Womens Cycling

Support and coaching for women's cycling

We understand that all women should have the same opportunities as men and we have experience working with individuals and teams in road racing, track cycling and mountain biking, helping all women in cycling to achieve their goals.

The start of the coaching process is about meeting you and understanding your needs so we ask you to complete an athlete profile form and suggest meeting for a free consultation followed by a short coaching session.

From here we can begin to work out the best way for you to start ticking off a set of agreed targets or goals for the season.  One of the ways we can do this is by creating an annual training plan which is designed to give your training structure and help you to reach peak performance when you need to.

Please get in touch with Chris to find out more or take a look at the coaching options available to you.

Youth Cycling

Youth cycling development

We understand that youth cycling is super important so we do everything we can to support the development of riders in schools, cycling clubs and at our base in the French Alps with our sister company 45 Degrees North.

With the Tour de France and Criterium du Dauphine making regular local appearances, Morzine in the heart of the French Alps is an awesome place for young cyclists to hone their skills and move up to the next level in their cycling career.  Its also a lot of fun for both young riders and parents.

Ride from our stunning new chalet in Morzine in the French Alps & set out to climb a series of epic Tour de France cols over the week.  Our professional team includes a support vehicle on the road to carry extra layers, water and snacks.  The 45 Degrees North team will also take you to picnic stops with a view & you can look forward to a hearty meal at the end of the day cooked by our in-house chef.  There’s plenty of beautiful routes available so we can work out the best combination for each group.

Check out our youth week video from 2016:

Sharing Information

One of the best ways to learn is to share information and so I’d like to share with you one of my go to blogs.  Having worked at British Cycling and studied many of its coaching courses I came across Andrew, who was one of the most helpful coach educators, especially when it comes to sports science.

Andrew Kirkland has been a British Cycling coach educator, sports scientist at the Scottish Institute of Sport and Lecturer in sports coaching at the University of Stirling.

Here’s the start of one of his articles.  If you want to read more see the link at the bottom.

runner b

Introduction

I always try to start my blogs with a wee story and this one is no different. You see, this topic is very personal. One that has affected my life as long as I can remember. That is weight, or body mass to be more accurate.

As a kid I was obese. Not only that, I was born ginger, had a squint eye and I had the motor ability of a starfish too. At primary school I was always getting into fights as I was an obvious target for bullies. The loser of a fight was the first one to cry. I learnt never to cry regardless of the beatings I took. Others learnt that no matter how strong or fast they were, they would never win against me.

In my late teenage years, I discovered the joys of cycling. It helped me escape home life and gave a great feeling of freedom. I’ll never forget Jed Holmyard of the Edinburgh Bike Co-op who sold me my 1st bike. The ride home from Bruntsfield to Musselburgh, a journey of about 12km, was a major achievement. On arriving home, I slept the rest of the day.

Riding the bike had an immediate effect! Weight started to drop off. I cycled further. I got thinner still and people would comment how good I looked. I lost more weight. I got faster on the bike. I got a new lighter bike. I went faster. I lost more weight. One day when out riding with my mate Davie, a girl in a group shouted “hey you…..watch you don’t fall down a drain ya skinny git”. I immediately assumed they were shouting at Davie. After all he was one of the best young climbers in the country. But she was shouting at me. It was the happiest day of my life. After a while, the improvements stopped and I started to get ill loads. This was a warning sign and luckily I heeded it and didn’t push into oblivion.

The environment people are in, either past or present has a huge influence on how they behave, and that relates to weight management too. Many athletes have the capacity to push their physical boundaries beyond what is considered to be normal. That’s what makes them stand out from the crowd but that capacity can have very serious consequences if it’s applied in the wrong direction.

In this Blog, I’ll discuss why weight management is so important within a sporting context, highlighting some of the issues that coaches and athletes should be aware of specifically related to eating disorders. Images are simply to look pretty rather than to relate to the text for obvious reasons. I used the words weight and mass interchangeably for ease of understanding.

bike 2

Weight and Endurance Performance

In cycling and running there are two ways to go faster:

  • To become fitter and more efficient
  • To be lighter.

The former comes down to training effectively and consistently… (read more)

Fitz Podium

Neil

Congratulations to Neil (left) on his podium finish at the 165km Fitz Classic Challenge ride over the weekend.  Neil’s been training with Pedal Performance Coaching for over 18 months now and proves that determination and hard work can pay off.

Having moved with work from London to Sydney he’s been riding with Sydney Cycling Club and has many great results to his name including:

  • 8th in the masters road race championships, NSW
  • 3rd in club hill climb championships

165km-fitzs-classic-profile 2016-classic

 

Creative Coaching

This is a great example of creative coaching. “The favela of Chacrinha in Rio de Janeiro is home to Brazil’s first Olympic badminton player. His father, Sebastião Dias de Oliveira, explains how he introduced badminton to the community using samba.”

World Masters Athletics Championships

 

At the opening ceremony for the World Masters Athletics Championships this year Jackie Joyner-Kersee was quoted in saying:

“Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind”

With categories up to 90+ its great to see so many athletes here from all over the world competing.  For a full listing of events and age categories please see the competition schedule.

Cyclocross for Triathletes and Winter Training

If you’ve had a long season on the road and are ready for something new, why not give cyclocross or CX a go.  When the weather turns and you don’t want to get your racing bike wet or dirty CX is a fantastic alternative.  Cyclocross bikes are very similar to road bikes but with more powerful brakes, easier gears for riding off-road and more clearance between the frame and tyres.  Build your strength, aerobic and anaerobic endurance and give your bike handling skills a boost.  Learning how to perform a running dismount and remount for hurdles in a CX race will see you running past people in your triathlon transtions and gaining vital seconds.

You can pick up a used hand bike for around £500 with disc brakes or new from £800.

Scott CXNot sure what Cyclocross is all about?

“Skinny tyres, mud, short, sharp off-road races, with hurdles, obstacles and intense action. That’s cyclo-cross, a form of off-road racing that predates mountain biking by decades.”

 

If you’re based in West London there’s some great coaching and training sessions run every Thursday evening between October and December each year.  British Cycling Development Coach Mac has a real passion for the sport and is happy to coach you, whatever level you’re at.

If you’d like to know more please get in touch.

Chris