Hey all!
I always see questions around the internet from people trying to get started with Golden Cheetah and trying figuring out what it’s all about.
So, I decided to put together a pretty comprehensive blog post (I like to think, at least!) about the main features available and how to get the most out of them.
Linked here: https://www.beredatraining.com/golden-cheetah
Hope it helps!
Dennis
Wow, nice work.
When I saw the title, I thought this would be asking for a getting started guide. My response was…uh oh, besides the official FAQ and google group (which are rather dense), he’s not going to be happy.
I’m bookmarking this and will pass it around. Thanks!
Thanks for this. I use and like Golden Cheetah, especially it’s ability to make custom metrics/reports. I haven’t done much with keywords and filtering so I’m enjoying that part of your blog.
I’ve been using GC for awhile but your post prompted me to update to the 3.5-DEV release. Syncing strava to GC is fantastic. That saves me a couple of steps everyday!
Thanks.
Wow, nice work.
When I saw the title, I thought this would be asking for a getting started guide. My response was…uh oh, besides the official FAQ and google group (which are rather dense), he’s not going to be happy.
The user guide is here: https://github.com/GoldenCheetah/GoldenCheetah/wiki
There are a dozen or so video tutorials here: http://www.goldencheetah.org/#section-tutorials
There is a science primer here: https://www.goldencheetah.org/#section-science
Mark
Timely post and great article - thanks. I was struggling with the decision to jump in to GC all week, and this put me far ahead of where I would have been on my own.
Is there a way to download all TP workouts and upload in GC in one go? I have + 5 years of workouts in TP .
Is there a way to download all TP workouts and upload in GC in one go? I have + 5 years of workouts in TP .
TrainingPeaks removed 3rd party access to their API for download a few years ago (openness is not in their DNA).
You can download and import 1 year at a time via a web chart.
See this 3 minute demo: https://vimeo.com/289711731
Mark
Dennis - this is great stuff - thanks! i’ve been using GC now for about 2.5 years (after a school computer switch and some hoops i wasnt up for with using wko). My learning curve has been very slow, but respect all the work and info out there so i just try to learn a few things as i go. this is uber helpful and motivating. Does GC have a metric to tell you how helpful it is to have a canadian pro cyclist come to town to beat you into some faster efforts? it sure looks like the prodigious work you have put into your training/analyzing/coaching programs is bearing some fruit. continued good fortune with your endeavors! sincerely, rick
Thanks. Learned quite a bit.
Hey Everyone!
Thanks for the positive feedback! That post took quite a bit of work, but I got a lot of help from the team at Bereda, so that made it easier 
Really glad it’s helpful for people.
I’ve used GC through the years and got a lot of value out of it, so we tried to make a post that highlighted all the benefits it provides, in an order that makes it a bit of a “getting started” guide, though it’s not specifically that.
Mostly just wanted to make something that was fun and easy to read to contribute a bit of value to the GC community. They’ve put way more effort into the software than we did into the blog post!
And Rick… I connected with another Baltimore guy, Chris Beck, recently when he signed up for Bereda’s new product. We think we may have been on a Wednesday Night Worlds together once, but both confirmed that we probably never talked during the ride as we were intently focused on saving some legs to give you a half decent run for your money up the final climb.
Never worked!
I’ll have to get back down there again sometime. Lots of fun outings!
Does my paid training peaks account do most of this except clean up the junk entrys?
None of this would be possible without your efforts Mark. As a long time user of GC I’m very grateful for all the improvements you have introduced over the years. No doubt you have improved the lot of anyone interested in analysing and improving their performance. Many thanks.
None of this would be possible without your efforts Mark. As a long time user of GC I’m very grateful for all the improvements you have introduced over the years. No doubt you have improved the lot of anyone interested in analysing and improving their performance. Many thanks.
You’re too kind. Its not just me, in reality there are a number of people that contribute in different ways; practitioners point us to latest science and practices, researchers and academics share knowledge and support implementation of their papers, users from everywhere translate, update the wiki, record videos, write docs like Dennis did and also come up with good ideas.
The main guys; Ale Martinez, Jörn Rischmüller, Damien Grauser write a lot of code and fix a lot of bugs. I just flounce around and work on things I find interesting.
Mark
Jörn I met at a group ride in my hometown, he lives in a neighbour village … recocnized him on the GC jersey … the world is incredible, when you cycle 
Does my paid training peaks account do most of this except clean up the junk entrys?
Yes I think that is a good way of putting it – the basic entry level functionality can be performed in TrainingPeaks.
Of course, paid for TrainingPeaks also lets you plan training and interact with your coach which GoldenCheetah doesn’t just yet.
If you wanted to compare, then GoldenCheetah is more akin to WKO, enabling detailed analysis, working with models.
GoldenCheetah differs from WKO by emphasising published science from the literature and is open* in all aspects not closed and proprietary.
The biggest issue we have is the learning curve folks have coming from the FTP-TSS-PMC view to peer reviewed science. This is why we created the tutorials and worked with experts to develop the science explainers. It’s still a struggle for many to transition and I can understand that. Having invested time and energy understanding the TrainingPeaks stuff starting again isn’t appealling when you just want to ride your bike and win races !
Mark
Thank you, this is perfect timing as I’m just revisiting Golden Cheetah (downloaded it a couple of years ago but never invested the time in figuring out what to do with it) as I’m planning to switch to pure cycling for a while and need to get a bit more sophisticated on the analytics.
Currently using a mix of Garmin (to record), Strava (to share), Trainerroad (for planning and a bit of analytics), free version of TP (to get estimated TSS for running and swimming) and a homebuilt spreadsheet that I update with TSS numbers to produce a PMC. Hoping GC can replace TP and my spreadsheet and give me both more time and better analytics!
None of this would be possible without your efforts Mark. As a long time user of GC I’m very grateful for all the improvements you have introduced over the years. No doubt you have improved the lot of anyone interested in analysing and improving their performance. Many thanks.
You’re too kind. Its not just me, in reality there are a number of people that contribute in different ways; practitioners point us to latest science and practices, researchers and academics share knowledge and support implementation of their papers, users from everywhere translate, update the wiki, record videos, write docs like Dennis did and also come up with good ideas.
The main guys; Ale Martinez, Jörn Rischmüller, Damien Grauser write a lot of code and fix a lot of bugs. I just flounce around and work on things I find interesting.
Mark
many thanks to you and the team of ‘main guys’, who are all seriously outstanding!
I’ve used/updated GC for years and have gone through several PC’s along the way but have my data entered for years into GC. All activities individually entered every Sunday. Never had success in getting the update to run, due to glitches and I’m not the most savy with computer/tech stuff and am very seriously worried about losing my data, so I never had the guts to try to save files and just delete it and install a newer version.
I love everything I can do with it and am still learning all the bells and whistles of the various programs. Just can’t get the newest version which is frustrating…
You’re welcome Cartsman!
Haha, I’ve found cycling software can often be like bikes… n+1.
When I added Golden Cheetah it didn’t replace anything, but I used it for its unique features that weren’t in other places.
Hey all!
I always see questions around the internet from people trying to get started with Golden Cheetah and trying figuring out what it’s all about.
So, I decided to put together a pretty comprehensive blog post (I like to think, at least!) about the main features available and how to get the most out of them.
Linked here: https://www.beredatraining.com/golden-cheetah
Hope it helps!
Dennis
Hi Dennis -
Is the blog post still available? The link no longer works 