This inspiring story comes from Nigel Davies, a 75-year-old athlete who recently claimed victory at the Australian Gran Fondo Championship for 2025. After a year of training with Xert, using features like Forecast AI, Nigel not only met but exceeded his fitness goals, proving that age is no barrier to achieving peak performance with the right training approach.

The Journey: How Xert Transformed Training for the Big Race

When Nigel first started training, he struggled to fully understand how to optimize his training. After learning how Xert could help, Nigel inputted the Australian Gran Fondo Championship details into Forecast AI as an event. He input the event as a Competitive Gran Fondo with Hilly Terrain and an estimated duration of 2.5 Hours. Based on his event type and time remaining until race day, Xert calculated an Event Readiness rating of 1.7 – Excellent, signaling that his projected fitness signature and training loads were on track to deliver the fitness and durability he needed.

Factoring in all this, Xert Forecast AI generated a tailored training plan based on his available time and race goals, and estimated a 10 W improvement to his FTP, from 218 to 228 Watts was needed to reach the result he wanted.

From September 2024 to January 2025, Nigel increased his Training Load from 60 to 73 and his Threshold Power increased from 220 W to 257 W on race day!

The unique aspect of training with Xert was its ability to break down training sessions into three zones or buckets was we refer to them. These buckets are: Low, High, and Peak. Nigel tracked his progress in real-time using the XSS Buckets data field on his Garmin device, providing a visual guide to ensure that he was hitting the correct training intensities and overall training volumes needed for each bucket. The real-time feedback from Xert kept him motivated and made it easier to stay on track & tailor his training sessions to his fitness level and to the most effective way of training that he preferred.

Nigel wasn’t perfect every day, but he did achieve consistent training. The XSS buckets data field allowed Nigel to track his progress towards daily training recommendations in real-time on the road and achieve consistent training. He strived for the positive reinforcement that Xert provides in the fitness planner, such as green ticks when specific training targets for Low, High, and Peak were hit:

Over time, Nigel saw a significant improvement in his fitness, FTP and Xert’s other fitness signature parameters – far exceeding his original estimate, reaching 257 Watts! On race day, Nigel finished the Gran Fondo Championships with a time of 2 hours and 21 minutes, a full 19 minutes faster than the target time & sufficient to achieve 1st place in his age group!

Training with Xert: Focus on Durability and High Intensity Energy (HIE)

Nigel’s Forecast AI training program in Xert was  focused on six-minute power (Rouleur Athlete Type) based on the race’s conditions, which included multiple climbs per lap. In order to achieve an event readiness of 1.7, Nigel not only needed to increase his total training load, but also needed to target specific increases in High & Peak Training Load, shown in his progression chart below.

Progression chart showing Nigel’s High (yellow) and Peak (red) training loads as he progressed through his program & tapered for the Australian Gran Fondo Championships.

With the help of the XSS Buckets data-field, Nigel could focus on building his durability and increasing his High Intensity Energy through 5-6 min interval repeats. These efforts helped him specifically develop his High Intensity Energy system in preparation for his target event. You can view a few of his key training session MPA charts below:

Nigel’s preparation turned out to be more than sufficient, as his maximum five-minute power during the race was actually lower than the 5-minute repeats he completed in training. Despite this, his power was more than enough to secure a strong first-place finish! As seen in the MPA analysis below, Nigel was able to clinch the victory without generating a lot of fatigue as shown by the magenta MPA line on the Xert chart.  This demonstrates the effectiveness of his well-planned training.

Key Lessons Learned from Using Xert

  • Hard days were harder than they were in the past: Nigel discovered that his hard days were not originally challenging enough, and incorporated longer, high-intensity intervals like 10 x 6-minute efforts at 250-260 watts, pushing his limits to improve endurance and high-power output.

  • Endurance Days were also harder than they were in the past: Previously, easy endurance rides were done at a very comfortable 150 watts, but with Xert, Nigel had included more efforts just below his Lower Threshold Power (LTP) of ~200 W to make these sessions more potent in improving his endurance, yet still being low enough to be in the best Zone 2 range for him.

Final Thoughts: Xert as a Game-Changer for Goal-Driven Athletes

For self-coached, data-driven athletes like Nigel, Xert has proven to be an invaluable tool. With its Forecast AI race-specific training plans, Event Readiness metrics, and real-time feedback to guide training, Xert provides personalized support for achieving your goals, no matter your age or fitness level. Thanks for sharing your story, Nigel, and showing us that with the right tools, remarkable results are possible at any stage of life!