Welcome

Racing excellence. I think that is one thing many, if not all, bike racers are striving for. But, what is racing excellence? Is it winning every race? Is it not getting dropped two minutes into the race? Is it leading out your teammate for the sprint or chasing down the break for your team leader? Surely it can mean different things to different people. I am going to define racing excellence as being the best you can be, on the day you need to be your best. Sure, everyone wants to win, but we all know that everyone is not capable of winning. Everyone is, however, capable of being the best they can be. How good is that? How good can YOU be? What is YOUR best? That depends on many factors- genetics, age, time constraints, nutrition, family support, and mental strength (willingness to suffer) to name just a few. One of the big limiters of how good you can be is deciding how good you want to be. How BAD do you want it? How much time are you willing to give in pursuit of your goals? Are you willing to change your lifestyle to become a better racer? Maybe you are, maybe you're not, but either way, you can still be the best you can be. The simple fact is, the more you're willing to give to the sport and your training, the better your best can be. Most of us have busy lives that require us to do crazy things like work 40+ hour a week. We have families, kids' sporting and school events to attend, relatives in town, yards that need mowed, etc, the list goes on and on and on. This is a limiter to how good your best can be. So, we can't all be the next John Curry (awesome Montana racer, I'm sure you've all heard of him), but we can figure our limiters into our plans to set real and attainable goals. We can asses our current life situations , fitness level, training history and DESIRE to race, train, and win and use all that information to help us be the best we can be on the day we need to be our best. We can look to science, past experience, course profiles, strengths, weaknesses, and goals to help understand and guide us through the training process. Once we decide how much we are willing and able to give to get to our best, we can tailor our training plan to fit into and around our busy lives. We can plan our season and workouts so we are at our best on the day we want to be, not on some random Wednesday while we're out hammering on a group ride, but on the day of our goal event when it counts. This can all seem a little overwhelming at times. Should I ride or rest today? Should I go hard, or just spin the legs? Do I have a plan to get me to be the best I can be on the day I need to be my best, or am I just "riding around in circles"? Most self coached racers have asked themselves these questions. I know I certainly have. Having a coach can help put all of this together. A coach can structure a plan that fits your individual needs, and help guide you to your goals. A coach can focus on how hard you should or shouldn't train at any given time, so you can focus on doing the training to the best of your ability. A coach can write training plans and review training data to keep you on track, or reroute you if you get derailed by an illness or other situation. A coach can motivate and inspire, teach and mentor. Virtually every bike racer can benefit from having a coach.

Though I'm new to coaching, I am not new to riding and racing, I spent a few years "riding in circles" and still had some decent results, but wanted more. So, I decided to learn how to get more from what I could give. I've read all the training books, experimented with different training plans, learned from others, and taken seminars on training with power. With the increase in knowledge, came an increase in results. Here are just a few:

• former Montana Road Race State Champion, CAT 3
• former Montana TT State Champion, CAT 3
• former Montana Criterium State Champion, CAT 2
• former Montana Series Points Champion, CAT 3 and CAT 2
• 1st place GC, High Plains RR, Devils Tower, Wy, CAT 1,2,3
• 3rd place TT, State Games of America, Colorado Springs, CO, CAT 1,2
• 1st place, Helena RR, CAT 1,2,3
• 2nd place, Big Sky Cyclocross Race, CAT 1,2,3
• 1st place, Rolling Thunder Cyclocross, CAT 3

I was able to accomplish all those things and more over the past few years, even though I have a fairly busy life. I am married to my lovely and supportive wife, Tawnya, who puts up with all the hours on the bike, the leg shaving, the skin suits, the traveling to races, and all the other things being a bike racers brings into ones life. And, we have two young children, Mariah 8 and Trey 5, who are very active and keep us running in circles on a daily, almost hourly basis. I also own a tile installation business, that usually keeps me busier thanI want to be. My family, of course, takes priority over my cycling, and unfortunately, my business does as well. I have also had to battle back from a fairly serious injury recently after suffering a broken hip in a TT crash a couple of years ago. So, I know what it takes to fit cycling into a busy life, be fairly successful at it, and still be married, (thanks for the support Tawnya). I know what it's like dealing with adversity. I know what it's like to want to give more so you can get more, yet being unable to do so. I had to prioritize my goals, and focus on training smarter, not training longer or harder, so I could be the best I could be.

Most recently, I have attended a USA Cycling level 2coaching clinic where I learned a ton about sports science, nutrition, training plan design, and also had a chance to interact with and learn from about 30 other USA Cycling coaches. With that, I feel that I'm at the point now where I can do all those things a coach needs to do to make someone a better racer. I think I can help racers with their pursuit and understanding of racing excellence. All I need now is someone to be my first success story. Let me know if you're interested, it could be you.

So, welcome to my blog. I plan to use it to relay some coaching and training information to those who are interested, as well as write about my own training and racing throughout the season. If I have athletes who are willing, I'll post some of their training data and info as well. There will probably be some race reports from my team, GAS/Intrinsik Cycling, as well as a few tidbits on what my family is up to, since we all race bikes of some sort. Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think.

Coach Brad