Hello all,
As many of you know, I have been working closely with Mike Perlberg this year and have worked informally with many of you. While I will continue to do that, I am starting to offer personal coaching services to cyclists. I am USCF certified as a coach and have a great deal of experience on the national level on the track and in cyclocross as well. I will keep the number of clients small and the fees for Kissena members quite reasonable.

Now is the time to start thinking about cyclocross and the rest of your season goals.
I will work with you to design a training program that is Heart Rate or Power based that helps you meet your goals.

Please contact me off list at eragot1621@earthlink.net for more information.

Regards,
Eric

This is not a paid endorsement, but I do want to throw in my two cents about working with Eric.

For those of you who don't know me, I started bike racing during the summer of 2009 as a cat 5, and completed the obligatory 10 races. I joined Kissena March of 2010 as a 4, and did 6 or 7 races before upgrading to 3s. Up to this point, I'd been self coached and successful on the "ride a lot, ride hard sometimes, ride long sometimes" philosophy. I was also juggling some swimming and running.

When I upgraded to 3s I was quickly overwhelmed by a lot of aspects of bike racing I wasn't prepared for in the 4s. The size of the field, the difficulty navigating a fast moving pack, the quickness of accelerations and attacks, were all insane for me to deal with. I wrapped up last season just trying to survive and not get dropped (which I did a few times as well). In the fall Eric started working with me on the bike (mostly cross stuff) and my skills rapidly improved.

This winter Eric began coaching me in a more formal sense. He gave me workouts, training plans, racing schedules, etc. We really focused on identifying my weaknesses and working on improving them, while trying to figure out a strategy to sanely balance those other commitments in life. When the season started on two down notes (Dropped at Grant's tomb and at a Branchbrook race) he analyzed why it happened and tried to figure out what to do to improve. (Sometimes, I think he was thinking about my races more than me).

SInce then, I've racked up a nice string of placings and wins and have been oohhh so close a few other times. On Saturday I was a little (ok, very) bummed out about getting dropped but then I thought - last year I was struggling to stay in contact at FBF and to even move up at Prospect Park, 1 year later I'm being aggressive, racing from the front, and duking it out with a bunch of studs. Not bad.

Anyway, in the long run his coaching has really seemed to work. I can honestly say if I was training myself I wouldn't have any of the results I'm having now. He's flexible, sane, and knowledgeable. When my power meter and heart rate monitor are both broken, we figure out a way to make it work.

Mike

Finally taking people on. Dibbies.

I have doing quite a bit of reading lately. What does everyone think of his take on personalization?

Hello Everybody.
I am taking on clients again. This time, Mike Perlberg is coming on as an Associate Coach. He was a USAT certified coach and has considerable knowledge about training with power and heart rate. Triathalon experience, obviously and will be working closely with me and you.

If you are interested in personal coaching with ROCS as we call it jokingly. Please contact me at ragotcoach@earthlink.net.


Eric

Chris,

Joel Friel's stuff is a pretty spot on scientific way of looking at periodization.

I don't think it necessarily is the best approach for a time crunched athlete. Not sure if you fit in that category.

I also think his ideas fit me much better when I was racing long course triathlons and was able to focus my training in on 2-3 (or 1) big event per year. And the way the cycling season is set up here - March to December (which is true for you as a cross racer) it is nearly impossible to fit in all the periods of training her recommends and be a competitive athlete. Being a bit dramatic here, but you get the point.

I'd be happy to blab more about this stuff if you have more detailed questions.

Mike

Just want to bump this

When I started working with Ragot I was already racing okay; I'd won some TTs, put together some low top tens in the 4s, and even a win at FBF one night when the starts aligned.

BUT

For the most part I was not performing well in the out of town races, where I felt I should. I was almost always there with the lead group because I'd make the selection on the intermediate climbs. But probably 50%-75% of the time I would cramp out at the race's crucial moments, or just fall apart. I really had lost all confidence that I would ever upgrade to a 3.

When I worked with Ragot starting in June, he totally overhauled my training, and some key parts of my technique. I now line up at out of town races with absolute confidence that I will get a top ten and I feel like I am one of the strongest guys in the race at the end every time. I've made successful aggressive moves in races that i could never make before.

I'm near an upgrade now and I'm confident I'll get it this year

Oh, and my computrainer numbers on Wednesday night have been about 15-20 watts higher than they were same time last year.

We can all get better than we are now. I say get on board.