I’ve been racing bikes for the last 7 years and each year have struggled to improve to the point where I’m competitive with the other racers in my category. I’d tried joining the local fast group rides, the fast training rides, the regular club rides, with some improvement but not enough to get me where I thought I could be. Always, my goal during these rides was to hang on as long as I could before getting dropped.
I finally decided to invest in a coach to help guide my training. This was my special treat for me!! I chose to work with BJ Basham after discussing with him not only my goals for racing but also the importance of having “fun” on the bike by participating in club rides, multi day bike tours and bike commuting. For my race training BJ uses information gathered from my power meter as well as how I feel during training rides. From this he structures my training plan to work on areas that need improvement. He modifies the training based on power data, how I felt during the workouts, or any scheduling or time constraint issues that come up. Certain things he has me doing on the bike are things I would never have thought of doing on my own as I didn’t understand how they fit into making me a better racer. However, I trust that (as a racer himself) he knows what skills are needed to race effectively and how to achieve or improve those skills. Since working with BJ, I admit I haven’t won any races but I’ve truly been IN the races, from start to finish, which was one of my goals for this year.
-Diane Harris
Fort Washington, MD.
Power Training Coach 