Coaching both a track racing cyclist and a mountain biking cyclist requires an entirely dual approach. On the mountain biking side, Kristin is working with Hayley Batten’s innate lack of fear to ride the most technical of sections as well as encouraging her through her racing despite inconsistent results.
On the track side, she is focused on transitioning Emma White from cyclocross racing to pushing massive power for standing starts and dialing in minute aspects of her aerodynamic setup.
Listen as Coach Kristin Armstrong discusses leveraging her knowledge about the science and the art of coaching, as well as heat training to bring these two promising young athletes to Tokyo.
Stand-Out Quotes
“The reason why I don’t have a massive coaching company is that I just love specifically honing in on an athlete and uniquely trying to make them the best athlete they can become.”
“You better be able to ride a bike because the rock gardens that they build and the circuits that they have are insane, they’re incredibly challenging. If you don’t have that part of your game down, it’s going to be really hard to make it to the top of the sport.”
“One of the most important elements of success is your mindset. And when your mindset is ebbing and flowing because of the inconsistency and racing, that this creates a new challenge on how you coach an athlete.”
“[Riding with] over a hundred inch gear is incredibly difficult so she had to implement a very structured strength training routine as part of her plan… we did a lot of standing starts.”
Resources
Kristin Armstrong’s Instagram
Kristin Armstrong’s Twitter
Kristin Armstrong’s Facebook
