Steve seeks some expert help

I found Eddy by mistake. A club mate had entered the Guildford crit and sent an email out asking if anyone else was interested in doing it. When I looked on the BC website it was listed as Cat 3/4, but then also Cat 3 only, so I contacted the organiser, Eddy, for clarification. When Eddy replied to me, he said he could hold a place for me if I got the necessary points to move from 4^th to 3^rd, by race date, he also said he did coaching.

I had been doing about 3 or 4 road races per season, but was never able to keep with the pace changes and always ended up getting dropped from the main group. I needed some focus and it seemed like a good opportunity to make some changes to the way I ride in training.

The date was set and following the recent rainy weather we were greeted with blue skies and warmth on the actual day. We started on the Watt Bike indoor trainer getting some power output numbers and looking at the balance of power delivery for left and right leg. This was very interesting as I hadn’t been on a bike with a proper power meter before.

Following a cup of tea and quick check over the bikes we were off into the hills and quiet lanes for some sessions and words of wisdom. I don’t want to tell you everything we did here as that would spoil it for you, but I will say the drills we did were as hard or harder than a race situation, which of course training should simulate. A short stop for very good coffee at a local farm shop was followed by a blast back to base to review what had been learned and a look over a cheat sheet of race prep/tactics Eddy had prepared for me to take away.

Overall the morning was very enjoyable and Eddy’s knowledge of racing and race scenario’s is very impressive. He was able to talk me through likely situations and advise how I should deal with them. Just talking to him I realised my mental outlook could be as much of my problem when racing as the structure of my training.

I will be putting the sessions into place over the coming weeks and I’m sure I’ll be hearing Eddy shouting “Come on Steve!” in my ear as I grind up my hill rep sessions. You never know, one day in the future, I may hear it as I cross the line with my arms in the air.

Eddy Lewis of Dreadnought Racing can be found at jeddylewis@googlemail.com