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A note from the Coach
My
goal as a coach is not only to get you to win races. To be honest with you,
I would like to think that I am promoting a life style and a culture that
most people do not always understand or know here in the US (we are getting
there, but do not tell your wife I said this :-)
My
philosophy statement on my web page is: "to be good in your sport you
have to eat, breathe and sleep your sport". This means having passion
for what you do. Getting a daily training program sent to you or comparing
power numbers with each other is not making anybody passionate about
anything. Riding your bike 6 hours over the Gavia
Pass in Italy one day and then next week racing the local "Thursday
Night Worlds" is what shows that you love riding your bike and you
enjoy every minute of it no matter where it is , because the bike has
become part of your life.
One
of my clients said one day as I was riding next to him; “Since I
started the coaching with you, cycling has really gotten a new meaning to
me and it has become a way of life ”.
Another
client told me after a race; “I wish I could capture the image in my memory
of being off the front with 5k to go. It's pouring rain. I look back at the
hulking wet silhouettes chasing me down. The image in my head is epic.
Probably the most fun I've had in a race”
Things
like these are priceless to me. If I can prepare you guys to experience
moments or feelings like this, my job becomes very fulfilling. Having a
very detailed and individualized training program, the Tucson Camp Training
camp (living like a Pro for week), the Italy/Giro
camp (riding your bike were cycling is a religion and a Grand Tour rolls
through every year), our weekly group rides, racing with you guys (and
trying to "beat the crap" out of you) and trying to promote
various products that I believe in (for example Power Cranks, foam rollers
etc.) in my mind is not always business, it is exposing you to a passion of
mine and a life for you to adopt and run with. Those who have been
with me from the start, have probably already
seen this and the new guys have something to look forward to.
Athlete profile
Bill Shattuck
Bill Shattuk proudly
wearing the KOM Leader's jersey he won during
the Killington Stage Race
A super passionate bike racer and when he lines up for
a race, he is there to race! Bill really rides hard and he does not take a
No for an answer either. There are no negations needed to build confidence
or what the goal should be in a race for him. This is a rare quality in an
athlete and some times this could work against you, but Bill thrives of
this. He started with me after the Cyclo-cross
season last year and changed teams at the same time.
Tour of Connecticut
domination
by Corner Cycle
Change is good as they say and this really sparked big
time. I hope I motivated Bill as much as his new teammates did, because
Bill is now winning sprints, KOM competitions and placing near the top in
big East Coast stage races. I hope I influenced Bill to be super aggressive
and have the “never give up attitude” in a race when it really counts as
well, because besides great fitness this is how Bill rides!
It
is great to work with him and I cannot wait to see what we can do once Cyclo-cross starts again in the fall.
Italy/Giro Camp
A huge success! That pretty much sums it up in one
sentence.
watching
the Giro D'Italia
I cannot tell how lucky we were to have Paolo Zenoni over in Italy preparing and planning
our camp. Paolo was the dream Ride Guide and hit the nail on the head with
the super nice hotel (just incredible food and wine), all the rides (better
than we could have ever dreamed about) and all the other logistics and
perks required for a trip like this.
Photo of the Italy
camp attendees
Paolo Zenoni and his Team Moretti
There is nothing I really would change for next year’s
camp and I hope this will be another FinKraft
annual event like the Tucson Training Camp. You can see pictures and read
the stories about this camp on my www.finkraftcoaching.blospot.com and
maybe next year you will be able to experience what we did this year in Italy. I
can tell you right now that this camp will fill up fast, so start planning
ahead.
Athlete notes
Greg Donovan is on a roll these days, if you remember
him winning the Cat 4 Battenkill race and he was
our featured athlete then, since then he just won CT stage race (the road stage , the points competition and the over all) last
weekend and he also took the overall in the Giro di Cielo in the Cat 4’s , so
Greg is no longer a Cat 4 , once you win one race it changes everything !
Kevin Hines fresh off the Italy camp also won all 3 classifications (GC,
Sprint and KOM) in CT this weekend in the 50 plus category beating our
friend TT world champion, Dimitry Buben.
Greg Donovan - now a
Cat. 3
Christoffel Prinsloo
and James Stevens have also had some great success in the past few weeks as
you can see in the results and the BH boys are now officially Cat 2’s. As
you can see all our FinKraft clients are consistently winning or placing in most races, very
impressive stuff!
Christoffel Prinsloo
After impressive results in Killington and Connecticut Stage
Race
Christoffel Prinsloo and James Stevens are
now Cat. 2's
James Stevens
Mark Pohndorf our
first State Champion of 2010 , Mark wins the 40K NJ states last Sunday ,
the over all fastest time and the 40+ .
Congrats, climbing the Passo di
Mortirolo the week
before , maybe had something to do with!!
MARK POHNDORF HAD A
STELLAR RIDE AT THE NJ STATE TT
Jon Raheb , won the cat 3 RR
of the Giro di Cielo
Jon Raheb shown on a climb in Italy
Andreas won the New Jersey ShoreTT
M35+
Andreas Runggatscher
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