I have been helping Calum with coaching and testing for a couple of seasons now. Calum is a 15 year old rider who has a very bright future ahead of him. Last year Calum won the South East Regional Youth Circuit Race Championships along with two London League Cyclo Cross rounds. He also turns a nifty pedal against the clock so, in short, he has a big engine which is only going to get bigger….
Calum has tested with me on a number of occasions using my Wattbike (a great piece of kit, fabulous for coaches) and has a very impressive MAP (Maximal Aerobic Power). This is his average power over the final minute of a RAMP test (I used the British Cycling protocol for this) and it was over 400 watts. This gives him a very impressive watts per kilo figure of 6.25. What do these figures mean? Well, 7 watts per kilo would be a very good level for a professional cyclist. So, a big engine….
Calum’s Power Profile is also impressive. Last season I used the protocol used by the Australian Institute for Sport (Quod et al) and we tested Calum’s power outputs over 6 seconds to 10 minutes (all in one session, all at max effort. Try it! Great workout even without a power meter…). Even on slightly lower resistances Calum could still average 313 watts in his final 10 minute interval (the last of 7 intervals in the session). What does a power profile tell us? Well, in Calum’s case that he is a largely “aerobic” rider who does have a sprint but this could be improved. Over this winter Calum attended my twice-weekly turbo training sessions in our home town of Deal, Kent and I tailored them to develop his 10-20s sprinting power. Coupled with an endurance ride on a Sunday (under the watchful and very experienced eye of Malcolm Whitehead, local legend and super-talented veteran) these have been Calum’s key sessions in the off-season (the odd cross race excepted). Has it paid off? Calum took 7th place at Gravesend Cyclopark the other week in a 1.5 hour crierium for Elites, 1sts and 2nd category riders. He did this on restricted gears and was off the front for a while. So, yes, he’s going well! Calum is racing in Belgium this weekend – watch future blog posts for news of how his season is going. Oh, and find blackcatcyclecoaching.com on Facebook for updates.
Photos as before by Michelle @ http://shellelouisephotography.wordpress.com/ and http://maxhectorphotography.com/
theblackcatscyclingwhiskers 