Accomplished age-group triathlete and TrainingPeaks employee Craig Taylor had more going for him in the lead-up to Nice 2025 than just good training. As a busy professional and family man who uses indoor cycling to get the most “bang for the buck”, Craig was able to ride Nice’s infamous bike course from the comfort of his garage using My Routes in TrainingPeaks Virtual.
This new feature gives indoor cyclists the ability to create custom virtual courses by uploading a GPX file. So, whether you’re prepping for a race or want to experience a climb on a dream route, My Routes gives you the freedom to ride wherever you want, from the comfort of home.
Previewing the course ahead of time paid off. Craig finished 19th out of 288 age group competitors. We sat down with Craig after his race to chat about his training and what it was like to ride the course ahead of time.
Tell us about your history as a triathlete. What did it take for you to qualify for Nice in 2025?
I started in the sport in 2011, did my first Ironman in 2012, and I was very quickly hooked. I loved the structure and purpose behind the training, and the overall notion of pushing my boundaries to see what I was capable of. It soon became a quest to see how fast I could get and if I could qualify for the IM World Champs. I had a few close misses on qualifying from 2013-2017 while I was self-coaching, but the real magic started in late 2017 when I started working with a coach for the first time. Fast forward 8 months with some focus & purpose-driven training, and I qualified for my first IM World Champs at IM Texas 2018.
IM World Champs in Nice 2025 is now my 17th Ironman and my fourth time competing at the IM World Champs. I was able to qualify at IM California 2024, finishing first in my age group and second overall in 8:33:17. I then did IM Lake Placid in July 2025 in preparation for Nice, finishing first in my age group and third overall in 9:09:15.
To qualify for and then compete in Nice has taken a very structured approach with my current coach Andrew Yoder, balancing a training schedule around family and work. It takes constant communication, being brutally honest with each other, and trusting the process that he is laying out. Given my life and work schedule, I’m not able to put in the same kind of hours that my competitors will in their training. Instead, I focus on how I can get the most out of 15 to 20 hours of training at most in a week.
Can you explain how you used TrainingPeaks Virtual to prepare for Nice?
I’m a big proponent of indoor training, as you get so much bang for your buck in the sessions. While I currently live in Colorado, I lived in LA for the past 11 years, with weather that allowed you to comfortably train outside year-round — but I still did 90% of my training indoors. The specificity of intervals and the structure of the workouts ensure that I can maximize every minute I spend training so I can hurry back to being a Dad, Husband, Friend, and Co-Worker. Also, training indoors on TP Virtual caters to my need to train safely in the early morning hours, ensuring my workouts are finished by the time my kids get up at 7 am so I can get them breakfast and off to school.
Can you explain how you used My Routes in TrainingPeaks Virtual to preview the Nice bike course?
Yes, it was a massive benefit getting to test this feature in the build-up to IM WC in Nice! Using the GPX files for the full course and then GPX for specific sections — main climb, middle rollers, and final descent and climb — I was able to get a chance to gain more familiarity with the course and do specific session to dial in the effort needed to be successful on the course, but also to set myself up to run well off a super challenging bike. People talk about the Nice bike course with a certain reverence and at times fear. For someone like myself that has never done the course or even been to Nice period, it was a massive advantage to come into the race with more familiarity and comfort with the course.
Specific to this course, my coach and I were able to test and learn about how I performed at different effort levels on the main climb. And while not a perfect alternative to riding the descent it helped me to visualize the course and understand whether a turn was swooping and I could stay in aero position or if it was a switchback and I needed to be on the brakes.
Did previewing the course ahead of time lead to any “aha moments” leading up to the race?
Not necessarily an “aha moment”, but more of a sense of calm. Leading up to the race using TP Virtual, I was able to test a few strategies on the climb, both in terms of power output and fueling. Then, by the time I got to Nice and previewed the climb in person, I just felt comfortable with that sense of “yeah, I’ve seen this before. I know what to do.”
I think the other component was gaining some familiarity with the descent. While in TP Virtual you don’t get a feel for how much you have to brake going into certain turns, it allowed me to understand what was a swooping turn that I could stay in aero versus a tighter turn or switchback that would require getting on the brakes. Then, being able to take that and put it into practice with my course preview ride in Nice, it just felt comfortable.
How did the course feel on race day? Did you feel better prepared having ridden the course virtually ahead of time?
Yes, 100%. I made sure to get out and do a few in-person previews, especially around the more technical parts of the descent, to understand how much speed I could carry through turns and to know where all the speed bumps were when going through the small towns on the course. But largely, I felt really prepared and, again, comfortable.
What tips do you have for other triathletes and cyclists who want to use My Routes to level up their race performance?
Whether it’s a course you’ve done before or never seen, My Routes is such an advantage to practice different aspects of your race. How should I fuel on this climb? This is a long, flat stretch, so let’s ensure I can comfortably sit in aero position. Here are where the big turns are that I need to watch out for. You are doing so much specific training leading into a race, this helps take that specificity to the next level to build your confidence going into race day, so that you feel like you’ve left no stone unturned.
