About 3 years ago I was riding with the local triathlon club Deal Tri. On a Saturday ride we used to get a number of people who were either time trialling or road racing and so I began to structure the “fast group” rides into simulated racing as the season approached. One day a tall young man on an old bike came out with us and, as every coach does, I had a Eureka moment! I watched him turn the pedals efficiently and his position on the bike was superbly natural. All of us agreed on that day that he would be a talent to watch….

On to the present day and Stephen Swindley (Team Toachim/PMR) has won 2 South East Road Race League Races and has podiumed in other events. He approached me to coach him and I was happy to help him move up to 2nd category quickly. I should point out at this time that it is Stephen, not me, who had to pedal the bike – I just gave him the sessions! I watched as his position on the bike became even more efficient and his not inconsiderable engine grew bigger. Stephen can now produce over 400 watts in a RAMP test and, importantly, can produce a very high percentage of that power for a long time. This latter element formed the basis of his training last year – to increase his threshold power. Stephen will be testing with me in a couple of weeks time – watch for a post on his numbers and how you can increase your FTP!

Stephen is lucky as not only is he a very powerful rider but he is also blessed with a high power-to-weight ratio. Despite being one of the tallest riders I coach (those who have met me know most people are tall to me so this is no mean accolade!) he is also very light – in the low 70s in kg when on form. This makes him super at hill climbing (more in a minute). He also has a big sprint – his 6s numbers will form part of my next post – and we further improved this by giving him specific sprint sessions which were progressive and could be incorporated into an endurance ride. As so many 3rds and 4th category races end in a sprint this type of training is vital if you want to win, yet this type of effort doesn’t feature in some riders programmes. This may well be to do with the fact (OK – my opinion, but based upon conversations with my clients) that most people train what they like training i.e. what they are good at, rather than what they don’t enjoy i.e. what they are poor at!

Last September Stephen moved to Sheffield to attend Uni. I still coach him and he has started this season with the aim to go up to 1st category and to mix it with the Elites. Earlier this month he competed in the Eddie Soens Memorial RR at Aintree – a handicap event for Elites down which is always fiercely contested. He has written a report for this blog and sent a pic of him leading the bunch – no mean feat to get to the front at the speeds being travelled and in the company present! He also rode a “bonus” event in march – a hillclimb organised by his University – and did a super time considering the time of year.

I will be featuring Stephen throughout this season as a BlackCat rider. His race report and pictures are in a separate post on this blog.