How it all began
My cycling journey began in 1999 when I stopped playing football. Wanting to maintain a level of fitness, I decided to take up cycling as an alternative mode. I have since become consumed by the sport (in a positive way of course), whether that be maintaining good training habits, participating in club rides, cycling abroad, racing, watching racing or simply enjoying the process of researching and buying a new bike (I mean, who doesn’t like buying a new bike?).
After many a year’s of simply enjoying club rides, I decided to start time trialling back in 2012, and then employed a local coach in 2013. I learnt an incredible amount from being coached and made fantastic progress with my overall fitness, time trialling ability and understanding of training methods, which in turn fuelled my interest in the analytical elements of coaching. For many years I provided informal mentorship to my fellow club riders, before becoming an ABCC qualified coach.
Non-cycling related background
So, a bit about my non-cycling related background. I obtained a first-class B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Information Technology here in the UK, which has helped shape a progressive career as a Project/Programme Management Professional, delivering large, complex infrastructure and systems integration projects – basically planning for a living, you might say.
In fact, some of the skills and techniques I have developed during my career have been invaluable, and transferrable to cycling coaching. This has enabled me to apply and develop a fully agile approach to my coaching process.
Family and life balance
When I am not riding my bike or coaching, I of course enjoy spending time with my wife, two daughters and Mabel the dog (I hope the feeling is reciprocated by them!). As a result, I fully understand the busy nature of family life and work commitments and I have ensured that the coaching services I provide reflect, what I believe to be an agile approach to training that can maintain a sensible life balance.