Ben Plenge from Bristols ‘MTB Strength Factory’ talks to us about his experience of Winter coaching with Pedal Progression. Here is Part 1
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“Whilst I have been riding since 1994, and consider myself to be a decent rider, I still want to be faster especially as I will be racing the 2015 UK Gravity Enduro Series as well as one round of the Enduro World Series, and maybe a couple of smaller local races. I have known Sam and Matt at Pedal Progression since I moved to Bristol in the spring and they are top blokes and great riders, so when I decided to have some coaching this winter I was in no doubt who to call…..
Over the winter, I will be doing a coaching session with Sam every fortnight, gradually working on different skills and aspects of bike handling, and in return I will be doing strength training in the gym with Sam once per week.
If you think that you are too good or too quick to benefit from coaching then I would suggest you think again! Sam really knows his stuff and by watching and filming me riding and doing different drills around cones and stuff he has confirmed what I already suspected:
I have some bad habits!
The clever bit is how Sam explains what I should be doing and breaks it down into achievable steps, allowing me to gradually erase my old habits and to rebuild my riding from the ground up. At the moment as I re-adjust I am having to ride a little slower to allow me time to think about what I am doing and where my weight is, but I can really feel the increased control and grip on the trail and I know that will lead to faster speeds in the long run. I think of it as a short-term sacrifice, especially if somebody slow overtakes me! I just have to swallow my pride and think about the 2015 race season.
With 2 sessions behind me and quite a bit of practice my body position has improved and is more aggressive looking which is great for trail speed and control and also looks a lot better in photos which is cool! I look forward to working on more advanced stuff over the coming months with Sam and the Pedal Progression team.”
Ben Plenge – MTB Strength Factory
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