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Old 07-01-19, 10:21 PM
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Heathpack 
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Los Angeles
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Bikes: 2018 Scott Spark, 2015 Fuji Norcom Straight, 2014 BMC GF01, 2013 Trek Madone

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I agree with @Flatballer, the coach-athlete relationship is exactly that: a relationship. If you don’t feel like you have a relationship, you should probably move on. Your coach might work well for someone else but not for you, that’s the nature of it.

What is the purpose of a coach? It’s really to get you better results than you could get without the coach. Some of what a good coach provides is the specific workouts but mostly it’s about the overall training plan and helping you to manage that in the context of your life. If you are an outlier in any way, or if your life/schedule in complicated, a coach can provide great benefit.

Should a coach provide help with tactics, equipment decisions, race strategy, etc? Yes. Should a coach know you pretty well after 10 months? Yes.

I had a terrible coach initially and have a great coach now. I’m definitely glad I did not give up on the concept of being coached, for me personally it’s a great luxury that works well.

When I was looking for a coach, I contacted a local well respected coach who I know got good results. He told me he wasn’t accepting new clients and then a week later took on an acquaintance who doesn’t even ride (let alone race) anymore. We continued to move in the same circle of cyclists and I eventually came to realize that this coach was looking to cultivate a stable of a certain type of cyclist- he wanted buddies around his age who raced crits. He actually did the right thing to turn me away because I probably would have always been the odd man out in that circle. It gave me the opportunity to find a coach who worked for me, and gave him the opportunity to focus on the type of cyclist he could do the most for, in part because he limited himself to working with cyclists he could really engage with. Maybe your coach is like this one, he’s not that interested in you personally. Why stick with someone like that?

So I’d encourage you to look around, interview a few coaches and see if there’s someone else who seems like a better fit. It wasn’t that hard for me to find someone who I work well with.
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