AI: The Future of Coaching (Or Just a Really Fast Assistant?)

It’s impossible to scroll through your feed lately without an "AI-powered" app promising to revolutionise your training. The cycling world is being flooded with these platforms—many backed by ex-pros and substantial venture capital. Full disclaimer: I’ve been following this space closely and am even in talks with a specific player that has caught my eye. I’m fascinated to see where the tech goes, but as a coach, I have some serious reservations about where we are headed.

Here is the reality: AI is not actually "intelligent." It is a sophisticated pattern-recognition engine with a world-class memory. It has read every training manual ever written, but it has zero real-world experience. It has never felt the sting of a crosswind or the mental "dark place" that hits deep into a massive day in the saddle.

The Accountability Gap

Coaching works primarily because of accountability. Why do personal trainers still have jobs in an era of free YouTube workouts? Because a human being makes you show up. I’m not convinced that meeting a virtual agent on a screen will ever provide that same "gut check" when you’re looking for an excuse to skip a rainy Tuesday interval session. A machine can't look you in the eye and ask why the work didn't get done.

Longevity vs. The Quick Fix

From what I see in the current market, AI is designed for the short term. It is excellent at calculating the most efficient path to a specific goal over a few months, but it often lacks long-term vision. * AI is conservative: It looks at what has worked in the aggregate past and replicates it. It is risk-averse by nature.

• Humans are experimental: A real coach can sense when an athlete needs a radical change in stimulus or a period of "unstructured play" to prevent burnout—things that don't fit a standard algorithm.
• The Big Picture: AI struggles to factor in your health and performance five or ten years down the line. A human coach manages your "athletic life insurance," ensuring you aren't just fast this summer, but healthy and capable for decades to come.

Experience vs. Algorithms (The Mallorca 312 Factor)

While AI is great at generating a generic calendar of intervals, it lacks contextual knowledge. Take an event like the Mallorca 312.

An AI can schedule the TSS (Training Stress Score) required to finish, but it cannot tell you how to actually ride the event. It doesn't know the specific road surfaces, the tactical positioning needed before the first big climb, or how the island's micro-climates change your fueling requirements in real-time. It hasn't stood on the start line in the dark or navigated the technical descents of the Tramuntana. Success in these epic events is about much more than just the training sessions; it’s about the "boots on the ground" knowledge that only comes from having been there and done it.

The "Garbage In, Garbage Out" Problem

AI relies heavily on the quality of the data you feed it. But as the saying goes, "you don’t know what you don’t know." If you’re asking an AI the wrong questions because you’ve misidentified your own weaknesses, the machine will simply lead you further down the wrong path.

Coaching requires a delicate balance of IQ (data analysis) and EQ (emotional intelligence). AI can tell you that your power was down 5% on Thursday, but it can't tell that it was because you had a stressful day at the office or a bad night's sleep. It looks at the wrong problem because it lacks the human context to ask the right question.

The "Centaur" Approach: Blending the Two

For me, the future isn't AI replacing the coach; it’s AI empowering the coach. In terms of pure data analysis, AI is becoming invaluable. It can crunch numbers faster than any human, spotting trends in heart rate variability or aerobic decoupling in seconds. However, this tool should be in the hands of the coach, not the athlete.

The most powerful results come from a blend:

1. The AI handles the heavy lifting of data processing and initial drafting.
2. The Coach applies the nuance, the empathy, and the experience that makes a plan actually work in a messy, unpredictable human life.

Final Thoughts

This blog post was made readable and polished with the help of AI. My philosophy? Use it, but don't let it use you. If you’re looking for a real person—someone who understands the specific demands of the Mallorca 312 and the nuance of a tapering mind—rather than just a machine, then get in touch.

Let's build a plan that works for the person, not just the avatar.