In March 2025 I was involved in a cycling accident resulting in a fractured pelvis, broken rib and concussion; all from slipping at low speed on a roundabout. It was a stupid accident but with major consequences including two weeks in hospital before discharge to begin my recovery at home.
Two months later I was still barely able to sit on my stationary bike for even short periods of time before stopping due to tiredness and pain. I knew I was losing muscle mass, strength and fitness which had taken time to build prior to the accident but I had no real way to quantify the loss or how long it would take to get it all back again.
I needed a simple tool that could analyse all my recovery sessions on the bike and provide me with insights into how I was progressing. I wanted something that was visual, easy to use and most importantly easy to understand. That need was the inspiration for the RiderPulse app.
As all my training sessions are logged in Strava, the app just needed to read my ride data to generate the graphs, numbers and insights that would allow me to track my recovery progress, strength and fitness gains.
It was more than three months after the accident before I was able to venture outdoors on my bike again despite warnings from the doctors of the consequences of injuring my pelvis again in another fall. But what an amazing feeling to be free again on two wheels after weeks indoors; first on crutches and then on the stationary bike.
Using a combination of listening to my body and the RiderPulse app I was able to apply two key principles to my recovery training; consistency and progressive overload. RiderPulse really helped me understand how much load I was subjecting myself to each session, when to rest and what the impact of each activity was on my fitness and power.
When I showed the app to my cycling friends, they were intrigued enough to want to try it too. So for the next two months, I worked to improve the app and the backend systems that power it based on their feedback and my own experience using it.
It is now at a point where I can release it to other cyclists to try. I hope you find RiderPulse as useful a tool in your training toolbox as I did on my road to recovery. I continue to use it every day, especially after a training session to see what the impact of that sessions is on my fitness and power.
As a keen cyclist, I’m always interested to hear feedback and suggestions for improvements. Thanks for reading!