CycleBar

This is an ongoing problem that I have with app developers. You create apps where the default setting for notifications is to send nonsense marketing notifications to get people to sign up, use the app, purchase things. While I understand this is an important marketing technique what you need to understand is that notifications need to be strategic and helpful. I have notifications on so that I can be notified of rides the day before and the hour before. This helps me remain compliant and not waste my studios time with no shows but in order to receive those notifications, I have to have notifications on, and when I have notifications on, that means that nonsense marketing notifications that I get every day trying to harass me into purchasing more classes into signing up for more classes, etc., etc. And no matter what settings I toggle I cannot turn those off. Because I am so used to those nonsense notifications clogging up my screen, I did end up missing the reminder notifications that are the reason that I have notifications on, which means that I ended up no showing to a class. This hurts me, this hurts the brand and this hurts the instructor who could’ve had a person sitting in the empty bike that day. App developers, I need you guys to start respecting your users and stop seeing them as a constant stream of attention that you are trying to grasp artificially.

Nice app pairing with the classes and I like the Apple Watch experience as well. I think you could leverage the performance data more effectively - some numbers like miles ridden should include a decimal point for more precision. I like the “vs last class” arrows and details, but think a spark line-like previous 3 class trend would be more impactful. You might try letting a couple data-viz business analysts start from scratch with all of your available data points to see if they can dream up new ways of presenting this information in context of prior rides. I’d appreciate seeing my real-time power points on the Apple Watch. Lots of instructors don’t show the leaderboard throughout class, so having that on my watch would be easier than guessing based on average power on the bike.

I love CycleBar and the experience. Love riding. Love the energy. Love the instructors. I’ve ridden at several studios. So from an overall experience, it’s amazing. However, as someone who is type A and extremely competitive the stats used during CycleBar can be discouraging and frustrating. Often, your profile in the app erases data (like weight, gender, etc) which are used to calculate your powerpoints in class which result in your ranking. While, it’s not the main focus of CycleBar, it does get annoying. As a 280 pound male who pushes himself beyond limits and expectations, to often come in last place or the bottom 10 of a class makes you really question and wonder how the stats used in class can be reliable or useful. It definitely could use some improvement. So, I always recommend people try CycleBar for the experience because there are so many good things about it. I just always warn them, that while the stats are nice, they should not be used heavily by people because they’re extremely discouraging and inaccurate. Which can deter people from riding again. Especially people who are competitive or type A.