Thousands Of Cyclists Over 40 Are Switching How They Recover
They didn’t ride less. They put training load, strain, sleep and food on one plan, watched together day and night. The results speak for themselves.
Most cyclists over 40 I speak to say the same thing: I’m fit, so my heart’s fine. They ride more than anyone they know, their resting heart rate is low, and their doctor says they’re in great shape.
Then a mate has a scare. Or their heart rate sits higher than the watts for weeks and nobody can say why. That’s usually when they realise nobody has ever planned the load their heart carries. Not their coach, not their training app, not the watch that comes off at night.
“Turns out I was in constant AFib and could’ve dropped dead at anytime over 2 years and had no idea. Thought I was doing great with my heart health.”u/Burnt_Phoenix22 · r/Garmin, after an ablation
To be clear, the riding itself is good for your heart:
263,450 UK adults: people who cycled to work, against people who didn’t.
Celis-Morales et al. · BMJ · 2017 · observational, a link not proofAdults given treadmill fitness tests: the fittest against the least fit.
Mandsager et al. · JAMA Netw Open · 2018 · general populationBeing fit doesn’t make your heart safe. How you train, eat and recover does. Over the last few months I’ve watched a lot of cyclists my age change exactly that, with the same setup: HELIOS 2.0, a titanium ring, and the THRIVE app. Here’s what they switched, how they do it, and what changed.
The Old Way:
Four things decide your recovery, and every tool you own sees one of them at most.
- ✕No Cap On Training LoadLong climbs, threshold efforts, the group ride that turns into a race. Hard days stack up and nothing counts them.
- ✕Strain Nobody Adds UpThe ride, the job, the commute, the stress. A hard day at work costs recovery too, and nothing counts it.
- ✕Sleep Nobody TracksThe watch comes off to charge, or because it’s bulky in bed, so most nights go unseen.
- ✕Food That Ignores Your TrainingThe same food on hard days and rest days, and nothing counts what you ate in your recovery.
The New Way:
HELIOS 2.0 is the world’s thinnest and lightest smart ring. You wear it 24/7, and with the THRIVE app it puts all four on one plan.
- ✓Training Load With A CapTwo hard days a week, real easy days between them, strength on the right days, in phases.
- ✓Strain Tracked Day And NightEvery ride, every workday, every stress, counted in your recovery.
- ✓Sleep Tracked Every NightResting heart rate, HRV, skin temperature and sleep, every night, against your own baseline.
- ✓Food Set To Your TrainingEvery day’s calories, carbs and protein set to that day’s session, and counted in your recovery.
- ✓An AI Coach Watching All FourMARCO looks at all four together, changes the plan when one of them moves, and tells you why.
Sleep and strain only count if something is on you every night and all day.
Three weeks of nights. A filled square is a night that was tracked.
So the answer isn’t another device for one of the four. It’s all four on one plan: something you wear every night and all day for your sleep and your strain, a plan that sets your training and your food, and an AI coach that watches all four at once.
Ready To Put All Four On One Plan?
HELIOS 2.0 with travel charger: the ring you wear every night and all day, and the THRIVE app that plans your training, food and recovery around what it sees.
Get HELIOS 2.0 →
HELIOS 2.0 + The THRIVE App: All Four Watched Together, And A Plan That Changes With Them
The ring is 2.1 g of titanium and 2.0 mm thin, with 7–10 days a charge and 3–4 weeks more in its travel charger, so it stays on every night and all day: that’s your sleep and your strain, measured. The THRIVE app sets your training load, with the hard days capped and real easy days between them, and sets every day’s food to that day’s training, counted in your recovery. MARCO, the AI coach in the app, watches all four at once, changes the plan when one of them moves, and explains every change. It isn’t a medical device and doesn’t diagnose anything.
They sell devices. A bike computer is sold on the ride, a watch on the wrist, a training app on its workout library. None of them is paid to plan your whole week, so none of them does. THRIVE was built the other way round: the plan first, and one ring to keep it up to date.
✓ 30-day money-back trial · 90-day results guarantee · Free shipping
Stock is limited: 100 HELIOS 2.0 rings this month
What It Does When All Four Pile Up In One Week
Here’s the part the cyclists on this page talk about most, on the real app screens, start to finish.
Three hard days in four, two long workdays, three short nights, and the hardest day eaten on too little food. You feel fine. On its own, none of the four looks like much.
An example week. Red is where it starts to cost you.
Recovery 45 · rest required · all four namedRecovery 45, rest required. MARCO names all four: three hard days in four, strain high on two workdays, sleep under baseline with HRV down four days running, and the hardest day under-fuelled. The week is reworked, training, food and bedtime, ready for you to accept.
THRIVE brief for the example week
Session skipped · next one eased · tempo movedAccept it, or ask MARCO about it, and the change is made in front of you: today’s spin is skipped, the next hard session is eased and the tempo work moves a day, so the week still builds without digging a hole.
Real THRIVE screen
Food timed to the session · sleep protectedFuelling is timed to the new session, protein within the hour after it, the last meal three hours before bed for cleaner overnight HRV, and a caffeine cutoff to protect your sleep.
Real THRIVE screenFour things piling up, caught on day five instead of after a scare. No number left for you to work out. The plan changed, and the reason came with it.
Coaches And Cyclists, On Camera
The coaches behind the plan, and two cyclists who ride with it around full-time jobs.
Coach▶
Nutritionist▶
Cyclist▶
Cyclist▶How many more seasons will you ride hard on a heart nobody is watching?
The Saturday ride at 80
Ask cyclists over 40 what they want from the next 30 years and nobody names a number. They want to still be on the Saturday ride at 80, on the wheel up the climb everyone races. A week in the mountains at 65 without a second thought. Riding with their kids when the kids are finally fast enough to drop them, and not letting them.
That’s what the hard days are for. Trained, fed, slept on and watched, they build those years. Left to chance, season after season, they’re what puts them at risk.
How HELIOS Compares To The Setup You Own
| Feature | HELIOS 2.0 + THRIVE | Garmin watch | Training app | WHOOP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Training load: hard days capped | ✓ | suggestions | ✓ | ✕ |
| Strain: tracked day and night | ✓ | if worn | ✕ | ✓ |
| Sleep: tracked every night | ✓ | about 1 night in 3 | ✕ | ✓ |
| Nutrition: set to each day, counted in recovery | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| All four on one plan, changing together | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| An AI coach watching all four | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
Real Cyclists, Real Results
From cyclists and the coaches behind the plan.
Average from 2,500+ THRIVE reviews.
“MARCO flagged ‘three days of suppressed HRV and elevated resting HR — recommend two days easy’. I ignored him, did the threshold workout, blew up. Now I listen.”
“I have sensitive skin and a chest strap was hell on every long ride. This replaces it and the readings are within 1-3bpm of my old strap on intervals.”
“The sleep insights and the gentle prompts about caffeine timing have changed my evenings. I sleep 40 minutes more on average.”
“Riders over 40 recover slower, and most plans ignore it.”
“MARCO kept me from blowing up at the wrong moment three different times across 28 hours of riding. Fueling reminders alone earned the subscription.”
The World’s Thinnest, Lightest, Slimmest Smart Ring. Beautiful, And Made To Be Worn 24/7 For Every Occasion.
The world’s slimmest and lightest smart ring: 2.0 mm thin, 6.5 mm wide and 2.1 g of matt black titanium, so it stays comfortable on the bike, at work and asleep. It fits under cycling gloves.
It comes off because it’s bulky in bed or on the bars, or because it needs charging, so whole nights and days go missing.
Typically pretty ugly, and not something you wear to work or to dinner, so it comes off and the gaps start again.
Thin and light enough to sleep and ride in, beautiful enough for work and dinner, and 7–10 days a charge, with 3–4 weeks more in the travel charger. It stays on.
“Stupid as it sounds, this is the first wearable I haven’t taken off in 6 weeks. No bulk, sits flat under my work glove, charges in 45 min.”
✓ 30-day money-back trial · 90-day results guarantee · Free shipping
Stock is limited: 100 HELIOS 2.0 rings this month
Here’s what the setup most of us run costs. Each piece sees one of the four at most, and none of them sees them together.
US list prices, checked August 2026.
One Plan For Your Whole Week.
For readers of this article: your 90-day guarantee is set on your heart numbers, not your watts.
HELIOS 2.0 with travel charger + the THRIVE app. Everything the cyclists on this page use to train, eat and recover.
Stock is limited: 100 HELIOS 2.0 rings this month
✓ 30-day money-back trial · 90-day results guarantee · Free shipping · Pay in 4 with Afterpay or Klarna
Try It For 30 Days. Get Results In 90, Or Your Money Back.
Wear it for 30 nights. Not for you? Send it back for a full refund.
Your target is set on your heart, with our team, after your first week of nights: for example, resting heart rate back at or under your own baseline by day 90. Miss it and we refund you in full.
Plus a 2-year warranty, free shipping and a free sizing kit before you commit.
Switching Takes One Week
The kit ships first so the ring fits.
HELIOS 2.0 arrives and goes on. It stays on at night.
THRIVE builds your plan from your goal, age and hours.
A rough night, a few beats up, and MARCO tells you why the plan changed.
Common Questions Answered
Do I need this if my heart feels fine?
Feeling fine is exactly when most cyclists stop paying attention. THRIVE plans your hard days, food and recovery so the load stays where it should, and HELIOS 2.0 tracks your trend every night. If you have symptoms, see a doctor first.
Is HELIOS 2.0 a medical device?
No. It doesn’t diagnose anything. It tracks your resting heart rate, HRV, sleep, blood oxygen and skin temperature every night, and THRIVE uses that to plan your training, food and recovery.
Will it stop me riding hard?
No. It caps the hard days and makes the easy days real, so the hard days you do ride land properly.
Can I keep my bike computer?
You can ride with what you like. HELIOS 2.0 and the THRIVE app do the job on their own, and every ride feeds the plan. When you want a ride screen, THRIVE’s ride mode has navigation and Climbing Mode.
What if it doesn’t fit?
A free sizing kit ships first, so the size is right. Then you have 30 days for a full refund.
Keep riding hard and hope your fitness is protecting your heart.
Do what thousands of cyclists over 40 already have: one plan, tracked every night, with 30 days to send it back.
✓ 30-day money-back trial · 90-day results guarantee · Free shipping
Stock is limited: 100 HELIOS 2.0 rings this month