The Time Crunched Cyclist Blog

The documented story of a workaholic, husband, father of six, grandfather of five, who makes the time and finds the discipline to achieve amazing cycling goals.

I think it was April 2006.

While I have always been committed to exercising, that year I decided to spend more time on my road bike. I had paid $1,600 for my new Cannondale so I thought I might as well use it (yes, I know, I can’t really get more than one good carbon wheel for that price nowadays – but that is a different topic). One day while surfing the Internet I came across the website www.trainright.com. It was the website of an organization founded by  US National coach Chris Carmichael and called Carmichael TraininSystems (CTS). It offered an entry level training package for either $39 or $59 a month which was computer generated. “Just what I need” I thought. “If it works for US pros it will work for me.” I spent the next two to three months religiously following my new training schedule.

In June or July of the same year, after a few months of training, I felt I was ready for my first group ride. One night after work, I headed over to the Eastern Townships to meet a group of cyclists who gather every Tuesday at our favourite Bromont ski/bike shop and ride in the area for a couple of hours.

And out we went. I followed the group for the first few kilometers. Then, being the gentleman that I am, I decided to take a pull and kept the pace up. Big mistake. I tried to recover at the back of the group but the damage was done. A couple minutes later I got dropped. In less than a minute, I could see the pack already 250 meters ahead of me.

Not only did I come in last but a woman my age riding an old and beat up mountain bike beat me. I was totally humiliated. The training program from a National coach might work for a pro but it wasn’t working for me, or so I thought. When I got home, I told my wife I was quitting cycling. She said: “Don’t be so silly, why don’t you hire a coach?” I did hire a coach.

I trained and trained and continued to go from humiliation to humiliation, until a couple years later at a training camp in Tucson, AZ, while climbing the famed Mount Lemmon, I got to Mile 14 (Windy Point) first, with five minutes ahead of the next guys.

In just a short while, I went from having trained a full summer to be able to ride 100 km for the first time, to regularly riding 100 km indoors in the winter as a training ride. I went from humiliation to success and pride, while working 60 hours a week, having a large family with kids with busy sports schedules themselves.

If you want to learn how it’s done, read on!