Guys,

After a cycling coach for mainly road cycling, prefer someone local in Melbourne, Australia.

I hear there are now a lot of online coaches, would be happy to hear your experiences and any recommendations.

I have never been coached before or had any training plans written for me.

Thanks

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Gloss Black Special Order Colnago C59 with SR and Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR
Giant TCR Advanced SL Rabobank
Go Cadel

Any coaches aligned with your club?

Given the SRM is on its way... I'd read through Training and Racing with a Power Meter first, then test yourself and look into the training plans in the back of the book to start with.

Your main issue will be finding coaches locally that have a good understanding of training with Power...
I've heard good reports about Alex Simmons, but he is based in Sydney. http://www.rstsport.com

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http://climbinglama.blogspot.com.au

Check out Marcus Speed - http://speedcyclingsystems.com.au/ - He runs a good studio in Brunswick and has a pretty holistic and realistic approach to his coaching. Has a Watt bike in house for structured testing which is of course uses himself a bunch - he's got his head around power as a result.

Full Disclosure - I train with and occasionally race for Marcus.

I asked Tapeworm for advice. He clarified a few things for me as I was confused by a lot of the over-complicated mumbo jumbo out there. If you're not about to win the TdF, then some simple rules get you 80% of the way there:

- Set goals
- Specificity - Make your training match or at least break down your goals
- Balance - Train all energy systems by doing a mix of short, medium and long efforts each week, but also spend a good amount of time riding at base levels or resting
- Progression - Simple linear progression is a good start. Once you plateau, some cycles and periodisation might help
- Monitoring - Write down what you did and how you feel

Get the simple stuff right, then it doesn't really matter if you measure progress using a stopwatch, speedo, HR or power meter - all will get you there.