I feel like I have stagnated on Zwift in terms of my performance. The big FTP boosts of the early days are a distant memory. Does this sound familiar? The structured training of Zwift Academy provided me with the realisation that despite thinking I had genuine structure to my training, it’s clear I am not doing all the things I can do to help myself. To be honest, I need a reset and a bit of help.
To that end, I reached out to Matt Rowe from Rowe & King to get some much-needed guidance.
About Rowe & King
Rowe & King are a team of highly experienced cyclists and qualified coaches. The company officially launched in 2015 and has since grown to a team of 11 professional coaches.
These coaches are household names in the cycling world. Founder Matt Rowe, was a member of the British Cycling Olympic Development Programme as a junior and was the 2005 junior scratch race European champion. Matt’s wife, Dani, is three times a World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist in the women’s team pursuit. And Matt’s younger brother Luke has been a professional cyclist since 2012, starting his career with Team Sky, making his Grand Tour debut in 2013 at the Vuelta a España, and subsequently being the road captain at the last 7 Tours de France.
Their Head Coach is Courtney Rowe (Matt and Luke’s Dad) who has been coaching cyclists for over 30 years, from beginners to professionals. Courtney’s results are incredible – 29 x Welsh Champion, 5 x British Champion, 4 x European Champion, and 5 x World Championship medals.
With all this experience within the family, it seemed sensible to pool this accumulated knowledge and offer training services to fellow cyclists. Matt explained to me that it happened over Christmas 2014, quite organically. Around the table it became clear that as a family, they were frequently providing informal advice and guidance to fellow riders (with Matt commenting that both Luke and Dani are quite vocal on their bikes).
So all the right ingredients were there to run a successful coaching service. Matt noted that there is a “special mix of experience within the Rowe family, coupled with the passion for cycling and performance that creates a formidable team.”
Events on Zwift
Zwift is the go-to place for indoor cycling, so it’s only natural that Rowe & King are present there. Rowe & King offer 3 weekly training sessions which are led by one of their coaches.
The week starts with “Rowe & King’s Monday Mixer”, this is a short, 40-minute session that is focussed and is regarded as ‘High Intensity Interval Training’ (HIIT). It is considered “moderate” and can be completed following a hard Sunday ride. It is led by Head Coach Courtney Rowe.
The Monday Mixer occasionally changes format, but the key focus is on short efforts – acknowledging the fact that a lot of Zwifters will have likely done a long road ride on the Sunday and may have sore legs. So for motivation, the sessions are short (~40 minutes) and efforts not too long.
Tuesday’s session is called “Rowe & King’s Tuesday Chaingang”. The session is designed so you undertake repeated, big power outputs. This session is designed by Ryan Bevis who has spent the last 10 years specialising in coaching Youth (12-18 y/o) and Veteran (50 y/o+) riders and has helped his riders secure 17 National Championship titles.
Tuesday’s Chaingang is intended to replicate the good old ‘chain gang’ training ride that many do IRL mid-week. It’s a fairly varied workout, that ‘keeps the chain tight’ – whilst not completely emptying the tank. Ryan regularly revises the ride’s structure to keep it exciting.
Wednesday’s session is called “Rowe & King’s Workout Wednesday”. The purpose of the current session is to develop your lactate tolerance by developing your ability to clear/shuttle lactate, this will be achieved by undertaking short but intensive intervals.
Having participated in this session, it is certainly pitched at the right level, with a steady warmup and 2 sets of intervals are varying lengths. The session works you hard without leaving you too exhausted.
These training sessions are structured and use ERG mode to control your power output, in addition, they are led by a coach (as is the case with ‘The Mixer’ and ‘Chain Gang’ R&K workouts) to give you the necessary encouragement. By completing one of these events, you unlock a Rowe & King jersey which can be worn in-game. (A replica, made by Rapha can be purchased to wear IRL.)
See all upcoming Rowe & King events on ZwiftHacks >
In addition to this and what is also not commonly known is that the Rapha Cycling Club Global Club Ride’s workouts are planned by Rowe & King, there are multiple events, every Tuesday.
See all upcoming RCC Global Club Rides on ZwiftHacks >
Training Programmes
Rowe & King offer different levels of coaching services depending on your specific needs and requirements. The levels have different price points too, depending largely upon the level of feedback and contact you require, plus whether nutritional support and Strength & Conditioning is something you want included.
If you are unsure what you need, I recommend contacting Rowe & King directly. In my case, I simply gave them a call and Matt was happy to talk through the various options. We set up a follow-up call so I had time to process what we had talked about. The contact details are +44 (0)7949 257 940, or email [email protected].
I have never had any kind of formal cycling coaching and did feel a little self-conscious about reaching out for help, but within minutes of speaking to Matt these feelings all disappeared. It was clear that here was someone who was deeply passionate and knowledgeable about cycling and would be keen to help me progress with my riding.
Matt explained that there was certainly a programme to suit my needs, but I would need to be specific about what I wanted to achieve (more on that later).
For the minute, the different levels of coaching packages that are available are as follows:
- RK1 – This is the complete packaged and is priced at £375 per month. For the professional cyclist – everything you need.
- RK2 – This package is priced at £200 per month. The comprehensive training package for the amateur cyclist, with frequent feedback, personalised training and your coach on hand 24/7 (apart from when they sleep).
- RK 3 – This package is priced at £100 per month. A tailored training plan, with access to your coach for feedback and advice.
- The Ride – This is priced at £9.99 a month. This package is the “training club for road cyclists – centred around WhatsApp, Zwift Meet-ups, Training Sessions and a thriving Zwift centred community.”
Many cyclists require that little bit of advice and guidance which is actually difficult to get because there are so many books, internet videos, articles, and more at our fingertips. The volume of information makes it confusing. Furthermore, training methods are evolving and you know that the information provided by R&K will be current and up to date, especially with Luke Rowe from INEOS Grenadiers (formerly Team Sky, who pioneered the scientific marginal gains approach now widespread in cycling and sport).
Rowe & King offer other services, such as a personalised 6-month one-off training plan and Performance Nutrition Support which I would be interested to tap into. More info on coaching packages can be found here.
Unique Points
Matt has a large team of coaches and it was explained that no one coach looks after more than 6 athletes. This means that you are not given a generic plan that can be found in any cycling magazine! The plan that you will receive is tailored for your requirements. Every rider will have a WhatsApp group which consists of their coach, a second coach (for that all-important second opinion) and a Training Peaks account where data will be uploaded and viewed.
Being part of the Rowe & King team means that you get access to exclusive events such as a Saturday morning 8am GMT ride on Zwift, with an exclusive Discord channel where people can chat like you would in any group ride. If you live close to the team, (Cardiff, Wales) you are invited to meet-ups IRL on a Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition, they host rides in London when possible for their clients who are based towards the east of the country.
Furthermore, what is really nice is that Rowe & King participate in the Team Time Trial events that are hosted by WTRL on Thursdays and you are invited to participate, if racing is something that interests you. So if you are not part of a racing team on Zwift and are part of the Rowe & King setup, then there is the opportunity to participate in this team event which is a unique experience. It can be tough, but a lot of fun.
Project “Go Zwift Tim”
Following my initial conversation with Matt, we arranged a follow-up discussion where we talked in detail about what I wanted to achieve. We discussed my various strengths and weaknesses as a cyclist and we decided that we would train to increase my 20-minute power, particularly the 95% average, which is used in ZwiftPower to calculate your FTP and race category.
I will be reporting on progress through my articles and tweeting about the sessions using @GoZwiftTim.
It was agreed that Matt would lead me on this journey so next stop was filling out the necessary medial questionnaire and data capture forms. I’m excited about the process! I think this is going to be a unique journey because as Matt noted, there is “no such thing as standard training, we have to learn what you respond to best and tailor the sessions accordingly.”
As a cancer survivor who was significantly impacted by the treatment that I underwent, it’s going to be interesting to see how I respond to the training. Hopefully my journey will inspire others to try something new (and perhaps reach out to Matt and his team), to get the support that we can sometimes need.
I’ll keep you posted!
Questions or Comments?
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