Can anyone help with some coaching next year in exchange for free holiday accommodation in Sweden?

[JoninSweden]

My goal for next year is to try to qualify for the UCI Gravel Worlds in Nice. The qualifier here in Sweden is in August.

Is there anyone with experience in the field who might be able to keep me on the straight and narrow in terms of prep next year? I cannot afford to pay for coaching unfortunately (emigrated to Sweden in 2022 - absolutely love it here, but it cleaned us out financially) but I can offer some really nice accommodation for a couple of gravel cyclists here in SE Sweden, as well as endless route guidance. Our gravel is genuinely world class.

I should come out of winter strong (I ride outdoors all year) and prep would start properly in April. 203cm, 101kg (currently, though hope to drop to about 98kg, which is my lower limit really), FTP currently 410-415w, though I hope a bit higher in Spring. I don't corner very well, I climb strongly and my acceleration isn't great, though I can hold high watts for ages and ages.

Today's ride, for reference was:

65km, technical and wet gravel
28.9kph average
342w average, 366w normalised, 1203w max (Favero Assioma MX1 pedals)
2hrs 15 minutes
760m elevation gain
149bpm average

This was close to all out effort for me. Obviously, there are some sections where you cannot pedal full effort due to technical constraints. I think I'm losing some power there, but it's to be expected.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/52082048

Any help would be gratefully accepted and I'd be delighted to host here in Sweden:

https://www.swimcyclesweden.co.uk/accom ... el-cottage

[jo.k]

Did you do any of the qualifier events this year? How old are you?

The reason I ask is that if you plan on trying to qualify in Halmstad 2025 you should have some (recent) racing experience, especially if you are younger than 45 next year. The field for 19-44 will probably be huge, and the first ~70k will have proper mass start dynamics and you risk using up much of your budget in this phase if you are not able to sit comfortably near the front of the field.

Afaik the racing in the classes >45 was different (smaller and more heterogeneous field), so brute force (which you have in spades) was probably more important than race craft.

[gloscherrybomb]

One tip I would give you is to plan to do more than just the 1 qualifier. That will remove some of the stress/pressure and in gravel racing, anything can happen to ruin your day.

[Requiem84]

I do a bit of free coaching on the side for some friends and family. I'd be happy to have a look at your training history of the last year and give you an outline of a schedule for the next +/- 6 months and some general guidance.

Only prerequisite is that you need to link your data to intervals.icu and approve me as your 'coach' there.

If you're more looking for a coach that you are in contact with weekly and get real coaching then that typically is quite pricey. Given that you seem to have a real good starting point genetically, I'd reckon you can get 85-90% of your potential already by doing the basics right...

[JoninSweden]

Did you do any of the qualifier events this year? How old are you?

The reason I ask is that if you plan on trying to qualify in Halmstad 2025 you should have some (recent) racing experience, especially if you are younger than 45 next year. The field for 19-44 will probably be huge, and the first ~70k will have proper mass start dynamics and you risk using up much of your budget in this phase if you are not able to sit comfortably near the front of the field.

Afaik the racing in the classes >45 was different (smaller and more heterogeneous field), so brute force (which you have in spades) was probably more important than race craft.

I didn't do the qualifier this year, no. I wasn't ready. I'm 30 months and 34500km back in the saddle after a 20 year break. I used to race as a kid. I'm still progressing pretty quickly, so will be stronger next year than this year. I am 40.

Halmstad is quite a late qualifier, and I think more competitive than others. I know the guy that qualified slowest in my age group (at 33kph) and he's really strong. I was looking at The Gralloch by way of comparison, and think that it would be a far easier route to qualification, as the field was comparatively large (127 riders in that age group, as opposed to about 50 in Halmstad). I imagine that the gravel is smoother rolling here than in Scotland, but the speed difference is huge - the slowest qualifiers in Scotland in my age group were doing 27kph. The hillier nature of the Gralloch suits me better too. But it's a long way to go to race, even if I used to live in Scotland!

But you raise a very valid point about race craft. Fundamentally, I don't have any. I produce a lot of power, but my bike handling on loose gravel needs work. I've crafted a really varied and technically challenging 75km route that I'll keep working on to improve my cornering speeds and race lines. The guy I mentioned who qualified at Halmstad has raised the possibility of running a few rides to help us clumsy watt-monsters develop some race craft.

I am hoping that come August next year that with a bit of an improvement in my riding skills, and maybe another 30-40w FTP that I can earn my qualification.

[JoninSweden]

One tip I would give you is to plan to do more than just the 1 qualifier. That will remove some of the stress/pressure and in gravel racing, anything can happen to ruin your day.

Very sensible advice

[JoninSweden]

I do a bit of free coaching on the side for some friends and family. I'd be happy to have a look at your training history of the last year and give you an outline of a schedule for the next +/- 6 months and some general guidance.

Only prerequisite is that you need to link your data to intervals.icu and approve me as your 'coach' there.

If you're more looking for a coach that you are in contact with weekly and get real coaching then that typically is quite pricey. Given that you seem to have a real good starting point genetically, I'd reckon you can get 85-90% of your potential already by doing the basics right...

That is really kind - thank you!

I am just about to head out to work, but I will get registered at intervals.icu tomorrow morning and I'll message you about it.

I understand that coaching can be really expensive, hence me offering the only thing that I can, which is free holiday accommodation!

My only distraction over winter (which can be a little tricky for outdoor riding at times here in Sweden, though I maintained over 1000km a month without issue last winter) is that I am going to have a pop at the 40-49 age class Concept 2 1/2 Marathon world record in April. I am physiologically perfectly suited to indoor rowing, and I think the 1/2 marathon record is within my reach. So there is an element of rowing in my training, but I think it works quite well supplementally for cycling.

[NordicSal]

You should come to Denmark and do Blåvand Gravel too - isn't that a qualifer as well? It's very flat and suits your build very well in that regard. Not very technical either, if the route isn't under half a metre of water haha.

I'll be happy to look at your training. I've researched it extensively and I am teach physical education as well. Will need it to be in intervals.icu too though.

[JoninSweden]

You should come to Denmark and do Blåvand Gravel too - isn't that a qualifer as well? It's very flat and suits your build very well in that regard. Not very technical either, if the route isn't under half a metre of water haha.

I'll be happy to look at your training. I've researched it extensively and I am teach physical education as well. Will need it to be in intervals.icu too though.

Thanks for that! I am on intervals.icu now - what's the next step?

I looked at the details for Blåvand - didn't Manon from GCN do that one too? I have to say that I don't like the look of the beach section. On soft ground I sink like a stone!

Training has been excellent this week. Without especially trying (I was going for a segment, but not on fresh legs and not at 100% effort) I got an 8 minute power pb at 452w. That ride was 65km at middle/upper zone 2 (131bpm - max is 188bpm), but I still did 289w actual and 336w NP. And also a return commute from work power PB (just under an hour at 363w, 375w NP).

This summer, I've tried to cut out the junk miles and do more focused training. I was doing a low of really low intensity riding before, with high intensity, short climbs. I'm trying to spend more time at tempo and threshold and it seems to be working well.

[JoninSweden]

You should come to Denmark and do Blåvand Gravel too - isn't that a qualifer as well? It's very flat and suits your build very well in that regard. Not very technical either, if the route isn't under half a metre of water haha.

I'll be happy to look at your training. I've researched it extensively and I am teach physical education as well. Will need it to be in intervals.icu too though.

Thanks for messaging me - I'm not able to reply yet (maybe too new a member here?) so I'll reply on the thread.

My user name on Intervals.icu is Jon in Sweden.

Thanks again!

[NordicSal]

I found you already on intervals, need to add spaces haha, just add me back on there. It has DM's too

[JoninSweden]

I found you already on intervals, need to add spaces haha, just add me back on there. It has DM's too

Gotcha - I've messaged you back

[Rudi]

Are you riding on your own or do you have a club or similar you can join? Part of the "racecraft" equation is how you handle stuff where you've got lots of people around, potentially all wanting the same line. You might not get that just from club rides but it will help you ride in a group.

[JoninSweden]

Are you riding on your own or do you have a club or similar you can join? Part of the "racecraft" equation is how you handle stuff where you've got lots of people around, potentially all wanting the same line. You might not get that just from club rides but it will help you ride in a group.

I ride with a regular training partner one or two times a week, but most of my training is solo. I live in a low population density area of SE Sweden, so big group rides are sadly rare.

I completely agree that race craft is something I need to train