Pete Nicholls – My journey so far…….

Some four years ago I was introduced to competitive cycling by a friend. Cycling has always played a part in my life but never had I contemplated cycle racing. So in May 2012 I decided to enter the Loughborough Criterium and set about training. My philosophy and approach was ride as hard and fast as I could everywhere. The cat 4 race was the biggest shock to the system I could have ever imagined. At 15 stone I managed to hang on for dear life being placed 15 th overall. I was hooked and left wanting more.

That season saw me gain my 3rd cat licence and climb the Polly Botts hill climb to take 3rd overall. Clearly to the cyclist I met and people around me I didn’t have much of a clue regarding how to approach my training, it was all hard and fast with no continuity, rhyme or reason. Fuelling was a total unknown and recovery never really happened. I was giving PB performances phone number by a fellow cyclist and encouraged to give them a call. The best recommendation I’ve ever been given.

After a lengthy, detailed and friendly chat over the phone Paul and I had arranged a meeting and the Coach Athlete relationship was born.
Aims, what aims? All I wanted to do was ride my bike and be as good as I could be. I had dreams but they were just that and never really realistic. I was encouraged to think of what I wanted to gain from my training and time scales to achieve these goals. How much time could I realistically commit to training and racing?  We chatted about the feasibility of these goals and came up with an ultimate aim for year one and two and how we proposed to do it.

My life at the time was somewhat unconventional and must have been a coach’s worst nightmare. I had two jobs one involving shift work the other my own business to run plus a young family and wife. At the start I would see the sessions and fit them in at one end of the day or the other. This would work for short periods until I’d crash and burn but only because my feedback was somewhat limited in the initial stages. I soon realised feed back was a crucial part of the relationship and as this developed Paul was able to adjust and maintain an approach that suited me as an individual. We needed to get to know each other and how we both functioned. Slowly the information that was being drip fed to me started to sink in; nutrition, recovery, correct training zones, importance of discipline when doing set sessions and the importance of conferring before making personal adjustments. With Paul’s flexible and approachable coaching ethics I started to gain some continuity and some huge gains in my ability. All the time he had his eye on my other commitments and constraints and worked around these adjusting where possible. By August I’d gained my cat 2 and taken silver in the Fire Service National Road Race Champs and winning a small number of road races along the way. We had achieved my goals.

My second year with PB performance saw me start with a week in hospital seriously ill. With some major life style changes influenced partly by chatting with Paul my training started from scratch in February. Starting from the bottom was hard and my instinct was to push on and play catch up. I had some poor races early on but all the time I was being gently assured and encouraged to be patient and stay positive. The approach was absolutely spot on, by June I was on the podium again in the Emergency Services National Time Trial Champs in both the 10 and 25 milers.  August saw me roll over the line in 7 th place in the Emergency Services National Road Race behind some seriously classy elite and Cat 1/2 riders. A year ago I wouldn’t have even finished that race . A combination of the training and huge chunks of tactical racing advice from PB Performance ensured I could compete and thoroughly enjoy the romance of such a historic race within the services. With a hat full of club TT wins and taking the KOM jersey at the Fin del Verano stage race in September. I’d finished my season with a smile.

With Paul’s experience and knowledge he’d got the balance right, I’d had months of consistent uninterrupted training which undoubtedly helped.

PB Performance work tirelessly to help athletes reach their potential with the correct training stress balance, flexible approach and endless advice which is always available. They want you to understand why and be actively involved in the decision making. This year Paul has managed to double my quality of training (not hours) and my ability has somewhat improved beyond what I thought possible.

My season has come to an end, time now to sit with Paul and look at, what went right? What went wrong and why? What do I want to do next season? And how are we going to achieve that?