Bridging the gap

[RicovdM]

Hi all.

 

Im posting on behalf of a female friend (23 years old)

 

She has been cycling for about 2 years now and has recently started to do well in quite a few races.

 

Some of her recent results were 3rd under 23 lady at Clarens (75km) in the Mtn sereis and second lady overall at the Magalies Monster (82km).

 

She has a dayjob and trains about twice during the week (only +- a 50km ride as hard as possible) and does one or two longer rides (80km +) on weekends.

 

Even though she has done fairly well in races, she is still about 30mins if not a bit more off the leading ladies' times.

 

What would it take to bridge that gap? Is it a case of smarter training or does she need to turn to cycling full time and if so, how does one get sponsored in order to be able to cycle on a full time basis?

[ratherberidin']

my quick 2c on the training:

 

More. Lots more. Shes managed to do relatively well with little training and natural talent but reeling in that 30 minute gap takes a whole lot more. Maybe not full time,yet, but maybe she should work in a couple of interval session with her current training, its short and lekker effective..

[Spinnekop]

Smarter training.

 

Hook up with a good coach and see what she can after a few months with targeted training.

That is what I would have done.

[RicovdM]

Smarter training.

 

Hook up with a good coach and see what she can after a few months with targeted training.

That is what I would have done.

 

Any suggestions with regard to a person that she can approach for coaching?

 

She lives in Bloemfontein, so that makes thins a bit more difficult.

[Spinnekop]

Any suggestions with regard to a person that she can approach for coaching?

 

She lives in Bloemfontein, so that makes thins a bit more difficult.

 

It does yes.

She'll have to go see someone to do the initial intro and testing and then do online from there on.