Soldier Boy

Hi, I'm an average cyclist riding for about 2 years (both road and MTB). I race every week or second week during the PPA spring and summer seasons. I've done quite a few mountain bike races and some 3 days stage races too. My cycling goal is simple: TO MAXIMIZE MY PROGRESS IN CYCLING PERFORMANCE VIA TRAINING. Like most people, I have limited time, work, have young children etc. While I'll continue to do mountain bike races during the winter and then focus on road races during spring and summer, my focus is on improving my Argus time as much as possible and I'd like to start preparing for Argus 2015 now. I've done a time of 3h25 this year and I'd like to aim at a sub-3 next year. I've approached 2 coaches on separate occasions and worked with each one for a few months but I've been let down. They tend not to provide me with my programs on time and I feel the feedback and attention I should be getting is lacking. Monthly coaching fees don't come cheap and I'm at the point where I'm thinking that perhaps the best thing for me to do is get Joe Friel's Training Bible, educate myself and compile my own training program. The same way that nobody can manage your money better than yourself - is this the same approach I should be taking towards cycling. I must emphasize that I don't want my training to be in vein or simply go out and ride with the hope of improving. I want to improve and I want it to be measured. My questions are two-fold: 1. How important is it to have a coach if I want to improve? 2. If you think it is important then please recommend coaches (with their contact details) preferably based in the Southern Suburbs or CBD area in Cape Town. Thank you.

Good morning, I'm not one to complain much but this was the worst mountain bike race ever! At the pre-race briefing the speaker mentioned a sandy section of the 60km trail and said that while it may be sandy it wasn't unrideable. He also spoke about the sandy bits as if it was a very short section of the course. Everything was going great for the first half of the race then we hit the first climb. At the top of this climb, the sand was so loose that it was unrideable for MOST of the people doing the 60km race. We then expected this sand fest to come to and end but it just continued. We hit the beach and after that it was loose sand for 95% of the time all the way to the finish. I honestly thought that it was some kind of joke. Perhaps Naas Vermaak and his cronies sat around a table asking "how can we take 700 people for a fool simultaneously?" "I have an idea - let's have a mountain bike race virtually no single track, 2 really "awesome"danger sections and with more sand than the Sahara Desert". Honestly guys please tell the truth and tell people exactly how much loose sand there was. The last 15kms was nothing but loose sand. maybe some light guys and girls managed to ride it but most of us just sank into the sand and I'm not really that heavy. When I started the race until the first climb I thought we're doing well. we could do this in under 3 hours but alas I ended up walking for more than 2 hours. This Naas Vermaak just could not possibly be a relative of Kevin Vermaak. When I saw the Vermaak surname I thought good shot. But was I disappointed! I honestly do not think you guys should host another mountain bike race again. I don't think many people who did this race will be back anyway. One thing - the medals were fantastic!