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Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters

Paul Winkley

Cycle training for Winter months

sports & recreation outdoor

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Cycling on a budget

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2025/02/27

Let’s face it our simple sport of cycling has become a little expensive in the last few years. The downturn of the cycling industry shows that maybe it’s getting just deserts for trying to persuade us to part with thousands of pounds for the latest fad. One prime example is dropping a clubman’s favourite mechanical groupset in favour of electronic only versions. To my mind it’s a mistake. We’d all like a pro level road bike but at £12,000+ few can afford to buy and often you are just paying for a

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TP Virtual - Zwift killer or just another turbo...

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2024/10/31

News reaches us that TrainingPeaks have acquired IndieVelo and changed its name to TP Virtual. This joins an already crowded market of indoor cycling apps of Zwift, Trainer Road, Rouvy, My Whoosh and Wattbike Hub to name a few.I’ll admit straight away I’m not a fan of these apps with the exception of Wattbike Hub which is purely numbers and performance driven. It’s a personal preference and probably swayed by the brand of indoor bike I ride. Those I coach are also split 50/50 with some worshiping at

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Numbers

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2024/10/14

I overheard a recent conversation between two cyclists, one was explaining to another that the reason why he doesn’t compete is his FTP is lower than his mate who does.This led me to think that perhaps people don’t understand what FTP actually is and its relationship to cycling performance ……let’s start at the beginning.As a cycling coach I regularly test people to find their true personal performance numbers so I can extrapolate training zones – simple.Amongst these metrics is FTP or to give it its

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Motivation

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2024/03/27

I’m regularly asked about this in relation to cycle training these are some of my thoughts….As with all things one simple question is always top; ‘Why am I doing this?’There are many possible answers but primary to these can be summed up with one word ‘goals’. Spend time thinking about these and it helps to make your goals short, medium and long term. Everyone is different, in my case goals were always competition based. Your goals might also be an event or race, keeping fit, enjoying the

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Can I coach anyone?

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2024/02/26

I suppose the answer to this is yes and no which I admit is a complete cop-out. This answer is because some people believe they are un-coachable, then by entering into the process and changing a few habits suddenly find they are. I also coach people at all levels not just elite athletes. As far as I’m concerned, the biggest reward comes from the ordinary doing the extraordinary.I read with interest coach Joe Friel’s take on this. Joe has written many coaching books and is co-founder of online

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Bike servicing myth or reality?

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2023/07/24

This subject came up at a recent café stop on our regular weekly ride – another club’s members were getting very excited because a local bike shop was offering special deals on bike servicing.Bike servicing seems a fairly recent phenomenon possibly born out of a few of things. Lack of knowledge, the will to get your hands dirty and greater disposable income. Plus, bikes in recent times have become more technically complicated – or have they?I’ll take the last point first. I’m lucky enough to own a

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Baggage

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2022/03/16

It struck me the other day that we as cyclists all gather metaphorical baggage as we go through our athletic career. No I’m not talking saddlebags or panniers but clothing, equipment, and pre-conceived ideas. After all the Velominati ‘keepers of the cog’ https://www.velominati.com state in rule 6 ‘Free your mind and your legs will follow - Your mind is your worst enemy. Do all your thinking before you start riding your bike. Once the pedals start to turn, wrap yourself in the sensations of the ride

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An hour is more than enough.

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2022/02/28

News has reached me of someone who has just spent over 6 hours riding a smart turbo trainer. Apparently some people have far too much time on their hands and frankly I’d rather be out in the fresh air enjoying the lanes and our wonderful countryside. Admittedly on the day in question we did have the worst storm in years with winds recorded at 122mph on the Isle of Wight, it also partially ripped the roof off the Millennium Dome or 02 as its currently known with a rare ‘red’ weather warning, maybe

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Phew what a scorcher!

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2020/08/07

I’ve had a few people ask me what precautions they can take when riding bike with the mercury over 30 deg C on the thermometer. Some are common sense but thought I’d share these.Firstly fluids. Ensure you are fully hydrated before you start. Generally, the last thing I’ll do is ‘neck’ a large glass of squash before going out. Take two bottles [obviously!] – one for drinking, one for pouring. So, in other words one with your favorite brand of energy fuel or flavouring and one plain water. The

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So…. what did you do during lockdown to improve your...

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2020/05/26

As a coach I'm lucky enough to own a Wattbike Pro - fantastic piece of kit but I'm unable to have my clients and other athletes over to Merlin HQ for testing at the moment and rather than let it gather dust in the corner its been put to good use not only testing new indoor 'Turbo' sessions on myself but also using the Wattbike's vast array of measurement functions to find optimal position and improve my woefully poor pedalling technique.I also wanted to try different saddle heights as quite by

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Stay fit and stay safe

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2020/03/23

Training in isolation has an element of fear about it right? …..Wrong! If you look at most of your training you do about 80% is alone. So, what has changed - nothing!At the time of writing, we in the UK are still allowed to venture outside - that might change but while the roads are quieter than usual why not enjoy them while you can. Whether out on the road or indoors on the turbo, training first thing in the morning is best, if you leave it till later in the day you’ll find an excuse not to

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From Russia with Love

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2019/07/22

My last blog told of my coaching experiences with triple cancer survivor Patrick MacIntosh who is attempting to ride from London to Japan in time for the Rugby World Cup in

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Patrick McIntosh's Life Cycle

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2019/06/12

As a cycling coach I have a great and varied client base but none more interesting than Patrick McIntosh who is attempting a ride from London to Tokyo for charity. A chance

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Spring Podcast

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2019/03/10

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Christmas Podcast

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2018/12/17

We look at do's and dont's for the Christmas period + a visit to a Christmas 10 mile TT complete with fancy dress!

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Supporting links and information mentioned in Turbo...

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2018/11/14

Useful turbo training sessions are here:https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/training-plans/supporting-documents/article/izn20140529-Indoor-Training-Sessions-0As I mentioned 220 – age doesn’t cut it anymore to calculate maximum Heart Rate.Everyone is different but if you don’t have any underlying medical issues the best way to find your HR and Power Zones is with a Ramp test under controlled conditions using the British Cycling protocol. For fitter riders you can do a Threshold test, we use

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Coaching Matters - Turbo Training

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2018/11/14

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Coaching Matter - Winter Training

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2018/09/24

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching MattersWinter Training

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Amat Victoria Curam

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2018/09/11

Don’t know about you but when I qualified as a coach Latin wasn’t on the curriculum!‘Amat Victoria Curam’ means ‘Victory Loves Preparation’ and its equally true in all forms of cycle sport from Charity Rides to Le Tour de France and everything in between. If you don’t train specifically your performance will be poor or in coaching terms all the ‘P’s – Poor Preparation equals Poor PerformanceWhat can you do?Motivation is key but it’s too easy to say:I’m tiredThere’s something on the TVMy Auntie is

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Time Trial Pacing

Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters ·

2018/08/23

Some of you are still looking for that elusive personal best this season, in my experience, these can come late in the year – some of us have left it as late as 1st week of October!If you have trained hard and have the form there may be a reason why you can’t quite crack that ride you did last season or a few years ago on the same course. There are a lot of variables but one you have control over is pacing.Many people simply start way too fast and can’t maintain the effort, far better to start

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Merlin Cycle Coaching - Coaching Matters

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