Lukas Nerurkar writes about his own coaching journey, and how to choose your first coach.
“I started getting coached halfway through the junior category, around 17 years old.”
I started getting coached halfway through the junior category, around 17 years old. Before this, I trained myself, doing what I felt was roughly right, some stuff learnt from British Cycling system, some from reading online and some from talking to other, older riders.
I always loved riding and training hard, but wanted to see if I could improve with some external input. Coaching gave me some more structure, the biggest difference was holding back on most the rides and sessions but doing hard days in a more productive way.
The view with my coach was always thinking long term, slowly building up, realising that I didn’t have to be at my full potential at the end of juniors, or even u23 but to always have room to develop later. It was about physical training, but also about learning the broader foundations of being a bike rider, how to rest, eat and race well.
“I trained hard but never at the expense of studying.”
I also balanced academics with training. I did my A-levels last year junior and first year u23, during this time, I trained hard but never at the expense of studying and just general life, which can be somewhat hectic at that age. While I was studying, there was more variation in how I felt day to day, sometimes feeling empty on the bike after a long day at school.
Being able to call my coach at any point and have a good chat was more important than nailing any individual session. Its only now I’m older, more experienced and riding full time, I have more consistency with how I feel day to day and can focus on the small things that I would never have the bandwidth to think about while I was in school. The feeling of holding back always helped as I could see a pathway and kept things fresh when I could naturally progress to the next step physically.
“Communication and flexibility, are the two most important things to look for in a coach.”
Communication and flexibility, are the two most important things to look for in a coach, especially starting out. I was lucky that my first coach, Peter, also laid down the foundations pretty clearly to what a good rider/ coach relationship should look like. Communication is by far the most important aspect. For me, being able to explain how I felt during a ride, then him listening, explaining the ideas behind what was set and changing training when needed, made sure I wasn’t blindly following a plan, and bought into the process. The rider should always have a say in training, so make sure you find a coach who respects you and makes time to understand how you work best.
“It’s easier to learn directly from others rather than just being told by a coach”
Its a learning process, at first I couldn’t really explain how I felt or why I thought I felt like that, but with help from Peter, I learnt slowly and gained confidence to vocalise my feelings. Peter had no sport science background, but was a former rider so understood what I was experiencing and could always give advice for issues on and off the bike, which is far more important than a sport-scientist focused coach lacking communication skills. Peter also understood that riding isn’t just about meters and manuals, encouraging me to ride with better riders, just learning from them rather than doing a prescribed session solo. It’s easier to learn directly from others rather than just being told by a coach, no matter how much you trust them.
