The question is: Have we got a good coach? Or have we got a good coach!

Well boys, I reckon the answer is in the question. I thought our first session was fantastic. It showed how hard it is to do a slow paceline but an important point I picked up was to start accelerating when "wheel'' is called at the rear. I have been slow to get back on in the past. The cadence session was a real shocker. What an awesome performance by Jon and Bryn. What a put-down to ride alongside such enormous power coming from these two. Explosive is a much-used word but how else can you describe it? PeterO has now got his B Grade riders. My best cadence was 192rpm and 44.5kph. This was with a 34/21?. (Small chainring/third cog down). I was 185+ and low 40s for each of the efforts. What impressed me was how stable everyone was. Obviously at that cadence few riders are going to be perfectly steady but generally we all looked quite balanced from what I could see. Leaving aside the devastatingly superior acceleration of Jon and Bryn, it was interesting to note that the two compacts (Phil and me) were always at the back of the pack. I wonder if I could have done better with 172.5 cranks instead of 170? Any ideas? The track starts were another slap in the face for me. If I don't have a mental picture of what I am supposed to be doing, PaulB can talk till he is blue in the face because I will just not hear him. I have to picture the exercise in my brain and go over it time and time again before it sinks in. And it was not until I woke up this morning and started practicing in bed that I got the idea firmly planted. This will be something we can practice during the week. Anyone interested in some secret training?
Paul.

Always interested in secret training Paul.
But you are right in that it was interesting that the two compacts were at the back. This is taking nothing away from John, Bryn and Michael, but I didn't think I would be that far behind the others (consistently) for all of the efforts. I run 172.5mm cranks for the record, so I'm not sure that they would have made 'that' difference. Maybe it was a gearing thing? Maybe the 34/21 on compact wasn't equal to 39/23 on a standard double. Mind you, I dropped it down to 34/19 for a couple of them and I was still spat out the back, so 'go figure'....
And on the fact that you have to have a mental picture for it to work for you is fine. I learn the same way.
Though I did wonder what your wife may have thought when you woke up and started 'practising', in bed!!

On 'One', push back, then drive, then pull, then exhale!!!

Dahlpad wrote: PeterO has now got his B Grade riders.

My prayers are answered!! Do these guys really want to race opens?

I saw you guys training at the track yesterday, didn't get a chance to say hello cause you seemed pretty occupied with doing a paceline. So Paul was teaching you technique related stuff?

Does Paul have a bio or website or anything describing the sort of training he does?

Also, who had the motorbike with the funky trailer?

Your prayers are indeed answered Peter. I'm sure Bryn will be interested in racing B Grade (he is certainly good enough) but as for an Open grading I think he has only been riding for a few months so that is up to Terry? Jon has been riding strongly lately but he may not want to overdo things just yet. Best to speak to him about it but the three of you will make an awesome team. I hope you succeed in snaring both of them if only to get them away from C Grade!
PaulB is the one with the funky bike/trailer. I don't know if he has a Bio or website but I know he is a silver medalist in track. He has excellent communication skills. He also did a great job setting up my bike and my shoes. He makes an appointment with you and rides with you on the track. He observes your riding style and then adjusts your bike and he placed wedges in my shoes (if necessary) to correct my flat feet and knock knees! And all for $40. I have paid over $200 at Fusion Cycles for a bike fit and came away so unbalanced I was never able to get out of the saddle in a sprint! I used to blame the bike! Because of the wet weather, I have bought another pair of shoes and at Paul's suggestion I bought S-works because of the arch support. I am getting Paul to set these up as well. Michael has sung his praises for years. Now I am a convertee. Paul's phone number is 0403 771 034. He is very easy to talk to and is very free with good advice.
PaulD

Hey 180, ha ha. I was going to mention Carmel's reaction to my gyrations in bed but didn't quite know how to put it er - delicately - ha ha. But really there was not much movement as it was all in my head! I have noticed pro athletes standing still, eyes closed, obviously going through every movement of their intended event. It really does work. And as far as the cadence efforts goes I would like to think it had something to do with gearing/cranks but you seem to have disproved that notion unfortunately. I wish there was a reason apart from the bleeding obvious that these guys have just awesome power. I would like to know what they were spinning at though. I know Bryn was on his biggest cog at the back because I saw it! I think if he put any more power down he would strip the tyres from his wheels! Their performance was impressive at any level me thinks.

Paul.

Paul, here's a chart to help you work out what gear creates what speed, at 160 and 185 rpm.
If you want the original spreadsheet, you can then adjust rpm and cassette structure yourself.



I've never spun on a roadie like I did yesterday. Max'ed at 168rpm, but felt like I was going to put a piston through the big end.
I appreciate higher cadence unmasks muscle and sitting imbalances.

I'm going to chase PaulB up for bike fit advice. I can't see my posture on the bike, and know my back is stiff, and my reach on the bars feels too short which makes me feel like I am sitting up too high. However, I have to trade that against a stiff and achy lower back.

I agree PB is an excellent communicator.
I don't know if I agreed with him about revolving pacelines - his point where the guy at the front of the OUTSIDE line dictates the speed of that line; and guys behind adjust their speed to his so that they stay tightly on his wheel. If that's the case, and the outside lead doesn't drop his speed appropriately, he will cause the inside line to have to surge to pass him.

The guy who impressed me most yesterday was no other than............Dem.
Talking about 110% effort.

Congratulations Bruce. I looked up my cadence efforts when I was training with Alan Robinson and my cadence was in the high 160s also. And I used to bounce all over the place. Now I'm doing 190+ and the feeling I get is not one of putting a piston through anything but simply that I go quickly up to 190rpm and sit on that speed without any possibility of pedaling any faster. I say pedaling because I am not pushing at all - just rotating my legs. There is no tension or resistance from the pedals at all. It's like somebody switches on the power, you reach your max, you sit there pedaling until you cross the line and turn off the switch. Weird. And not satisfying. The bike just seems to roll along devoid of all sense of stability or control. I think I get more sense of applying power riding a stationary bike in a gym. Again weird. What PB said about revolving pacelines is correct isn't it? The inside line sets the pace for the paceline and the leading rider on the non-working or retiring line or outside line (whatever you want to call it) should be slowing to ensure everybody in that line slows down as well. So effectively he is setting the pace or controlling that line. Otherwise, as you say, the working line has to surge to keep in front of the slowing line. As usual, have I got something wrong again? I think an actively slowing outside line is crucial to the effectiveness of any paceline. That and starting to accelerate when the last rider on the paceline calls wheel to the last rider in the outside line. My major weakness. Having said that I think we started yesterday's paceline a bit scrappily but we ended it quite well. And remember a slow paceline is harder to do than a reasonably fast one. Referring to your tables (where do you find all these graphs/tables??) as you will recall I'm more than just thick when dealing with anything more difficult than 1+1. So I will get Carmel (she's brilliant) to explain it to me. I couldn't work out the columns "metres of dev't'' but don't worry trying to explain it to me as I will have plenty of time on Sunday for you to ear-bash me. What I probably didn't explain clearly enough about Bryn and Jon was their acceleration. They went from 12kph to 30kph (I guess) in a couple of seconds - and I mean 2 seconds. They just shot away. Really impressive.
Paul.

Dahlpad wrote:What PB said about revolving pacelines is correct isn't it? The inside line sets the pace for the paceline and the leading rider on the non-working or retiring line or outside line (whatever you want to call it) should be slowing to ensure everybody in that line slows down as well. So effectively he is setting the pace or controlling that line. Otherwise, as you say, the working line has to surge to keep in front of the slowing line.

What was happening yesterday was when I crossed to the outside from the lead on the inside, I was dropping back to 1kph below what I was doing on the inside. Michael crossed to the outside in front of me, but did not slow as much as I did....hence a gap developed between he and me in the outside line, and the inside line had to speed up to pass him. PB said I should close the gap with Michael to reduce my wind exposure. I understand that I need the draft benefit, but that doesn't resolve the issue of Michael causing the inside to surge to get passed him.

In my view the guy leading the inside line should control the pace always. They are the ones taking most wind. So that puts the onus on the outside guys to take speed off appropriately, and not drive the pace up by slowing inadequately.

It's not rocket science. The confusion kicks in when everyone isn't on the same page as to what speed the inside line is trying to maintain. In a race breakaway, I think it is going to be really important to ensure no one is pushing the pace up consciously or unconsciously, otherwise guys are going to blow up.

Despite the confusion, I thought this arvo's training session was very good.

- It was good to get more feedback from Paul re standing starts. And better that things like de-cleating happen in training sessions like that than in pacelines or races.
- Jumping from the paceline is a key ingredient of successful breakaways in my view, and was good to practise these. Next time, I'm sure I and everyone else will understand more clearly what's expected.
- Doing the high cadence jumps is humiliating for me, but am sure it will give us all deeper insight into and improve our accceleration and sprint skill.

Agree Bruce, it did start off a bit messy but once we were all on the same page it seemed to come together.
I have to say though, for me I think it was a case of the instructions about every aspect of the task weren't clear. I suppose different people learn things in different ways. I just have to have the whole exercise explained thoroughly beforehand without having to 'guess' whats going on.
All in all though, there is a lot of good stuff to be learnt from Paul I reckon, he's very passionate about his coaching.

Hey all, short time reader, shorter time poster! ha
Can I just say I am really enjoying the wednesday night training sessions. u/f tonight health was against me, but nevertheless it is good to get some structured drills in. I am interested to get an idea of what people are looking for as part of this training. For me, the opportunity to put out some serious effort, hone skills and learn racecraft is interesting (O love the strategic side of it, even though i am not racing this year, but that's another story), but for any training there needs to be an end game or purpose. From the wider, participative Ascot racing and riding group, what are you all looking for with these sessions? Is it Nundah crits, Lakeside circuit races, Road races or is it more general - how do packs work, how do teams operate during a race, how do you learn to respond to situations or even instigate situations and what fitness / skills / ability is needed to achieve this.

I did a bit of training with Paul B two years ago before the kid(s) popped out and saw a massive improvement in my riding. While the general fitness was there, bits and bobs were sharpened (sprinting, tempo efforts etc..) as well as just circulating while chatting about the previous weeks Nundah crit. Whatever I threw out as either a comment or whinge, he was able to put it into perspective. I think I can see this beginning to happen with the between drill debriefs where you guys, as the team members who will be racing with each other learn what works and how you might all individually contribute to the team effort... Which brings me back to the original question, what are you all looking for with these sessions in order to get the most out of them?
Thanks, James

Hi James. I am still in two minds about racing, after breaking ribs 2 mths ago, but can see myself doing it again, if C grade is not just a dangerous last lap bunch sprint every week. My motivation for this training is:

- definitely to improve general and race specific bike balance and handling skills.
- get as efficient and comfortable on the bike as possible. In addition to the training, some of us are getting bike fit help from Paul.
- improve general and pack riding skills presuming this will cross over to safer social road riding.
- for some time, I've expressed the need for the AC guys to get into race tactics that don't favor a bunch sprint in the last lap. This was as much motivated to make C grade races safer (for us) as it was to race smarter. Breaks and attacks were the thrust of that, and it has been this mindset that led several of us to have Paul coach us.
- be more efficient in training, and reduce junk hours and overtraining.
- develop my natural athletic traits i.e. I'll never be a sprinter, TTs fit my previous sporting endeavors best, though i'd like to improve sprinting/climbing and do it safer.

So essentially, be as safe and as strong on a bike as possible, while simultaneously optimizing my health.

Of course, we can't be and do everything. Well some of us can't I didn't realize how spent I was before I started last night. In the preceding 4.5 days, I'd clocked up 380km, and been out for dinner the night before and drank a bottle of wine, then done 60k in the morning. I also had a bike fit with Paul the day before and my saddle and bars were changed to a more aggressive position. I had also been having issues with slow flats over the weekend, and a rear wheel that was somehow not right. Hence I felt different on a bike that didn't feel stable. I think all of us are going to have to pay more attention to bike and equipment when training especially sprinting. Pulling a cleat, a slipping chain, or rolling a tire off would no doubt be nasty.

Hi James,

It is a good question. Just what are we wanting to gain from PB's coaching? Well I for one has had the best bike fit I have ever had from anybody. Suddenly my bike suits me fine. But that aside training to me has always been my primary focus. I'm not a great racer as I just don't have the aggression or will to win that is necessary. Maybe I had it when I was younger (can't remember) but these days I tend to hang back. Because I am relatively new to cycling and especially racing, I have no idea about tactics etc and I have always sat at the back of the bunch and found it quite boring. I often asked myself just what I thought I was doing riding round, hanging on every available wheel and speeding up at the end. Like BruceG I like TT especially team TTs where you get to work with other riders but individual TTs are good as well. I've only done one road race and had a great ride. Loved it. Again, you can work with others. It is only since BruceG's and 180 (PhilM) posts about team tactics and how to train for attacks and breakaways etc that I can find some real interest in racing. Even though we have been discussing attacks etc for weeks, it has only been since PB has got hold of us that it is beginning to happen. Oh I think there is a post about a C Grade race that was the beginning of C Grades efforts at being quite aggressive with attacking etc. I think the post is called C Grade's great effort or something. But that was the only time C Grade has ever tried to have a real go as a team. Prior to that individuals would put in the occasional effort but rarely was this coordinated or involve more than one or two riders. This week we started with PB to breakaway in pairs from the group. We did that quite well although rejoining the group became problematic as the group effectively disintegrated leaving pairs of riders doing a fast lap and then resting with the remnants of the group before attacking again for another lap. Not really effective. What I would like to do with a group of approx 10 riders is have two strong riders breakaway. The remainder of the group do not respond so another two riders make a break. It is these two riders who should be pursued by the group in an effort to prevent it from joining up with the first two riders as a four-rider breakaway is far too dangerous to allow to get away. This would simulate real race conditions and have all the elements of the fight for flight syndrome being experienced by all riders. The main group must respond to prevent a four-man breakaway forming and the two in front must really work to prevent being brought back by the main group. What we have to work out is just how fast you have to go to make a breakaway. PhilM and I reached close on 52kph in our initial break. While Phil found it quite hard I found it doable because I was on his wheel. So maybe we should not exceed 48-49kph in the initial break. BruceG and I have often said that we are both prepared to go out hard (50+kph) and then let those on our wheel take over the duties of the breakaway allowing us to fall back on the main bunch to recover. I'm still happy to do that as I can easily get up to 50+ quite quickly but just as quickly fade alarmingly. These are the things I want to try and do in our training. I really want to work hard to get a result for the team. Winning has little attraction for me. I really couldn't care less. The excitement of winning is always just a little bit less than what I supposed it to be. I am much more interested and excited by the process of getting a result than the actual result itself. That is what I want from PB. A team needs somebody who is respected by all members. Somebody who can say do this or try that and we all go ahead and do it. PB can do that. Up until now we have not had anybody to organize us in spite of the fact that we all ride hard and regularly. When we are on a paceline, all general riders are used to just hopping on the Ascot Train and have been encouraged to do so. Now however, it might be difficult to exclude people who are unaware of our new training status. This might cause a problem because to execute a paceline effectively, we will want to have regular team riders only. I'm really happy with what we have done so far. PB will get used to each rider and their differing abilities in time and will be able to tailor our training more specifically. In the meantime, we need the team coach to keep us focused and working. The goal for me is team success.
Thanks for bringing this up James.
See you at the track.

Paul