I used torun a holiday company in Morzine. Between seasons, I taught PE, thinking thatmy Sports and Materials Sciences degree wouldn’t pay as a career. Alongside this I coached motocross riders and wrote articles for Dirt Bike Rider. Gee Atherton read one and emailed me about training, back in 2006. The following year, I worked with him leading up to theWorld Champs in FortWilliam, where he got third.After that I started training Danny Hart.When he went on to win theWorld Champs in 2011 it opened a lot of doors for me. I now coach full-time.
One day I’ll be up in the Highlands testing with The Dudes of Hazzard, the next I’ll be in the performance gym at Birmingham Uni training top DH and MXriders.Add into the mix writing workout plans, bike coaching with +3 and attending World Cups and training camps, and no day is ever quite the same!
My job is to maximise an athlete’s potential, so that at a race they can let their skills do the talking. There’s always a rationale for exercises. Some riders, like Tracy Moseley, want to know the reasoning behind everything, whereas Brendan Fairclough is the opposite – he wants to know what to do, but without too much science.
I don’t think I’ve worked with a ‘lazy’ athlete, but some like to rest more than others. Brendan never sits still – a rest day for him is a two-hour ride and moto laps in the evening! Matt Simmonds has a raw strength that’s impressive for an MTBer. Gee and Rachel are amazingly powerful too. I really like the way Joe Breeden approaches things – for someone so young, he’s very mature and focused, but not overly serious.
+3 MTB
Set up by Dave Jacquin, +3 MTB (www.plus3mtb.com) is a new coaching company that aims to improve all aspects of your riding. A day with +3 involves input from a skills coach, a mechanic and a strength and conditioning coach, so you don’t just work on your skills but your bike set-up and fitness too. Alan’s there to help students understand the importance of good fitness for riding and how it helps you maintain a good posture on the bike. He also draws on over 10 years of tracksideWorld Cup experience to help out with line choice and technique feedback, through video analysis. If you’re serious about improving your riding, it could be worth a look.
