Get a coach
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The stunning backdrop of the Teesdale and Weardale moors feature on the Roof of England Sportive
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Yanto Barker enjoyed a fine season with Raleigh in 2014 and has joined now One Pro Cycling (Pic: Lloyd Images)
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Russell Downing uses November to get the miles in and enjoy his riding (pic: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
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Interval sessions aren't for everyone but can be used to great effect (Pic: Deborah Malin/Media-24)
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Russell Downing ensures his rides contain a mix of both flat roads and hills (Pic: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
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Madison-Genesis rider Tom Stewart is a firm believer in keeping things fun (Pic: Joolze Dymond)
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Ian Field believes cyclo-cross can have many benefits for road cyclists (Pic: Balint Hamvas)
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Field's cyclo-cross training is designed to replicate what he would otherwise be doing in a race (pic: Balint Hamvas)
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Tom Stewart will spend time on Madison-Genesis training camps but also goes to Gran Canaria alone (Pic: Joolze Dymond)
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Stewart enjoyed a successful 2014 and believes his coach has allowed him to make the most of his time in the saddle (Pic: Tour Series)
Get a coach
Another luxury afforded to professionals is a dedicated coach, something Stewart – himself an amateur in the not-too-distant past – wishes he had taken on sooner.
Currently coached by 11-time ‘British best all-rounder’ Kevin Dawson, Stewart believes a coach can help any amateur get more out of their training hours.
“What a coach does is make your training more efficient,” he says. “If you go out on your bike but you’re not fully sure it’s the right thing – even though it probably will be – you will find you won’t commit to it 100 per cent.
“If you’ve got a coach telling you, then it just reinforces that. It just motivates you a bit more. From an amateur’s point of view, my only regret is that I didn’t get a coach sooner.
“There’s a lot of advice there from nutrition to diet, how not to get ill and all that. I think, from my own experience with amateurs, that they end up doing too much.
“A coach can get you to back off a little but do sessions more tailored to what your goals are. I’d definitely recommend it. It can be expensive, but it depends what your ambitions are and if you can afford to do it then you should do.”
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