TrainingPeaks member profile: Adam Cobain, cyclist

Australian cyclist Adam Cobain originally started riding his bike for the sense of freedom. "I guess I always saw bikes as a form of freedom. When you are a kid, scratching to get out from under the parental wing as much and as soon as possible, a bike gives you that. Weekend rides with mates just got bigger and longer."

From weekend rides with his friends, as a teenager Adam got more into competitive riding. "I dabbled in BMX racing in the early eighties, then onto road, not really racing so much but riding a lot, just because it felt good... I was a naturally good rider, won the state junior championship undefeated, a natural climber and very good technically, but lacked the tutorage at 17/18 to really capitalize on my natural talent."

This lack of professional guidance, combined with the increasing pressures of life, gradually chipped away at the strength of Adam's cycling dreams. "Eventually the strains of work, social commitments and the need to pay bills meant an end to the cycling dream, or so I thought...I was never without a bike, but not until I moved to Japan, inspired by Stuart O'Grady and Lance Armstrong, did the urge to race again hit me."

The change of location from Australia to Japan inspired Adam to get back on his bike for some serious training. "I took it easy at first, then, rode everyday, doing huge km's on my mountain bike, rain, heat, snow, climbing a 600m ascent numerous times a day, thinking that I needed more and more. Eventually I entered my first race in 10 years or so...."

Training and racing in Japan was a great experience for Adam. "Japan was a great place to rediscover racing and riding. The roads are quiet in the mountains, cars drive slower and are generally very polite. I moved from Kyushu in the South of the country, to Nagano, where the mountains are supreme... These roads were on my doorstep and Japan had a calendar full of hill climb races. I always believed that to grow you have to be beaten, so I always entered A grade or the toughest class. I dreamt big and mountains were my forte, so I dug in."

Adam gradually began acquiring more gear, upgrading from a mountain bike to a road bike and beginning to train with a heart rate monitor. "One thing leads to another, I bought a road bike, a Polar HR monitor, and trained hard. I really had no plan, just ride mountains over and over again... In 2007, I joined a local team, entered races and won them, mostly."

Eventually, Adam decided to get serious about his training plan, and turned to Joe Friel's Training Bible and TrainingPeaks. "It was at this time that the need to get serious about training became apparent. I took a year off work to focus solely on racing. I bought Joe Friel's A Cyclist's Training Bible, and it became just that, a Bible. I followed it to the letter, uploading and entering my data using the TrainingPeaks online software for planning, and my Polar software for HR data analysis. A climber trains mostly alone, so data analysis became my benchmark for reaching my periodization targets as I had nobody to really test against and in the absence of a coach, looked to other forms of testing and management. Sort of a virtual coach."

By using TrainingPeaks, Adam achieved results that he would otherwise not have been able to reach. "I won plenty of races and my peaks were good, I had reached a level of fitness that I couldn't have done on my own. I felt secure in my plan, knowing that the guidelines set by periodizaton were tried and true and even at a base level they were working for me. It was a really successful season."

Back in Australia, Adam took a final step in his training by adding WKO+ power analysis. "Japan is in the past, and now, back in Australia, I saddle up for some different types of racing. Not having too many alps here, crit racing and road racing with rollers is something that I am adding to my skills list. I recently started using the iBike bike for power/HR/cadence, and to assess the data bought a copy of WKO+. I wish I had it last year. Training with power is amazing, so much more accurate, and WKO+ just makes it easy. The Performance Management Chart is what I have needed for a long time, knowing how much to recover, taper and importantly, watching the work loads increase to directly reflect your fitness. It is my favourite chart, and watching the little blue line slowly increase is as good as any coach saying you are improving. There is no guesswork needed, and when it comes to training and racing, it shouldn't be about guesswork, we/you/I need to know!"

With his power analysis charts in hand, Adam is ready for another good season. "This year I will target some Aussie hill climbs, some road races, and some small Tours, but I am enjoying every moment of training as I now that I get to watch my little graphs go up and down on WKO+ as soon as I download from my iBike. It is fun, inspiring and helps me to keep pushing myself into that pain area every few days of the week. I try to tell as many people as possible about what good training consists of, Joe Friel's book, WKO+, many have their own ideas, but results are results, and mine put a big smile on my face. This year, working again, I aim for about 15hours a week, and need the graphs more than ever to juggle the two. I yearn for the big 20km climbs, but need a power meter to try to gauge similar on lesser climbs, more intervals, more TT work, more flat riding in general. I feel good, my levels are higher than last year and my ATP is set, so now it just a matter of doing it. Wish me luck."

Good luck and happy training, Adam!