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One plan. Clear priorities.
Progressive winter base with a durability focus. You know which sessions matter, what to protect when life gets in the way, and why the work is there. Boring on purpose. It works because it's boring.
The Winter Block
Founding price ends 30 September
64days to go
The Winter Block · Founding cohort
Don't start from scratch again in March.
Sixteen weeks of coached winter base for riders in the second half of the ride. One plan. One small group. Two coaches. Starts 2 November.
Founding enrolment closes 30 September. $25 holds your spot, puts you in the group straight away and locks the $499 founding rate. Fully refundable before the block starts.
6% → <1% power fade
In long events, power up 13%
Tom, 52 · Gravel racer · SEMIPRO athlete
The same trade
Winter takes more than it used to.
The older you get, the faster fitness leaves and the slower it comes back.
Every winter, the same trade. You back off through the dark months. You tell yourself you'll rebuild in spring. And every year, the rebuild costs more than it did the year before.
You've tried doing winter alone. A plan PDF, a trainer, and sixteen weeks of nobody noticing whether you showed up. That's not a discipline problem. Nobody holds a winter together alone. That's what the winter is.
Being over 40 doesn't mean your best numbers are behind you. Plenty of riders reach this point without ever putting together a properly structured sixteen-week block. Winter isn't only about protecting what you have. It is a chance to find out what you can still build.
The riders who arrive at spring strong aren't more motivated than you. They just didn't do winter by themselves.
What it is
Sixteen weeks of coached winter base, built for riders 40 and up.
Not a plan you're left alone with. Not an app that adapts numbers and calls it coaching. A block, done properly, with the coaches actually present.
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Two coaches.
A weekly live group ride on the trainer. A fortnightly live Durability Hour with Damian: education, live file teardowns from inside the group, open questions. You see what matters in the data, what doesn't, and what to do next. Both hemispheres get live access.
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Small on purpose.
Every rider does the week's key session in the same 48-hour window. Every file gets reviewed. Some get pulled apart in front of the group on Friday, so you also find out what everyone else's data said, not just your own.
Somebody has looked at yours. That's the whole difference.
How your week gets reviewed
Your key session lands in semipro.coach. The system reads it first, against what that session was actually meant to do, and flags anything that doesn't line up.
Then a coach looks at it and decides what it means.
The software is fast and it never gets tired. It also has no idea that your week fell apart on Wednesday, or that you've been sleeping badly since October. That part is ours.
On Friday, the group review. And your own note in the app.
What's included
- A sixteen week progressive winter base plan, delivered through TrainingPeaks
- Your key session reviewed every week
- A weekly live group ride on the trainer
- A fortnightly Durability Hour with Damian, recorded so you can watch it later
- Baseline, mid-block and final testing, with your before and after
- The group, running all week in semipro.coach
- Your founding rate, locked for every future block
Proof
+47W FTP
In 12 weeks. Tom, 52 · Gravel racer · SEMIPRO athlete.
Your result may not be 47 watts. That isn't the promise. The promise is that you finish knowing exactly what changed, measured against your own week-one numbers.
“Before working with Damian, I'd won one race in several years. Over 18 months, I won three races and finished far more consistently on the podium. If you're trying to be competitive, you need a coach — and Damian is a great one.”
Robert · Masters racer · Coached by Damian for 18 months
“When working with Damian I saw improvements everywhere — threshold, VO2max, and race endurance.”
Jay Vine · UAE Team Emirates
Damian Ruse
Head coach
Fourteen years of coaching. A WorldTour rider developed from the ground up. And a method built for riders who want to be strong late: late in the ride, late in the season, late in the game.
The sixteen weeks
Four blocks of four.
Every fourth week is recovery, and taking it is part of the standard.
Weeks 1–2
Baseline testing and setup
We establish where you're starting. Honestly.
Weeks 3–8
Aerobic foundation
Progressive endurance load. The engine gets built.
Week 9
Mid-block re-test
The first proof.
Weeks 10–15
Fatigue resistance
Quality placed late in rides, when it counts. This is where durability is made.
Week 16
The final test
Fresh versus fatigued, against your week-one numbers. You graduate with a before-and-after most riders never get to see.
You finish in late February with the base built and the data to prove it. You know what moved, why it moved, and what your riding needs next. Spring is in front of you instead of on top of you.
Between now and November
You don't sit and wait until the second of November.
Deposit and you’re in the group that day. From there: a post from us every week, a live founding-rider session before 30 September, and an October ramp so you arrive at week one ready to train.
The block starts on 2 November. Being in it starts now.
Who it’s for
Serious about the work. Not interested in doing it alone.
This is for you if:
- You’re a serious rider, 40 or older, who trains with structure (or wants to start)
- You have a trainer, a power meter or heart rate, and 6–10 hours a week
- You’re tired of losing the winter and buying it back every spring
- You want coaches and a group in the room, not another app thinking for you
- You’re serious about improving, but not interested in organising your whole life around cycling
This is not for you if:
- You want to smash intervals all winter (that’s how you arrive at spring cooked)
- You won’t ride indoors
- You want it to be effortless. It’s not. It’s just not lonely.
The mechanics
The whole block, in one card.
- Starts
- Monday 2 November 2026
- Ends
- Sunday 21 February 2027, graduation test week
- Founding closes
- 30 September 2026
- Price
- $549 · Founding riders: $499
- Deposit
- $25, fully refundable, holds your spot
- Guarantee
- Full refund in the first 14 days of the block. No questions.
- Cap
- Small on purpose. This first block is limited. When it’s full, it’s full.
Founding riders
The first cohort becomes the record.
This is the first Winter Block, and there will only ever be one first. The riders in it become the before-and-afters every future block gets measured against.
Founding riders hold the $499 rate forever. Every block after this one costs more, but never for you.
$25 holds your spot. Pay the $474 balance before training starts.
Founding enrolment closes 30 September. $25 holds your spot, puts you in the group straight away and locks the $499 founding rate. Fully refundable before the block starts.
FAQ
Before you hold a spot.
Is the $25 really refundable?
Yes. Any time before the block starts, for any reason, in full. And once the block begins, you’re covered by the 14-day guarantee on the full amount.
What do I need?
A trainer (smart trainer ideal), a power meter or heart rate monitor, and a free TrainingPeaks account. That’s it.
Is this AI coaching?
No. Software does the first pass on your file, because it’s fast and it’s consistent, and it flags anything that doesn’t line up with what the session was for. A coach then decides what it means and what you do about it. The software never gets the last word.
Who are the coaches?
Damian Ruse, fourteen years of coaching, including developing a WorldTour rider from the ground up, and a Team SEMIPRO coach who runs the weekly file analysis for our coached athletes. Two people, both actually present all block.
How many hours a week?
Built around 6–10 hours. The key sessions are what matter; we’ll show you what to protect when life gets in the way.
What about strength and nutrition?
Both are part of the coaching, not separate products. Winter is the right time for strength work, especially past 40. Your intake asks whether you want it, and if you do, we build it into your plan around the riding. Fueling comes up every week anyway, because it’s often the real reason a key session didn’t line up, and that’s exactly the kind of thing the review catches. What you won’t get is a meal plan from a dietitian. You don’t need one to get durable.
What if I can’t make the live ride?
The ride is one touchpoint of several. The key session each week runs in a 48-hour window you ride on your own schedule, the Durability Hours are recorded, and the group runs all week in semipro.coach. Nobody falls behind for missing a Tuesday.
I’m not really a group person.
You don’t have to be. The plan, the weekly review, and the coach’s note are yours whether you ever post or not. The group is there for the riders who want it, and the accountability works either way: somebody still sees your file, and somebody still notices if you go quiet. Turning up in the chat is not part of the standard.
I’m not sure I’m fit enough / I’m too fit for group training.
There’s no fitness floor. The plan is progressive from your own baseline, and your results are measured against your own week-one numbers, nobody else’s. Strong riders do the same sessions with bigger numbers.
I’m in the Southern Hemisphere. Does this work for me?
The block is timed for the northern winter. Southern riders are welcome, and the training stands on its own, but the calendar is built around November-to-February base.
Why is it limited?
Because “your file gets looked at” has to stay true. The block is small on purpose so two coaches can honestly stay present. That’s also why there’s a deposit: spots are real.
What happens after February?
You graduate with your before-and-after, and what you do next is up to you. Most riders roll into a spring build. There’s no subscription, no auto-renewal, nothing to cancel.
Founding enrolment closes 30 September. $25 holds your spot, puts you in the group straight away and locks the $499 founding rate. Fully refundable before the block starts.