Coach in Essex

rikk

Anyone know of a mtb coach in the Essex area?

First off bare in mind I'm disabled, one leg and other is 40% down on strength

I'm looking at specifically fitness/strength, I'm getting a little frustrated that even though i seem to be getting stronger/fitter all the time even an average cyclist can wet all over me.
I'm out 3-4 times a week and want to do know what I'm doing wrong/right and what i can do to improve.

explosifpete

This is the third post ive seen about about riding coaching in essex, but unforchantly there isn't anything running. The only thing I can think of is the Danbury outdoors centre (where I used to work) but this is mainly for kids and will only teach the basics and this won't be much use to you.
I got a bit serious in the summer and loaned a book from the local library ( I think it was called the serious cyclist) it was aimmed at road cycling but the trainning techniques cross over, you just have to adjust the mileage.
Also have you looked in to spin classes at your local gym as they really get you legs working and most places have spd pedals now (i'm guessing that you need them.
One last idea that pussed my fitness right up was to get a fixed whel road bike as you never get the chance to stop pedaling and only have one gear so sometimes your spinning away the next you have to push hard to get up the next hill, infact you might benefit from a fixed bike as the momentum makes it really easy to ride one legged.
I ride mostly in and arount danbury near chelmsford if you fancy a ride ever as it allways good to see new faces.

rikk

I tried spinning and quite enjoyed it, only issue is I can't stand and pedal on their bikes as I have a special crank on my mtb and a lot of the spinning stuff is standing.

It may just be me expecting to much of myself i guess but i need to know one way or the other and if I can make a difference.

One thing i do keep meaning to follow up is I found that Roehampton university do biometrics, you can pay to go to their centre and spend a couple of hours being put through your paces and they will evaluate you and tell you where you are lacking/going wrong.

Right...I'll phone them tomorrow and see, they did say I may get it quite a bit cheaper as they don't get many if any amputee's on bikes so they get students/profs to come in and observe/test/ask q's if your a bit different...we'll see

explosifpete

Out of intrest how do you ride with one leg,
Do you have a prosthetic leg that you wear when your riding?

rikk

I'm a below knee amputee on the right. I have a specific leg for cycling which allows me to bend the knee more and also has very loose movement left/right at the ankle to give the knee an easier life.
I have an spd on the tin leg side, it's not needed for gentle riding but I found the foot popped off the pedal far to much once i started to get more spirited, and on the other side I have a flat pedal.
Bikes standard apart from a gravity dropper which allow me to pedal at the right height but drop the saddle when stopping/starting, also i have a crank called a RotoR which always has the power pedal in the 1o'clock position so all i have to do is put weight on the pedal to make the bike go forward where as normally you'd push forward with one knee, and pull back with the other to get over the 6/12 dead spot. This allows me to climb MUCh steeper than without and also to pedal standing up which is extremly hard/impossible otherwise.

explosifpete

the photos didn't come out! could you repost them as i'm quite intreiged by how your cranks work.

Did you watch any of the parlympic track cycling? as I saw quite a few one and no legged cyclist and they were much faster than me or anyone i've riden with, I'm always quite amazed the disabilities that people can overcome.

I can only amagine how much harder it must be not to be able to stand for the more tricker sections and steeper hills as its hard enough as it is.
Where abouts do you ride?

rikk

This is the crank I use :-



http://www.rotorcranksusa.com/i1-rs4x.shtml

Bloody expensive but something I really can't do without. It does take a lot of maint though, not really designed for this country so it's stripped/cleaned and regreased monthly.

Yep watched some of the cycling but being honest i find road/track cycling to be about as dull as you can get although i watched a lot of track and field.

I normally ride at Thorndon, hainault or epping with a sprinkling of woburn, thetford and anywhere else that looks interesting

Come and play at Thorndon one sunday morning, CJW came out with us last weekend and I think he enjoyed himself
I do a lot of exploring and trailfinding, looking for those little fun section to join everything up rather than using fireroads.

Lets try those pics again...