Online Bike Coach
consumer website

Client: Online Bike Coach • Studio: RVMS • Design/Art: Laura Rinaldi • Concept/Direction/Words: RV • *Note image links to website*

Online Bike Coach founder Richard Wharton has been a longtime client through his Cycling Center Dallas studio. When we started talking about expanding his business into a series of online training programs, we decided to create Online Bike Coach as a freestanding brand.

The OBC selling proposition was so rich that copywriting was easy, driven by compelling customer benefits. The text rhythms are unusual. They’re based on Richard’s actual speech patterns (see also the OBC video with his narration). Plus I got to use dingbats in the headline—always one of my favorite devices.

((body text excerpt))

Online Bike Coach is a unique, data-driven approach to wattage training for cyclists and triathletes at all levels.

I started developing the techniques that would become OBC in 2003. I had just published my book, Watts Per Kilogram, the first-ever indoor wattage training manual for cyclists. The use of ergometers was in its infancy, and limited to athletes with professional coaches and unlimited training time.

In 2006, I opened Cycling Center Dallas, a studio built for busy professionals with careers and families in addition to their passion for riding.

To accomplish this, I needed very sophisticated analysis tools that delivered real-time data throughout a training session. Immediate feedback meant a rider could fine-tune their efforts by squeezing more wattage—and therefore better results—out of specific intervals or workouts. This is a technique usually done under the experienced eye of a professional coach in 1:1 training sessions. Through long experience, the coach knows the rider and knows when to push them for maximum results.

Fast-forward to 2014 and 2016, with the development of W¹ (“W-prime”) and more recently, MPA. These new metrics show the precise level of your remaining available energy and wattage as a percentage or in kilojoules, respectively. (For more about W¹ and MPA—including technical details and peer-reviewed studies from other sports—check the Why It Works section and linked blog posts.)

And that’s the secret. OBC’s approach uses advanced metrics and analytics not available from other coaching programs to create more tightly focused workouts that deliver better results—in stamina, speed, strength and skill—in less time.