So you want to get better at something, what do you do?
The simple answer to me is, find a coach or teacher. Yet it is never always quite that simple or we would all be good at everything. I have been lucky having had some great coaches in my life, but can also say I’ve met plenty of bad ones. Unchanged: The simple answer to me is, find a coach or teacher. Yet it is never always quite that simple or we would all be good at everything. I have been lucky having had some great coaches in my life, but can also say I’ve met plenty of bad ones.
So what makes a good coach? How do you know a bad teacher? My guess is the answers to these questions are different for each and everyone of us. For me I need someone who I believe is totally committed to what and whom they teach. I have seen many golf professionals teach set theories, standard methods or new fashion swings to all who cross their path. One method fits all! Yet to me that would be like saying to everyone with Waldenstrom’s, you should all take drug A and don’t even think about riding a bike across a continent. We are all different and in my experience we all learn differently. I was impressed by the Mayo Clinic when they asked me in what form do I learn and communicate best. In golf I believe in the guy who says, hit some balls and let’s see what your doing. These types of teachers usually have a great eye to add to all the computers and tracking systems now available. They watch you swing, they see how the ball flies, listen to the sound of the strike and then compare that to the numbers on their machines. From this point in my mind, you and your teacher then begin to work on strengthening what you do well, improving what you do badly and accepting what is out of your reach. Over the years I have always had a coach for my golf and have improved to as low as 1.8 handicap in my 50’s, played consistently well for over 40 years and enjoyed a decent amount of competitive success to make me satisfied. So I find it fun when I play with guys who have no coach, want to get better and wonder why they don’t. I wouldn’t listen to a friend or some random TV guy about my health or finances, so why trust them with my golf swing? You can walk along any driving range in the world and hear a 12 handicap player telling anyone who will listen that the secret to golf is (write anything you want here) and since he found this secret he now regularly hits it over 300 yards, straight consistently. However these guys don’t shoot any lower scores and don’t often see any change in their scores over time. Tips are short lived and you don’t generally improve much, coaching takes time, knowledge and is often a slow process, but gradually you will see some continued progress over time.
In golf the general benchmark for improvement is your score and therefore handicap. In cycling, for me, it has been my distance, time on the bike and recovery that dictates success or not. After I had got some initial miles under my belt and was at least in my mind now coachable, I found Julie McKenzie of Peaks Coaching. Something about Julie felt right to me, that I had not found in my other enquiries with bike shops and the internet. It turns out that my intuition was right and Julie was everything and more than I wanted in a coach. Strong enough to push me and also hold me back when needed. Enthusiastic and interested in me and my goal rather than going through a coaching process to get paid with minimal effort. Julie and Peaks seemed invested in my adventure, which I think helped me to push myself fully into what they required me to do. So every week Julie studied my training performance, talked to me on Skype about how I felt and what’s going on and then set out my following weeks work and rest schedule. Each day I looked at what I had on my schedule and did it as best I could, almost always I would do 10 mins more just to feel I never didn’t do my best and hopefully show Julie I was committed. Over the months, almost without noticing, my miles, my average cadence, heart rate and average speed all improved. I went from a tiring 350 miles a month to well over 750 miles of what now seems steady controlled riding. All this is due to Julie and Peaks coaching. Like many great coaches I have known, I think Julie enjoys seeing her pupils improve more than getting praise for what she does, however she deserves all of the praise out there for just getting me to a point where this challenge is even thinkable never mind possible.
So thanks to all my coaches of the past, in life, fashion, nursing, golf and now cycling. Too many to mention them all, but if I do anything at all in life well, it will be due to a great coach or person somewhere having time to help me learn.
My goal is to ride from LA to Boston only. If I am the slowest on the tour, have to ride alone or fly along in a fast moving peloton, it makes no difference to me. I have seen many good cyclists who like to speed past me on the roads of Florida, some old, some young, male and female, triathletes and road warriors, all have left me in the dust. I respect their skills and ability and understand a little of what it has taken them to get to the level they are at now. Yet for me this ride is more about my journey from the doctors couch to Revere Beach in Boston. If I get there safe and sound, it will be in no small part thanks to coaches like Julie, teachers like my Mother, guides from CrossRoads, supporters, family and friends like you, who never said a dream was impossible, a journey was too far or an idea not worth chasing.