdowns, so unlike many fitness apps, we didn’t get a pandemic boost. But as cyclists began trying JOIN, something clicked: this wasn’t just another PDF plan or a copy of what the pros were doing. It was flexible, adaptive and realistic.” 

JOIN say that their app “solves a few key challenges that most cyclists face:

• Adaptive training: Your plan adjusts to your availability, performance and even how hard a session felt (Rate of Perceived Exertion). 
• Balance of intensity and recovery: JOIN makes sure you don’t fall into the common trap of riding too hard, too often. 
• Flexibility: You’re not locked into a rigid plan. If your life changes, whether it’s a busy week at work, bad weather, or a newborn baby, JOIN adjusts instead of punishing you for skipping sessions.
• Simplicity: Workouts are designed to be easy to follow, indoors or outdoors. No overcomplicated 40-step interval sets that only make sense on a trainer.

JOIN’s app has been designed to work across all the different cycling disciplines, but we wanted to make sure there was enough of a gravelly focus to make it suitable for the Gravel Union audience. JOIN told us that, as well as their cross-discipline training programmes, they also offer gravel-specific ones. There’s one for anyone interested in taking part in a competitive gravel event and there’s a different one for anyone planning on taking part in a multi-day gravel event. As well as that, JOIN have a really insightful blog post on their website which gives a huge range of tips, suggestions and guidance for anyone considering riding in a gravel event in the future.  

JOIN’s app is designed to be flexible/adaptable, so that it can fit around your life rather than the other way around. It’s also been designed to work with the bare minimum of tech – as long as you have a smartphone, a bike computer and ideally a heart rate monitor (which you can connect with your bike computer), then you’re all set. If you’re fortunate enough to have access to a power meter or a smart trainer, then that’s even better, but it’s definitely not obligatory. 

So now you know all about the benefits of JOIN, do you fancy giving it a try? To help you test it out before committing, the JOIN team is offering Gravel Union members a free 30-day trial. All you need to do to get started is to head to this webpage.  

Images courtesy of Join.cc