The coach profile

Richard the cyclist

Richard first started cycling whilst still at school. As a junior he competed at Western Division and South West Centre of Excellence level in road racing. He gained may wins in both road racing and time trialling.

After a long period off the bike Richard started racing again in 2006, progressing from 4^th to first category road racer in the space of 16 weeks. In 2007 he was part of a Surrey League team that competed in the FBD Insurance Ras – an 8 day pro-am stage race covering 1,100km. The overall winner that year was a young Tony Martin, who seems to have progressed quite well!

Later in 2007 Richard competed in the age group long course Duathlon World Championships, picking up a silver medal – mainly off the back of a strong bike performance!

In the past few seasons Richard has mainly concentrated on time trialling, with the odd road race for variation. He now has a family so time is a little more constrained than previously, but he still manages to race regularly, frequently picking up wins and top placings

Richard the coach, and how he works with you.

Coaching is about so much more than simply writing training plans, no matter how accurate and detailed they may be. Coaching is about developing relationships with people and finding out what really makes each one tick. Only then can the coach adopt the most effective motivational approach. Further to this, the coach should educate the athlete and explain what is happening on a physiological level so that every single training session actually means something.

Finally, coaching is all about understanding that every single cyclist is completely individual. Even if two people train using similar plans, their interpretation and execution of those plans will be completely different. Richard ensures that he and you work together according to what works best for you.