USA Cycling Collegiate National Championships: Ben Chaddock of Whitman

Ben Chaddock of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington discusses his cycling team's chances at Nationals in Wisconsin May 7-9, the new cycling class that the team started to help riders become familiar with the sport's terminology and techniques, and how the team uses TrainingPeaks and WKO+ to keep their training on track. Listen to the whole podcast below, and read on for a few excerpts.

Discussing the cycling class that the team started, Ben is enthusiastic about how it has helped the riders. "We started a cycling class this year, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which goes through absolutely everything that you need to know. We had a week and a half of Computrainer testing and we went through every single person's results and looked at zones they should train in more, zones they should train in less... and that stuff's all logged in on TrainingPeaks, so in the future if you want to go back and see one of the previous tests for a team mate, you can just go right in there and grab it."

In addition to a strong men's team, ever since Mara Abbott showed up on the Whitman College cycling team, the woman's team has also been excellent. "We have the strongest woman's team program in the nation, no question about it," says Ben. "Looks like we're going to have a full squad on the women's team this year for Nationals, if we have everyone get through these last few races, and we also have a lot of younger women, which is also very important."

Aside from using the software for the team, Ben enjoys using it himself and with his coach. "Having the PowerTap and being able to look at the data in WKO+ helps me understand how to improve from year to year. Sometimes your coach can't be available so you have to come up with it yourself, so it's very important that you understand the reasoning behind your training program so you can figure it out for yourself."

Happy training and best of luck to the whole team at Nationals! Read more on the team website, and check out the Nationals course maps on TrainingPeaks Routes.