In the quest for hill climbing speed there is something that is really important: your strength foundation must come first if you want to climb fast!

Latest update from Graham

Two tips to help you through the live televised coverage of the TDF

A quick hill climbing tip to help you ride up hills faster on your bike

Rob provides his inital feedback on the remote coaching program. Here are his comments...

Dave,
Just a short note to tell you that I'm very much enjoying the training plan at the mo. It's hard enough believe me!!!
Cheers talk to you soon.
Rob Castellani, VIC

Hi David,

Well I'm off to the airport shortly. Thank you for the response from Jace, I'll fine tune [my nutrition] to suit.
You can check our website between Sat. 5th to Sat. 19th as we will be sending updates.

I would like to thank you for all your help this past 6 months, having a structured program to follow has been invaluable to me and I feel very prepared for what is to come in France. I am looking forward to my riding in France this year being much better than it has been in the past.

I'm looking forward to the Home Trainer e-book when it comes out later this month, instead of taking chances on our roads when it is raining, I can stay home and get in a great workout that will keep my fitness up or even perhaps improve it.

Thank you so much once again, I will e-mail you after the Marmotte on Saturday to let you know how it went.

Best Regards,

Sean King, Barbados

Sean King

Sean has been on the remote coaching program since last year and has been training for the La Marmotte. He will then be spending the next 14 days riding from "village" to "village" averaging 129km (80 miles) per day through the French Alps in his quest to ride 100 mountain passes (Cols) and thereby become the only Barbadian members of the Club des Cent Cols. Sean is a Certified Personal Trainer and has been cycling for over 6 years. Sean lost both parents to cancer less than a year apart, but it was after his mother Audrey Simpson passed in April 2005 that he felt the need to do something to raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer. Click here for the full story

In the Victorian Vets Road Championships for 2008 Jane hill finished 2nd in her age group. Harry finished 5th and Clem Fries (RaceRight Training Camp attendee) place 6th. Jodie Batchelor won her division. Well done! Neil Wesley has an important race this coming week so held back in this weekend's race. Sean King is in final preparation for his epic Marmotte event in Europe raising funds for the Barbados Cancer Society's Breast Screening Program. Visit his web site at www.barbadoscyclesforcharity.org. Click on the Full Story link below for more.

Graham Taylor storming home to his first win

Graham Taylor has been on the program for 6 weeks now and in his area they generally only have Handicap races. Graham gets a win this week. Congratulations Graham for your win and new personal best! All that hard work has paid off! Here is his report:
 
First time doing the extended standing starts and found them quite challenging. I think I was still feeling the results of them on Thursday morning when I had to do the VO2max hills as this felt a very tough session as well. And to throw in the windy conditions on the Sunday morning ride made for a hard week of training all round. The highlight of the week though was on Saturday - Race Day for the 25km handicap. The handicapper has obviously seen my slight improvements over the last few weeks (in particular my sprinting from last week’s effort) and placed me back an extra minute. So I was a minute behind the guys I normally start with and I think 4 or 5 minutes ahead of the scratch riders and about 5 minutes behind the guys that start off go. After 9 kms we (a group of 3) had already caught the group that had the minute start on us and I was feeling very comfortable on the bike. We continued to ride well together up until about the 20 km mark where I broke away from the other 2 riders going uphill, passing all the other back markers in the last 5 kms and held off the quicker riders to win the race by about 100 to 150 meters. Not only did I win the race but also took 50 seconds off my PB for a time of 42min 45 sec. My first win ever!! It was the best feeling to see the results of the work you put in during the previous weeks!! Thanks to you David.
Graham Taylor

Jane has been with the program for a while now and is getting fantastic results. Here are her comments...

Thank you so much for all your advice, help and encouragement over the last few months. I am very pleased with my results over the weekend. I wouldn't even entered the event if it hadn't been for you! I am certain that your program is making a big difference to my riding. I feel re-energized and more confident as I now work towards the State champs later this month. I am determined to increase my ergo work rate so I can get stronger and ride C grade road races - Jane Hill, VIC.