{"id":20589,"date":"2024-08-23T14:42:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T06:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/?p=20589"},"modified":"2024-12-20T22:19:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:19:47","slug":"trans-am-bike-race-john-degregory-coaching-testimonial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2024\/08\/23\/trans-am-bike-race-john-degregory-coaching-testimonial\/","title":{"rendered":"TRANS AM BIKE RACE \/ JOHN DeGREGORY \/ COACHING TESTIMONIAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got an email from John in May 2023, enquiring about coaching for the 2024 Trans Am Bike Race<\/a> (TABR). If you are unfamiliar with the TABR, it is a self-supported event that requires its participants to cycle across America. The route was first developed by the Adventure Cycling Association in 1976. A fellow called Nathan Jones founded the TABR and the first event was held in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The route runs from the Pacific coast in Astoria, Oregon to the Atlantic coast in Yorktown, Virginia, passing through ten states, and sometimes goes westwards too. It’s a monster of an event: the route is 4,200 miles (6,800\u00a0km). Even for a highly experienced cyclist this is a daunting ride – usually about half the field fails to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was recommended to John by my friend and former client, Mark Croker, whom I coached to his own successful TABR back in 2017. You can read about his remarkable journey from weekend rider to ultra-distance cycling legend here.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks Mark! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mark on his Trans Am ride.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so began a year long adventure with John, one I thoroughly enjoyed. I quickly discovered that I was dealing with a serious athlete here, as his FTP climbed up from 130 steadily over the months to top out at 305 watts, just 8 weeks before the start of the TABR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training had gone better than I could have hoped. John proved himself to be a super fast responder not just to the sessions but to new ideas too, and his ability to self-coach on the bike grew quickly too. Then, with just about 2 months to go before the race, John became sick with a long, lingering virus that threatened to wipe out all his gains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I knew that the deep base we had created would take longer than a month off the bike to be seriously eroded, and that we needed to be patient. In the end, he got to the start line about 10% off the form he had before the illness struck – but by Eddy, he got the damn thing done! 42 days later, he had completed the TABR… and I have a tear in my eye as i type this..!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this process a real kinship developed between us, and I’m proud to call John a friend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s a good man, a gentle man, and I miss our weekly chats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over to John!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coaching Testimonial \/ John DeGregory<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020 during the tumultuous reality of COVID I found a cycling documentary on Amazon Prime called ‘Inspired To Ride’, chronicling the inaugural 2014 TransAmerica Bike Race… a 4200-mile self-supported bike packing gauntlet across the United States!  At the time I was riding shotgun (pun intended) with my wife teaming with her to shepherd her trajectory to the mountaintop of her dream to become a veterinarian.  In the dog days of a seven-year run to that summit I realized how much I missed the athlete in me and the active lifestyle that point guarded and ran my daily routine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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