Come on, everyone can benefit from a little coaching

Do you need a cycling coach? Is it time to re-focus on your skills? Are you getting rusty?

I have a friend who just switched coaches. I was shocked to learn he actually had a coach to begin with.

"What do they help you with?" I asked.

"She keeps me focus and I don't overtrain," he answered.

"Well, since when is overtraining a bad thing, I ask you? OK, it is, but I can control it. I don't think I need a coach to tell me to stop training," I said.

"I doubt that, Walker," he said.

The truth is, a coach might help me. What about you?

I looked into a couple of coaching programs to see what they are all about. The Peaks Coaching Group has specialized coaches that seem to focus on helping you push the outer boundaries of the aerobic frontier. They have a surprising number of athletes using their services: Jeremiah Bishop, Nick Waite, Matt Cooke. These are all consistent podium finishers.

Does it take a coach to get to the podium?

On the freeride side there are coaches who could take you to the top of the pyramid. I read an interesting article by Michelle Dumaresque, a freeride coach. It was good to hear from the coach's perspective. It sounds like she, and probably others, have a good time coaching.

"Being a coach is an amazing feeling. Perhaps it's getting to share my passion for the sport or maybe it's that we all just like to learn something new. I still do. Of course, when you are eight, pretty much everything is new. Over the years, I've taught men and women, young and old, but all of them have smiled in their own way, the way you smile to yourself when you finally "get it." Having the chance to help create those kinds of smiles makes it all worthwhile for me."

After looking at Michelle's commentary on coaching, it makes me feel like a coach could be a useful addition to anyone's training. I guess a coach is a personal thing. If you want the help, then go for it. If you feel like you can do it yourself, then there is nothing a coach could really offer you. It is all about buying in. You have to want the coaching, otherwise you'll just end up spending a bunch of money.