Racer Ex 

"Renew your USA Cycling membership or become a new member by February 28 and receive one of three FREE CYCLING TRAINING PLANS, courtesy of TrainingPeaks."

Given the near impossibility of finding any free training plans on the net, this is an impressive benefit from USAC.

And I hear that if you donate to their anti-doping fund you get your choice of an AMC Pacer seat cover or an autographed picture of Randy Mantooth.

echappist

does this include life coaching as well?

UmneyDurak

Did anyone actually find USA cycling benefits, you know beneficial?

gsteinb

I cashed in on the supplemental insurance when I was in the hospital in 2010.

Racer Ex 

fify

Hida Yanra

Huh - well I'll CERTAINLY give USAC my money again this year then - and here I was thinking I wouldn't since none of the Oregon races require it.

I could certainly use the help as I start to train for my grand fondos and my season peak - a gran-fondo-gravel-grinder!

Hermes

I wonder if they are transferable. If so, I am donating my one free training plan to junior, Puppy Doge.

gsteinb

are you trying to say his dad doesn't know what he's doing?

mattm

I wonder, do D&D guys have coaches too?

misterwaterfall

You are assimilating quite well I see

Hida Yanra

since doing four races would be more than I did all last year, I'll see what I can do.
Grand Fondos certainly are races at the pointy end - and they are way more scenic than WSBA's "let's do the same five road courses again"

eh, I'm going to start riding again, maaaybe training again- I'll take it one step at a time from here.

Edit to add: your call - Ravensburg RR in April, or THIS in late summer

gsteinb

so what's the disdain towards coaches? I'm not sure I get it.

mattm

It's not coaches I dislike; I've met Mr. Racer Ex and he was really nice.

misterwaterfall

That route would make me cry and beg for my mommy. I hope to total about that much climbing in all of my races combined this year.

gsteinb

You hate guys who use coaches? I still don't get it. Or maybe you west coast guys just need to punch the passive aggressive clock a set number of days.

Hermes

I was trying to help defray some of the costs.

mattm

Lol no I don't hate you for having a coach, I just think that for me it's not worth it. And I think that for a lot of people it's not worth it.

Basically I'm a big proponent of self-coaching. Which doesn't mean I don't have structure, or don't take advice from others. I do both.

I figure if I can go from 5->1 in a few years w/out a coach, others should be able to as well, in a nutshell. Of course there are a lot of variables into how far one goes in this sport, so take that statement for what it's worth (not much).

Anyway. This a discussion we've had about two million times in the 33; and kind of like religious discussions, doesn't seem like anyone is gonna change their mind any time soon.

gsteinb

No, truthfully I don't care what anyone does. I'm just not sure why comments pop up from guys that seem to indicate they have an opinion on guys using coaches. But back to the D&D comment…most sports offer folks access to coaches. Many gym memberships come with training.

I think there's more to it that how far you can go also, anyway. I had arguably my best season self coaching. 35+ masters crit, 3rd place elite crit. Spring Series titles. Over all season points title. Track series title.

For me though it's about finding the littler gains, being more efficient with my time, and more honest with myself. This definitely has me train less, and for sure I have the tendency to pile it on. I'm also more heavily marked than I was 7-10 years ago, so making the most of what I got is important. I'm certain I'm doing things that are helping that I wouldn't have done on my own.

gsteinb

his dad charges him a lot? That's stone cold.

hack

a) you'll never make it as a bike racer without a coach.

b) i don't feel like i need a coach, but have enlisted the help of one to maximize the use of my time. i know that i am far too undisciplined to develop a plan and stick to it.

see 'a' above

furiousferret

Here we go!

Hermes

He deducts it from Puppy Doge's share of his inheritance.

Hida Yanra

also, sorta none of that is paved, so add 20% more effort... it'll be a full day in the saddle for sure.
Sigh, gotta get rid of the #trackass now, and just when I was starting to love it.

Ygduf

I'll give you a B on the passive-aggressive scale for trying to troll me into both giving my opinion on 8-hour/week guys paying $300/month for coaches while simultaneously also calling me passive-aggressive again, via the west-coast label.

Solid work, but I'm not going to say anything crazy like "who am I to step between a sucker and the money they're throwing at a problem they didn't know they had until someone told them they had a problem!" because that might not represent my true feelings anyway.

gsteinb

I don't know any 8 hour a week guys paying three hundred a month. do you? I reckon that's like the math you use to compare a DA 9000 SRM with PC8 to a low level quarq.