CPCS is the official coaching provider to:
- Everesting
- Taiwan KOM Challenge
- Taiwan Cyclist Federation
- Mongolia Bike Challenge
Here you’ll find testimonials from my Crank Punk Coaching System clients! Places are still available on the program, please contact lee@crankpunk.com for details.
MARTON BAK / EVERESTING TESTIMONIAL
Martin is a young man from Hungary who got in touch with me back in the summer of 2023 enquiring about possibly working with me to help him achieve his goal of completing an indoor Everesting sometime in December. He’d found me via the official Everesting website, where I’m listed as the official coach of Everesting (something I’m very proud of by the way!).
As he was on a budget, I advised him first to start with one of my pre-written Everesting plans (available for purchase either through TrainingPeaks, or contact me directly), and then when he was ready to contact me for 1-2-1 tailored training. This he did, and we got cracking on the 1-2-1 plan on the 18th of November.
With his Everesting date set for the 22nd of December, he had roughly 4 weeks of 1-2-1 coaching. Such was his dedication to the pre-written plan, and his consistency, that going off his huge improvements over from when he first contacted me up til the 18th of November, I could see that he’d be able to achieve a successful Everesting even without the 1-2-1 training.
Yet with those 4 weeks of 1-2-1 coaching, I knew I could get him even fitter and stronger, and increase his FTP too. This is exactly what we set about to do, and after 4 week’s of coaching, he was ready, fully.
He rode a beautifully controlled ride, putting in a great effort, without any wobbles whatsoever, to complete his Everesting in 17 hours and 22 minutes – almost an hour faster than he was originally hoping for when we started the 1-2-1 program!
This is why I love being a coach – people like Marton and all the other people that I work with really do inspire me! To be a little part of their journey is a very real privelige.
Ok, over to Marton!
Everesting Testimonial Marton Bak
‘I recently had the pleasure of working with Lee. From the very beginning, the communication was exceptional, every week we spoke about last weeks’ training, and cleared things up for next week if necessary. What stood out the most was the structure of the training plan. He clearly knows what he is doing, and what we are trying to achieve in the set amount of time. He made sure the training fit my daily routine, including work and other free time activities when they would come up.
He also offered to change anything last minute if necessary. All-in-all a completely tailored training experience. Lee was clear and motivating, providing guidance on technique, nutrition, and recovery. He was responsive to my questions and concerns, overall very supportive. While training with Lee, I gained a lot of knowledge about training. He took the time to explain everything from the overall plan to the smallest of details in each days’ training.
During our time together I managed to complete the Everesting challenge, and increase my fitness/FTP greatly. He probably set the bar up high for the future, inspiring me to keep training hard and keep pushing my limits.
In conclusion, I highly recommend Lee to anyone looking to complete the Everesting challenge or just to improve their performance. Due to the combination of excellent communication, a well-structured training plan, and impressive results I would say look no further. I’m grateful for the positive impact they’ve had on my cycling journey.’
DAVE NASH / COACHING CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
He made me cry with this one, just at the end, he got me. Sat in a cafe wiping a tear away.
This is a guy who hadn’t done a single race before we started working together, then he started podiuming, and even winning some massive super long stuff, and in the recent USA National Gran Fondo Champs he took 10th in his age group and set a new FTP of 291 – and all this with a really not great run-in to the event. I was very happily surprised with that result and we’ll take it.
Dave is a very honest guy and a pleasure to work with, and we’ve become friends through the process of speaking each week – we will meet up in person for the first time next week here in Taipei and I’m looking forward to that, though he better not drop me!
Dave, thank you, for this and for your commitment and willingness to be yourself and to rip it when required!
_________
By Dave Nash
For 20 years, I focused on family and building my career. I became overweight (30% body fat) and out of shape (95kg+), four years ago this month – concerned about my health trends – I picked up a road bike for the first time. I was instantly captivated by the community, the responsiveness of the bike, and the sheer joy it brought.
Finally, I found a type of exercise that I could enjoy and not dread. I became instantly addicted. For the first 2.5 years, I was consistently riding a few days a week but was aimless with no structure. Some progress, good weigh loss, but still very far behind my cycling peers.
Dave at the Gran Fondo Nationals 2023
I knew I needed to make a jump to be more competitive and to “just” keep up. In March 2022, after interviewing a few coaches, my good friend, Taylor Price, recommended Lee, and we made an instant connection. Working with Lee has made all the difference. He provided a much needed structure that was flexible around an uber-busy work schedule and family needs.
It was balanced yet aggressively pushed me.
Our workouts focus on building confidence, strength, endurance, VO2 max, race simulations, technique, and grit (something, candidly, I lack). During our weekly calls, we customize my schedule for the week, discuss the previous week’s workouts, and upcoming race strategies.
Being new to cycling this is all completely foreign to me. I must admit that I still dread hard interval days, but understand it is part of the improvement process.
I think all of this might sound standard, but Lee focuses on the total person. It’s been a particularly stressful year with my son in drug rehab twice, bouts of depression, work stresses, and family drama.. Coach Lee always focuses on the person first. I’ve come to learn that it takes a complete person – a combination of mind, body, and soul – to race competitively. I’ve had two podium finishes in the Spring, a very lacklustre “underwhelming” summer, but then ended at a season high this past weekend with a 10th place finish in my age group at the USA Gran Fondo National Championships. Lee helps to manage the rider, the racer, the person with all the emotional ups and downs that come with it.
Despite all his years of robust cycling experience, his ability to connect with the person just might be his greatest strength of all.
Well done Mr. Nash!
ALEC GATES / CPCS COACHING TESTIMONIAL
For coaching enquiries, please email me here.
Alec Gates is a well known and much respected fella here in Taipei, and owner of the fantastic bike shop Taipei Bike Works, situated in Taipei city. He’s also my coaching client!
We met when a friend suggested to me that his bike shop would be great to feature on my Youtube Channel, so I headed down there to say hello about a year ago and really liked the whole ethos of the business, which you can see more about on my video here: A few months later Alec asked me about coaching and soon joined the CPCS roster. The main issue was a familiar one: a stubborn refusal by his legs to put out more watts and a general plateauing of form. So, we got to work!
Here’s his testimonial:
By Alec Gates:
I’ve been into bicycles my whole life. I started with BMX in middle school and moved onto mountain bikes in college. I didn’t get into road biking until I got to Taiwan. I always thought it was boring. But after seeing the roads here, I knew it would be just as fun and exciting. I started to focus on descents.
I was fast, taking KOMs on the downhills left and right. But I was seriously struggling on the climbs. I could not keep up with even the most basic weekend warriors. At this time I just quit smoking and wanted to become healthier. I got obsessed with cycling and knew it would be a good outlet for my well being if I kept with it. I was on and off the bike for about 2 years when I got a hold of Lee.
At the time my fitness was all over the place and I had no idea what I was doing. I should mention I also run a bike shop full time, tutor English in the mornings and have a 2 year old daughter. With Lee’s help I was able to focus and manage myself in a way to raise my FTP from 190 to 260 in less than a year. I was not only fast downhill but I could hold my own going up the hills as well.
With Lee, he was understanding of my crazy schedule and made plans around it. If I asked him why I needed to ride this way or how a certain task should be completed, he didn’t hesitate to explain with enthusiasm. He is very passionate about cycling and really goes the extra mile to get you to your goals. Highly recommended!
And some photos of Taipei Bike Works:
______________
MARK CROKER / CPCS COACHING TESTIMONIAL
When Mark came to me enquiring about potentially joining CrankPunk Coaching Systems back in 2016 he was, in his own words, ‘relatively new to road cycling’.
He had been ‘participating in a few sportives / granfondos over the last few years, namely the last 3 Etape du Tours. Great experiences but my performances were rather average.’ He was looking to get some help from an experienced coach and to give his friends a run for their money in the 2016 Etape.
I created an individualised training plan for him to achieve his goals, and come July and l’Etape, he nailed it. Job done! He then took a little break to decide on his next challenged. A short while later I received an email with this heading in my inbox:
‘I’m gonna ride my bike across the USA: I need YOUR help!’
Yup. He’d made up his mind: Trans Am or bust!
I have to admit, I was surprised. This was a huge undertaking even for a very experienced cyclist. But this is what I thrive on, taking on the seemingly impossible and making it work. It’s the story of my own career and I determined immediately to do all I possibly could to help Mark get it done.
And so, we went to work. We worked on the base, on the stamina and endurance, but also on the high end stuff, the stuff that hurts, that makes you tougher, that amazes you when you get through it. I knew he’d need that mental edge in the Trans America.
Working with Mark was a delight and I looked forward to our calls each week because on top of the almost-continuous gains that he was making, we always had a laugh. I’ve coached many people who have achieved their goals, who have amazed me and inspired me, and Mark is right up there.
One very emotional moment was when Mark called me from the roadside during the ride, not yet half way through. A fellow rider had been killed nearby. We talked through it, calmed a tense situation down, and focused on completing the challenge in the man’s memory. I’ll never forget that call.
His amazing success in completing the Trans Am, way ahead of schedule, was also one of my greatest successes and I thank him for letting me share in that.
Over to Mark…
By Mark Croker
I cannot recommend Lee enough!
He took me from fat MAMIL at the back / DNF’er at various Sportives and Gran Fondo’s to 34th out of a field of 120 in the 6,800 kilometre self supported Trans América Bike Race…….and less fat. From a longest ride of 160 kilometres to averaging 245 kilometres a day every day for 27.5 days.
He did this by:
- Believing in me.
- Putting together a training plan that worked to my schedule.
- Adhering to a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) methodology rather than the more OCD inducing strict adherence to power and watts. This kept my mind fresh and the training fun.
- Regular chats to check my progress and how I was feeling. An essential element of checking progress vs plan and thus enabling any adjustments to that plan, but also highly entertaining and interesting. Lee has definitely been there and done that but he has very much done it his own way. Plenty of stories and laughs.
- Actually caring about and being interested in my events. This definitely fueled the motivation. He was in regular contact during the Trans Am and was instrumental in restoking the fire after the death of a fellow competitor in Kansas, only 30 kilometers up the road from where I was camped. I was thinking very seriously about quitting. “Do it for your fallen comrade” he said. And so I did.
Lee was not only my coach and mentor but over our time together became a mate.
At the risk of repeating myself, I cannot recommend Lee enough.
Head to Mark’s blog, MAMIL CYCIST, here!
Anthony Walker is a fellow Englishman who got in touch with me early in 2020 to discuss an Everesting attempt on the slopes of the iconic Verbier mountain. With only 4 months or so to go before the scheduled date of his attempt, and considering he was coming straight off a ski season in his adopted Switzerland (where he founded Kudos Cycling) and had not touched a bike indoor or out for months – we had our work cut out for us!
Anthony put in some great shifts though and besides being very committed to the task at hand, he has a sense of do-or-die that I recognise in myself. That being said, there are times when even the strongest wills amongst us need some support and encouragement, to negate the second-guessing that can creep in, and to give a gentle push to keep the wheels aligned.
That’s a part of the job of coaching that can’t be learnt, and it’s one I enjoy the most.
Over to Anthony!
Everesting Challenge 2020 / By Anthony Walker
Everesting in 2020 was my cycling challenge. I needed a focus and a goal to train for in 2020. I usually just go out and pedal my bike without really knowing what or how I should be doing to improve my strength, endurance and stamina, as well as my mindset. Obviously all of these were very important attributes when attempting an Everesting Challenge!
About CrankPunk
I wanted to improve as a cyclist, improve my knowledge of training and techniques. I had never had a cycling coach so I did some research and I found CrankPunk and read Lee’s AboutaPunk bio. Straight away I knew Lee would be my ideal coach.
Professional Without Being Pro
Lee’s cycling experience and knowledge proved invaluable and he created a fun and varied training program which suited my lifestyle and time constraints. He analyzed my training and explained in simple terms where my strengths and weaknesses were which we worked on improving together. As much as numbers are important, Lee advised me not to get distracted solely by the numbers and it worked a treat. Going on feeling, understanding my body, when to push and when not to, was inspiring and I felt free of the shackles I had previously been bound to where I was looking at data and numbers in too much detail.
Training
One of my biggest weaknesses is my head! Being able to speak to Lee once a week about where I felt mentally and also being able to message him whilst I was doubting myself, was one of the biggest aspects that went towards me enjoying my training and ultimately really enjoying the event itself. I made huge improvements to my overall fitness, mindset and cycling knowledge.
I can’t recommend Lee and CrankPunk highly enough. He is an awesome coach, knowledgeable, funny and empathetic.
Cheers,
Anthony
Owner of Kudos Cycling, Switzerland
Simon was my first client ever to take on an Everesting… indoors!
Indoor Everesting!
By Simon Enger
Jan 2020
I worked with Lee for a few months in the lead up to my virtual Everest attempt. Having never worked with a coach before I didn’t know what to expect.
I had always trained with power and I particularly enjoyed Lee’s approach in working with the perceived rate of exertion. I found it freed up my mind from concentrating just on the numbers and I enjoyed the training regime a lot more.
I felt myself getting stronger as we worked together and also found that my endurance improved considerably.
The weekly catchup was insightful to both review and recentre one’s self for the next block. The mental challenge is usually my toughest challenge in training so having someone there to keep me grounded was especially useful.
On the day I felt prepared, my body and mind were strong. My goal going into this was to enjoy the experience and finish comfortably. Both of these aspects were achieved, massive kudos to Lee for getting me there.
Simon Enger
Gold Coast, QLD Australia
By Joshua Levine
‘At the end of working six months with Lee every aspect of my cycling had improved. Climbing was faster. Endurance was endless. Flats were fast. Recovery was instantaneous.’
September 2019
Joshua on the start line
Kyoto, Japan is surrounded on three sides by mountains and there are countless opportunities for getting outdoors including cycling, gravelling, trail running, road running, and swimming. My family and I have been living here for the past ten years and training is an integral part of my daily life.
At the end of 2018 my wife and I became empty nesters and it seemed a good time to take on a new challenge. A Swiss friend recommended this crazy event known as ‘Chasing Cancellara’ in Zurich, Zermatt which was billed as 290km with 7000m of climbing and a 15-hour time limit. The distance was believable but combined with the elevation and the time limit it seemed impossible. I signed up immediately as this was the perfect, crazy goal I’d been looking for. The plan was to start training about 8 months out and it was quickly evident that it was time to get a coach. I messaged around to all my cycling mates and my friend Alastair mentioned that he was following Lee Rodgers, aka CrankPunk, and highly recommended that I contact him. It was a great call.
I completed two training programs with CrankPunk Coaching Systems. The first was a 12-week Everesting program. Breaking down the numbers on the Chasing Cancellara event it was essentially an Everesting attempt and Lee had a standard program [pre-written] ready to go. At that point in time I was primarily trail running and my cycling was weak. The 12-week program whipped me into good cycling shape and prepared me for a whole lot of climbing. The second program was the 1-2-1 Elite Plan, a fully customised training plan that features weekly calls.
During the 1-2-1 Elite program Lee focused on building up my pace as well as tailoring the workouts to my abilities/weaknesses. For example, I HATE riding flats and Lee helped me build up my flat and long downhill pace. These ended up being critical skills for hitting the finish line ahead of my planned schedule in Zermatt.
In both programs the workouts were a combinations of high intensity training mixed in with longer endurance efforts. I was a bit wary at first as the workouts seemed to be too short and too efficient in comparison to my standard training schedule. I was wrong. At the end of working six months with Lee every aspect of my cycling had improved.
Climbing was faster. Endurance was endless. Flats were fast. Recovery was instantaneous.
At the age of 55 my motor is more diesel than two-stroke. Long, hard, all day rides are fine, but, please, don’t make me go too hard. Lee helped me push through these self-imposed limitations with two great pieces of cycling wisdom:
‘Go until you blow up. And, then, keep going’.
‘Don’t look at the numbers all day. They are holding you back’. Repeat ad infinitum.
It was a true please to work with Lee. In addition to the well thought out and tailor-made training program, our weekly chats were informative, motivating, and funny. One more big shout out to CrankPunk.
Cheers!
I find Lee an exceptional coach, no doubt anchored by his own successful cycling career.
By Bruce Swales
When I first contacted Lee in 2014 I was recovering from a heart attack that hit me during a race earlier in the year. I wanted to continue cycling (with my cardiologist’s blessing) and wanted to regain and improve further on my strength, endurance and climbing ability. Initially hesitant to coach me, Lee agreed and built a training plan focused on those objectives, while not being too physiologically stressful.
While I ultimately have given up racing I still have personal objectives and goals I want to achieve and Lee’s training is getting me there. In mid 2015 I achieved one such goal, which was knocking off three of the great TdF climbs – Tourmalet, Solour and Aubisque in three days, and since then have accomplished some significant non-race cycling events around South East Asia.
My last annual CPET (May 2016) indicated that my V02max was 15% higher than a year ago, my maximum heart rate was 180 (not bad for 56yo) and my anaerobic threshold heart rate was 86% of HRmax. I could not have achieved these results without a structured training programme tailored for me and great coaching.
I find Lee an exceptional coach, no doubt anchored by his own successful cycling career. He listens to both how I am feeling and what the training numbers are saying, and on a weekly basis modifies my training plan accordingly, never losing sight of my long term objectives. He is accessible, communicative (we talk and review progress and goals weekly), highly experienced, and of particular significance to me he was prepared to coach me even though I am not going out to win races.
Barry Davies
I worked with Barry for four months. His aim all along was ‘to get up the Taiwan KOM hill.’ Added to that challenge was the fact that Barry, originally from the UK, lives in Singapore, one of the flattest stretches of land around out here.
I was way out of my depth training in hot and flat Singapore for a cold 105km uphill bike race that ends at 3,275m elevation (the Taiwan KOM Challenge 2014). I knew that I would need some expert help and so I contacted Lee Rogers who had coached some of my buddies to success, and better yet, Lee had raced this thing before and practically lived beside the course. Luckily Lee took on the challenge of getting my heavy slow body up a big mountain in only four months time.
Jens Voigt’s motto may be ‘shut up legs’, but Lee’s is ‘listen to your legs’. I used to ride with my eyes glued to my garmin, taking in all the wonderful nerdy data on heart rate and watts. So when Lee said to not look at my garmin for a while and learn to ride by feel, I was lost, it was like trying to use ‘the force’ at first. I gradually calibrated my level of effort and got good at listening to my body, knowing my limits and sometimes pushing past them. Lee tuned my time-limited weekly training to suit both my ever-changing travel schedule and my motivation to keep me on that fine edge of highly trained but not overcooked.
With Lee’s guidance I worked my butt off, literally. Over the months of consistent riding and a mix of hard and long efforts my watts went up and my weight dropped, a great combination for getting up a mountain faster.
When the Taiwan KOM Challenge race day finally arrived the weather was cold and rainy, the GPS didn’t synch up and I couldn’t rely as much on my garmin data, but I didn’t panic, I just used the force like Lee taught me, listened to my body and cranked out what I knew was the appropriate maximal effort that I could sustain to get to the finish line without blowing up. The many repeats up Singapore’s little hills of faber and vigilante drive were great preparation both physically and mentally. Crossing that finish line was an amazing feeling and an achievement I wasn’t sure I was capable of when I signed up for the race.
Thanks Lee for all your support, encouragement and for helping me learn to tune my engine to get the most out of my very average abilities.
CHRIS HODGSON
I started working with Chris Hodgson, 47, from the UK after he contacted me with regards to getting ready for the 2014 Mongolia Bike Challenge, of which I had just been announced as the official coach. We started in March and had a good 6 months to prepare. Here is his testimonial with regards to Crank Punk Coaching Systems.
Many thanks Chris
Chris Hodgson
September 30th, 2014
I was the most skeptical guy you could find where personal trainers are concerned, believing that getting fit and strong was just a matter of application and consistent hard work.
Not a spring chicken anymore, I’d happily get stuck in to biscuits, chocolate, a bottle of single malt and plenty of beer and wine every winter – well let’s just say enough to put on 10kg over my summer weight.
Then every spring I’d start to loose a few kg and more or less make it down to 93 -95kg for the summer and take part in whatever race plan had been born out of some alcohol induced bravado shared with my mates during the winter in some pub or other.
The particular mates I am referring to in this case had done the Cape Epic the previous year and I suspect doubted my chances of completing the Mongolia Bike Challenge without any kind of formal preparation, so they conned [!- cp] me into signing up with Lee Rodgers, the official coach of MBC.
Both of them then continued with their previous coach…
Joking apart, I had managed to take part in some decent sportives such as L’Etape du Tour and some multi-stage events with Hot Chillee so I wasn’t a complete slug by any means, but I had been susceptible to cramp and hills were not my forte as you’ll appreciate. Lee and I set some goals and agreed that the Genco Mongolia Bike Challenge was the main target, and that was it.
No power meters, no concentrating on heart rate, no sticking overly rigidly to the schedule – the plan was designed to fit my life, not the other way around. If it was pouring with rain and blowing a force eight gale, no problem, we switched to some indoor work instead of a long ride.
No crazy diet either, although I confess my partner Lucy is a nutritionist, of InsideOutHealth, so my diet is pretty good (except for the above mentioned vice or two ). Lee actually said early on, ‘don’t worry your weight will drop naturally’ and I remember thinking, ‘I hope he’s right’.
Now I am not saying I didn’t put the effort in and most certainly did my fair share of early morning starts but strangely, I never got tired of training. Don’t get me wrong either, there were plenty of times I pushed myself when I was supposed to take it easy to but somehow Lee always knew what was going on, which was remarkable given he only had my training notes (which where almost unintelligable ) and our weekly call to go by. I won’t give the game away here, but enough to say the results were pretty good for me, even if I say so myself.First race, two months in, La Rioja in Logrono, Spain. The field where all on 29’ers and most were pretty fit looking apart from the Pros who looked, well, like Pros. and me and my mates in the Vets’ section at the back.
I took my old Specialized 26″ tank but in spite of coming in from a bar at 3 am the morning before the race, we made it to the start – just – and to my surprise, I wasn’t getting dropped and actually gained a few places throughout the day to finish about 30mins behind the slower of my two friends.
Second day, I crashed quite heavily so although I finished the stage sadly had to withdraw on day 3. ( Sorry Lee I did that all on my own).
However it was enough to know that some progress was being made and there was some previously unrealised power in those old legs.
Next major mile stone the London to Paris, organised by Hot Chillee and four months into my training with Lee. Anyone who has ridden this will know that when your in group 3 the group 2 pace seems very similar and yet try and hold it for 3 days with all the GC, Sprints and red sections (climbs), that’s another story. My goal was to complete the ride in G2, something which I had failed to do twice before, having to bailout to group 3 due to cramp ( honest ). Well, this time I finished a credible mid field in Group 2 – very happy with that.
Finally, Six months on and the Genco Mongolia Bike Challenge was upon us. I was now down to around 85kg give or take and feeling pretty tuned up. It has to be said that the three weeks prior to the race found me on business flying out to Hong Kong to London, NY and then back to London, and so by the time we got back out to Beijing for the final leg of our journey to Mongolia I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen, if you know what I mean.
Well, I just got stronger and stronger. There was one 170km day, after which I said to the organiser, “Willy, well done, you nearly killed me today” but in truth I was relatively fresh and the next day, another 170Km, I went even harder.
So would I recommend Lee? Absolutely. I’m not saying the other coaches aren’t any good and won’t help generate results, but the way CrankPunk teases performance out is amazing.
Rafael Leyson Amorganda
17th June 2014
Rafael Leyson Amorganda, take the floor. Rafael lives in the Philippines and came to me with weaknesses in his stamina and in an ability to be there in the mix at the end of races. After 8 months or so of working together, Rafael went and won both stages of the Tour of Subic and took the GC in his age group.
Seriously, I was happier than him about all this. Anyway, over to Rafael:
All credits and gratitude to Lee for all my refinements and breakthroughs. The Crank Punk Coaching System has equipped me with great results in my races.
I first met Lee at the Tour of Friendship and I was astounded by his rendition in his category (open), which happened to have a lot of stout and strong competitors. His domination in the time trial and road stages bewildered me and made me curious on how he conquered the stages.
I knew there was something different in him – he was the Crank Punk coach. I never really realized the significance of being taught by someone professional in the field, until the moment I decided to register with CPCS. I was very gratified with how my fettle and endurance increased in just a small span of time.
Lee knows where he needs to focus and he wanted my weaknesses to become my strengths. Last May I just won my first podium as champion in the Bike United Tour of Subic.
What is great about the program is that you don’t need a lot of miles of training, which is perfect for my working schedule. As Lee stated, quality matters more than quantity.
I remember asking Lee which equipment I should buy next, and he answered that I should concentrate on developing my legs, building power and improving my endurance before I worried about new equipment.
So for those of you who think that your bike and hardware will bring you to the top? Nope! CPCS will…
Steven Wong
4 May 2014
I first came across Lee at the 2013 Tour of Friendship (“ToF”) in Thailand when he stormed to the General Classification in the Open Category. My own successes had been somewhat more modest – mid-to-lower podium finishes reflected an inability to conclusively break into the limelight on the top step.
My problem wasn’t a lack of motivation or mileage – I had that in excess but clearly those 5am training starts weren’t quite translating into the results I was aiming for.
After a disastrous National’s road race (my legs quite literally seized up with cramps on the finishing stretch and the bike fell onto the grass verge with me still clipped in), I sought the advice of a team colleague, Donald MacDonald, who’d started having decent results; he put me in touch with Lee’s Crank Punk Coaching Systems.
That was September 2013, about a month before the Tour of Matabungkay in the Philippines. Lee and I discussed my goals and reviewed my training including my nutrition and Lee put together a programme tailor-made for me.
The first thing that I realised was that it wasn’t just about piling on training miles. CPCS’s approach is focused and specific, designed to target areas that would make a difference where it would count. Instead of ramping up my mileage, it was actually scaled back but it was no less rigorous.
Another was recognition that rest time is not just down time but an important part of the structure of an overall training programme (although I still wrestle with the sense that my fitness is going backwards when I’m not on the bike). [It’s obviously not though! -cp]
A third difference was whereas I had been trying to train to the ‘numbers’ (essentially using a power meter), CPCS also brought in a ‘Perceived Rate of Exertion’ (“PRE”) scale, combining the watts and PRE. In other words, it was about training your body to “get in touch” with itself so at any time, you knew when to go and when to wait.
The results were dramatic. Within five weeks, I came in 2nd in the Tour of Matabungkay (46+ Cat), much to my surprise. I had gone into the competition thinking that it would just be a ‘warm up’ event for the Masters Tour of Chiang Mai (“MTCM”) in November, but it marked the start of some notable successes.
The MTCM is essentially a climber’s race with the crux being the final stage, an 80km road race with three stonking hills including an 18km climb and Chiang Mai’s infamous “7-switchbacks”, 2.5km at 12%+. Coming into the race, I was lying 2nd in the GC but that counted for little as it was all about the hills. By the time we arrived at the switchbacks, there was only the pre-race favourite and myself left. Suffice to say, I was running on fumes and digging deep into whatever gains CPCS’s training had conveyed when the favourite cracked and I was able to ride away with the KOM and take the General Classification.
My ultimate goal however was the ToF, easily the most important elite amateur stage race in this part of Asia. We looked at this year’s course and concluded that the time trial was going to be of particular significance so we put together a training plan that spent time preparing for this as well. After a break in December, training began in earnest, building on strength gains from the past few months.
In the weeks leading up to the race, I could actually feel the improvements, particularly when riding with team colleagues where it was apparent that I was relatively stronger than before.
All that time trialing paid off because in the Prologue, I took the stage to secure the yellow jersey (actually blue in colour for our age group). In the mountain stage (Stage 3), I took the KOM after over-hauling all but one of the 30-year olds (who were racing with us) and extended my GC gap by over two minutes by Stage 4 of the competition.
Suffice to say, Crank Punk Coaching Systems has worked for me. Clearly hard work, motivation and time are necessary to succeed but what CPCS brings to the mix is an ability to direct those ingredients with a bespoke programme of structured training and blend them into a winning formula.
I can’t think of a better recommendation than that. Thanks Lee!
There are places available on the CPCS roster, if interested please use the ‘contact’ form at the top of this page.
Aiyana Currie
04/23/2014
Serene Lee
09/12/2013
Serene’s was my client since June 2013, when a chance encounter led to us working together, a meeting which also saw the beginning of my coaching career! very talented, Serene hails from Singapore, is 24, and has a whole lot of success, I feel, ahead of her. [She did indeed, going on to race pro in Europe]
Serene’s Testimonial
The science of bike riding can get rather similar across the board. Some little tweaks here and there, some new technology and insights once in a while – but there is barely any new dramatic or controversial findings for most parts.
It’s the art of putting together this science that sets different coaches apart. I’m happy to have found Lee to help take my riding up a notch. As I always say, when the mind is good, everything falls into place. For sure, the training works the legs plenty. But it makes it all the more effective and efficient when these workouts closely simulate my upcoming race and works the particular energy system in question.
In short, you look at them on the plan and it makes complete sense! That motivates me to do them, and nail them!
Donald MacDonald
15/9/2013
I’ve been working with Donald now for something like 2 and a half months, he recently had a very successful Singapore National Championships…
About Crank Punk Coaching System:
Crank Punk is good people and gives great Skype. His training approach is pretty cool too…
Bit of background about how I came to fall under his (heavily tattooed) wing. I’m an expat banker living in Singapore with the obligatory (for Asia anyway) extensive selection of nice bikes and carbon wheels. To my wife’s constant displeasure, I’m reasonably serious about my cycling – training 12 hours+ a week, I watch my diet and rest well.
I’ve read all the books, put in the hours, have all the gear and do reasonably well – racing at a category 2 level. However, my training was in a bit of rut and I found myself looking for something new to take me to the next level. I’ve been on the hard end of some stout spankings from CrankPunk in local races & so when he said he was offering training, I thought I’d give that a shot. Figured that if you can’t beat him then at least get him on the payroll!
Few things I liked about the program:
- Having a structured plan:
The biggest benefit I found was simply in having a structured plan. Each week, CP would design a specific program for me involving Sufferfests, puke inducing individual intervals, timed efforts and/or group rides.My weekly ride time stayed about the same but there was much more focus on achieving specific goals within the week that it felt much more effective. I realized that previously I spent too much time at a middling 7/10 exertion and not enough going really hard (9/10) or really easy (4/10).CP also baked in a regular timed effort (usually a 40km TT) to monitor progress &, whilst painful as hell, came to really enjoy these sessions. - Flexibility to have fun:
Lee was no number Nazi. He built freedom into the plan so you could adapt to how the legs were feeling or what else was happening locally. Sometimes a day’s instruction would be as simple as “Saturday group ride – Balls out. Have fun!” - CrankPunk Himself:
Lee is a good guy. Very funny. His Skype alone is worth the monthly training fee.
After 6 weeks of training with CPCS, there was noticeable difference in my form and physique. My legs had veins popping in places where there’d been none & my max heart rate miraculously went up 5 beats. On the results side, I hit my target – getting Silver and Gold in the Singapore National Time Trial events .
CPCS gave me the extra 2% on top of what I already had but that 2% was the difference between 8th place and a podium.
I heartily recommend Crank Punk Training to all (unless you’re one of my local Singapore rivals)
Donald
Ian Hilt
18/8/2013
CPCS has helped me improve in a few different ways. I remember reading an article by Lee that really caused me to think about why I was depending so much on my power meter. I was obviously not getting better – a somewhat stagnant category 4 racer with no podiums to my name. So I sold my power meter and heart rate monitor and contacted Lee about coaching me and he agreed. Up to this point I had been self-coached. Lee coaches using PRE [Perceived Rate of Exertion] and this was in and of itself a liberating experience. Not relying on a number helped me to focus on the feel of the effort. Selling my power meter was one of the best things I’ve ever done to help me improve in cycling.
Lee also introduced SufferFest videos. I was excited to try something new but wasn’t exactly sure how these videos were going to help. After agonizing through one of them, I had my answer. I have never sweated so much! These helped me to focus even more intently on how, for example, a PRE 8 feels since there isn’t a whole lot to distract the mind on a trainer. Using these videos within the training plan really helped improve my overall fitness and knowledge of how far my body could go.
One of the first things Lee had me practice, both on the trainer and outdoors, was to pedal with a higher cadence than normal with my hands light on the bars. I was doubtful this would give me any significant gains but I did it anyway. Within a couple weeks I noticed a difference. I was more comfortable on the bike and I was able to apply pressure to the pedals through the entire pedal stroke giving me more power. I was amazed. Pedaling efficiency is one of the building blocks of improvement on the bike and Lee knew I needed to focus in this area.
He introduced me to the 40km TT. I had done only one TT of that distance and was completely unsure whether I’d be able to even finish it. This came along a few weeks into the training plan. He stressed pacing so that I didn’t blow up midway. So I went out and did my 40km TT and finished it. It gave me an incredible sense of accomplishment as well as a benchmark for future tests. Also, the fitness gains for me were significant. After a rest day, I went riding and felt incredibly strong. I kept looking at my speed and thinking the computer must be miscalibrated. This, for me, was another piece to the puzzle.
Now, all of these things added together gave me a very strong base but still there was the uncertainty of how I would respond to racing. The first race under CPCS was a disaster as far as the racing went. I got pulled after being lapped. The worst! However Lee used this as a learning tool. Over the next couple weeks we determined that my body works better in races when I’ve had a harder week leading up to the race. I had never done that before. Just another piece to the puzzle.
Finally, after a disappointing racing season, I had one left on my racing calendar. I felt good and my morale was high. I had a confidence in myself I hadn’t had before. It was a 35min Crit. I lined up with about 30 or so guys, most of whom had been finishing ahead of me in other races. The word was GO and I was in the zone. I kept hearing Lee’s voice in my head to stay calm and save the legs! So I stayed in the pack. A couple times someone would attack but the pack would chase them down. Finally the bell rang for the last lap. The pack nailed it and we were flying around the course one last time. “Stay in the slipstream”, I kept thinking. We hit the only hill on the course at about 400m to go. Strangely it didn’t seem hard. I marked a guy who I knew would be making a move. He started his sprint. I started mine and nearly dumped it in the grass! I regained my balance and saw that he was only a bike length or two ahead of me and going for the line. I put my head down and gave it everything I had and got the win!
So to say CPCS has helped me improve would be, I think, a drastic understatement.
________________
great read Ian, keep it going
Haha! Yes. CPCS, highly recommended. Up next for me: Cyclocross!!
Congratulations.
thanks 😉