Maybe you DON’T need a coach
If your only goal is to ride your bike the way you always do, and you are happy doing what you are doing, you can probably skip the rest of this article. If, however, you have any type of goal you want to achieve by cycling, you just might need a coach. Lastly, if you want free advice, a coach is not the route for you. Coaches are trained professionals who provide a service and charge for those services. Many times, the fees are dependent upon the amount of interaction and guidance you want.
Participating in group and charity rides
Many people want to participate in group rides, charity rides, and local events. Many people have limiters that prevent participation or, at a minimum, inhibit the joy and satisfaction of this type of riding. Endurance, bicycle handling skills, nutritional needs for longer rides, and getting comfortable with riding in a bunch are all things a coach will help with.
Perhaps you have done some local rides and enjoyed 20-30 miles. It may have been a struggle, but it was fun. Now, you have set your sights on participating in a MS-150 ride and are looking at riding 100 miles in a day. That might seem daunting. Longer rides have more and different challenges than shorter rides, not to mention building endurance. A coach can help you navigate these challenges and guide your training so you can fully enjoy and complete your ride.
General Fitness
Many people choose cycling as part of their general fitness program. A coach can help you plan workouts appropriate to your current fitness levels that move you toward your fitness goals. What? You don’t have a fitness goal? A coach can help with that too. Intentional training requires some sort of goal. That goal might be endurance, speed, completing an event, or losing weight. These are just a few of the goals a coach can help you set and achieve.
Competition
Many cyclists want to compete with other athletes. The variety of cycling competitions is vast and each type has it’s own demands. Indeed, even events in the same discipline have different demands. It is important to not only train to meet the specific demands of the competition, but also to time training to ensure peak fitness and readiness for your competition. Train too hard before the event and you will be tired, burnt out, or even sick when the event rolls around. Train too little and you will be unprepared and possibly not even complete your event. Train the wrong systems and your riding strengths will not match the demands of your competition and this spells disaster.
Motivation, encouragement & accountability
Maybe you have a solid goal and a deep understanding of the requirements to achieve that goal. It is always a benefit to have someone in your corner who can help keep you accountable when little things start to get in the way of training. Having encouragement and someone to cheer you on when training gets tough is priceless. Knowing that your coach is going to ask why you missed a training session may be all it takes to do the workout instead of watching television or mindlessly surfing the internet.
