Do i need a cycling coach

[Bhitucyclist]

Hi friends i am back with more questions!
I changed the tyres to slicker one with out the knobbly bits. I use a hybrid. Now i am averaging 10 miles/hr in the city roads which is slightly better than before. But i still need to rise up to 12m/hr to be comfortably prepared for my L2P ride in sept19.
Now the question is should i take some coaching sessions? What do you think?
Have you taken coaching and has that helped you to achieve your aim? Any suggestions for a good coach in london ?

 

[Milkfloat]

I would suggest that rather than trying to find a personal coach, whom presumably would be targeting and have experience with the sportier type of cyclist, you simply join a local club. This is the grass roots of cycling and if you chose reasonably well, will offer you far more than you need in terms of knowledge and support. You will find by simply riding a lot your speeds and duration will increase significantly.

 

[I like Skol]

Trying to increase your average speed in a busy urban environment is a difficult proposition. If you are managing 10mph now then there is a good chance you will easily achieve 12mph+ once on less congested, more open roads and when cycling in a group.

I would suggest just riding more for leisure and joining group rides that head out of the urban sprawl of London. You really just need to get some miles in your legs and experience on the road, I don't think there are any quick or magical fixes for this, just ride!

EDIT: Cross-posted with @Milkfloat, seems we are both singing from the same hymn sheet?

 

[fossyant]

Ride more.

 

[Rocky]

I've never had a cycling coach. The best way to prepare for your L2P is to spend much much more time in the saddle. Build up some endurance and then concentrate on speed. No coach needed.

 

[ianrauk]

As what others have said - just ride more.

 

[Sharky]

Ride more, but not necessarily for longer.

If increasing speed is the target, reduce the distance until you can ride at the average speed you want. Then gradually increase the distances. Keep records of your regular routes and set your bike computer to auto pause, so that random stops (TL's etc) don't skew your records too much.

 

[derrick]

Set yourself a goal. If you use Strava you can make a loop you can do regulery. We do a 24 mile loop twice a week. You just push harder everytime you do it. You can check your time and pace at the end of every ride. Also fit in longer rides when you can.

 

[HarryTheDog]

As others have already said just ride the bike more really. You have asked about coaching, I raced and did try both MTB coach for skills ( only briefly) and a fitness coach for fitness for a year. A skills coach of course means you have to meet and ride with them, these privately can cost a small fortune ( I know coaches who charge 100 per hour) . Fitness coaching is usually done remotely, you never have to meet the coach. you need at least a heart rate monitor and say membership of Strava so the coach can see what you are up to and keeping to his plan. I went the whole hog and had power meters. The cost of coaching will depend on the amount of analysis and support you want.

The useful things I got for fitness coaching was I was actually not trying hard enough in my training sessions but my aim was speed and power over 1 to 1.5 hrs. He gave me some numbers ie heart rate and power that I should be aiming for, I still use those numbers roughly. I suspect if you hired a coach the first thing would he would comment on was that urban riding is crap long distance training. It will help with your base fitness though. My

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Commute was 23 miles each way some rural some urban. So was actually useful.
My coach was very knowledgeable ( black cat cycle coaching) and honest, we concluded I was a short sprint specialist and would never win in a race over 30 seconds long, the coaching helped me understand my limitations and strengths. I did increase my FTP ( power you can constantly kick out for 1 hr) but experience has shown I am not prepared to spend the time and effort needed to keep those levels so I am happy to be less than I could and not spend the money on a coach as well.
I have experiences of fitness coaches in the past with both my son and daughter, a lot tend not to be interested unless you may be the next big thing. If you are not the next big thing then you need to cross their palms with silver to make them interested.
You seem to be interested in going a bit faster than you do now not entering races, just aiming for one event. You do not mention whether you are overweight or underweight etc. Losing weight can up your speed as well. Also how old are you?, I started being coached at 55 and was already a experienced cyclist so my gains were marginal. If you are a over weight 25 yr old then your gains could be massive if a coach points out what you should be doing.
Good luck anyway. ( NB I am off on holiday this evening so if anyone comments on this I wont be replying for over a week )

 

[Racing roadkill]

Don’t get bent out of shape about average speeds. They are pretty much a meaningless metric by which to measure performance / improvement. There are too many factors which can sell you a dummy. The only way you could reliably use average speed as any sort of measure, is by riding the exact same route, on the exact same rig, in the exact same conditions, with the exact same traffic flows. This is not only hard to achieve, but will be counter productive, because you’ll never improve without some variance. Concentrate on where your average power is, and try and raise that, or more accurately, your average power, divided by your weight. You don’t have to use super accurate kit to do it either, a Strava ( or whatever ) estimation would suffice to start with.

 

[PaulSB]

I would take a different view. Moving from a hybrid to a road bike will gain you at least 2mph for the same effort.

All I know about the L2P is it is approximately 300 miles. I would suggest you need to concentrate on two areas, strength and endurance. Building strength through short intense training sessions will help increase your speed. Endurance comes only with miles in the legs. I would target being comfortable at 80 miles and you should be OK. At some point you will need to ride 80/90 miles on consecutive days so that you know what to expect.

For intense training if you can find a cycle specific spin class this can help significantly.

I think it unlikely you will find a cycle coach for less than £40/hour. 20 hours coaching or a secondhand road bike??

 

[Bhitucyclist]

Thanks a lot for all your tips advice. I will read thru them all and possible ask a few questions to improve mu understanding

 

[PaulSB]

Just seen your other tgread. 285 miles over 4 days with the RBL. I had thought you were doing 310 in 3 days.

My advice would still be to consider buying a road bike. At your current average of 10mph a road bike should move you up to 12/13 with no real increase in effort. Getting out of London will further improve this.

Build up to 60 mile rides that leave you feeling good, not exhausted. Then put in a couple of back to back 60 milers and you'll be fine.

 

[minuteman]

It's hard to build endurance with urban riding since there's a lot of stopping and starting. Try to do at least one long ride per week on reasonably quiet roads, gradually increasing in distance. Once you can do the distance you want, start adding blocks of higher intensity (I'd suggest sweet-spot), which again you'll gradually increase to make up a greater percentage of the ride. This will further increase your all-day pace.

At some point, you'll probably benefit from joining a group ride. Find one where the effort required to stay with the group is just above your comfort zone, so you keep improving your fitness.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the longer and harder you ride, the more important having a good bike fit is if you want to avoid injuries. I'd spend my money on that rather than a coach.