CPT Cycle Coaching Reviews 9

I started crit racing and had gone from 4th Cat to 3rd quite easily, but suddenly found myself up against some strong riders! I had been using TrainerRoad, which had got me so far, but I just couldn’t manage any top-10 finishes in Cat 3. I was always struggling to recover after hard efforts, like closing gaps, and ended up out of position at the end. I knew I needed some help.

I found Richard through a friend and signed up with the plan of getting a 2nd Cat licence. It seemed impossible to be honest, but I thought—why not give it a shot? After a solid summer and winter of training, racing in 2025 kicked off and I felt completely different on the bike! I could repeat hard efforts and recover quickly, bridge gaps and pull turns in breakaways, and think more clearly about the race around me.

The points started to come, eventually adding up to the 40 needed for my Cat 2 licence—an unbelievable improvement! I would never have got there without Richard’s expertise and guidance. He takes such a long-term view of training, shaping the base and build phases to peak at the right time. I’ve pushed harder and rested more than I ever would have with an app like TrainerRoad—plus Richard is always there with advice and tips.

If you are serious about going further or faster, Richard will get you there!

Richard constructed an appropriate plan for a masters rider for the Mallorca 312, 167 distance with base ,build,peak and over reach training phases ,with a specific climbing focus, the last 2 months of the training plan were goal specific and tough with a number of 6 hour climbing rides with high intensity efforts on other days. I did deviate from the plan in the last week of taper on arrival in mallorca i did a 76km spin up col de feminia to the monastery to get a feel for the road and environment, I would recommend Richards mountainous gran fondo plan with power ,

Just finished my first call with Richard as my coach yesterday and I am very happy with everything so far.

I decided to take the plunge about two months ago and seek out coaching. I have been cycling for 15+ years but only started getting more serious the last five or so. I've been putting all this time and effort into it, why not maximize that as much as I can?

I initially teamed up with someone via TrainingPeaks' coach-athlete matching service but was not happy with them after a couple of weeks, so I decided to go back to the drawing board.

I had calls with three different coaches as part of my process for finding who to partner with. I had essentially made up my mind to go with a different coach until I got a product-related email for TrainingPeaks WKO5 that featured a piece by Richard. I decided to check out his website and book a call.

I found myself listening a lot, which although might not be the best for a screening call (typically you ask the questions to find out if the coach is a good fit for you), but I was impressed with the level of knowledge he had. Other coaches I spoke with didn't really get into any of that sort of stuff, let alone the depth, as he had.

So far, Richard has provided me with a plan (only one month in at this point) that is quite obviously much more clearly tailored FOR ME – which is one of the things I was hoping to get the most from a coach!

The previous coach I worked with basically sold me a training plan that was not at all attuned to my activity history and needs. It matched my availability, but was probably too much.

I appreciate how Richard has constructed my plan strategically. I don’t necessarily ride to my availability, which frees up some of my time, a nice charge of pace (though I obviously love riding…!)

Richard has been adamant about digging out clear goals. I appreciate this a lot as well. I still have some abstract FTP targets I’d like to attain, but I’m realizing more and more lately that cycling is so much more than FTP! Richard’s been a catalyst to this shift in my thinking.

Highly satisfied and want to recommend to my cycling buddies but none are looking for a coach at the moment.

Having trained solo (TrainerRoad) in the past, I realised my now 57-year-old self was a long way off the performance and PBs of my younger 47-year-old self, with a trip to Mallorca in the planning.

I engaged Richard through TrainingPeaks four months to get myself in shape for the Mallorca week. In the first month, we had a shake-down or structured training session and juggled Christmas, and then got serious in January. Superb feedback on every ride, and the plan was adapted and changed dynamically on performance, fatigue and targeting areas of weakness from my PDC - tailored to my Mallorca route plan and goals.

I am certainly no die-hard trainer/racer and
I was not 100% compliant or completed all the sessions, but I estimate I reached about 85% compliance over the three months, and Richard adjusted the plan to accommodate inevitable head colds and business trips.

And so I got Mallorca feeling 'pretty good' ... which, given I had also lost 6kg during the training as well, turned into AWESOME! First major climb (Col Sa Batalla) I chased our club racing whippet (10 years younger and 10kg lighter than me) up the hill, staying with him and taking a minute off my PB from when I was 49! Never even been on his wheel up a hill before!

The week continued in much the same way, and as everyone tired by day 4... the training results kicked in even harder and I chased the whippet up Col De Crueta, and took him on a sprint finish - and another minute off of my long standing 40-something year old PB!

The raw numbers suggest I had gained around 30W on my FTP and had lost 6kg... but they only tell a fraction of the story. My stamina was off-the-charts better than I realised, and I was smashing climbs all week, and pacing easy days like a pro.

The invetible "WTF! - how did you get so stroing?" from the club were gratifying, the joke-accusations of havig EPO laced coffee funny, and showed how much the whole training had paid off - not just in numbers but stamina, endurance, recovery and pacing.

I firmly believe this is down to the dynamic / adpatbale nature of training with a coach, and Richard's excellent analysis of my ongoing performance. My slogging it out solo on TrainerRoad back in the day worked, but nothing like the overall gains I achieved over the same period compared to working with Richard.

Not surprisingly, I have engaged Richard for a few more months to help smash an event in July and continue building on the fantastic foundation we established in just a few months. Brilliant!

As a keen cyclist I decided after a number of years following basic, generic training plans to hire a coach as I was always questioning whether I was doing it right and if I was getting the most out of my limited training time. After a conversation with Richard, we started working together as I had a couple of goal events coming up.
Richard produced and continually tweaked a plan designed specifically for the demands of my event and my own capabilities. His understanding of the data produced every week is astounding and so valuable. In addition, he gave me an incredible amount of advice around technique, positioning, pacing strategy, fueling & hydration to name but a few.
In conclusion, if you have a big event coming up and want to take away all the worry about being prepared, work with Richard and find out what you are capable of, you won't be disappointed.

I was coached by Richard for 12 months to achieve a big cycling goal (L’Étape) and I really benefited and enjoyed from Richard’s coaching. He’s very knowledgable and pragmatic in designing and flexing the program to suit the real life challenges of training. He provides really helpful feedback to help guide you through different workouts and to learn and improve. Highly recommended.

I've been training with Richard on and off now for about 7 years. I always see progress when I'm training. I can also really see that he dedicates his time into analysing the training data and structures the training plan accordingly.

After looking at the training plans Richard offered on his website and then an email conversation back and back forth I was advised the Mountain Gran Fondo plan would be most suitable for the Mallorca 312 event I had in just over 12 weeks.

The plan was incredibly detailed, each day showing exactly which characteristics of my power profile I would be working on.

Each routine was set up in a way that you could carry out outside or on a turbo trainer.

I saw improvements in all the timed intervals - Peak 5 sec up to Peak 60 minute (RHE)

If you want a really challenging training plan that will push you pass your limits (and hurt a lot at times) but will also deliver you to the starting line in ideal form then I highly recommend this.

I'm a 46 year old rider not in any clubs and managed the Mallorca 312 in just over 11 hours (Top 500 out of 8000) with the support of Richard's plan.

Richard is a great coach. I started training 4years ago, at the time i was thinking that strava Koms was the metric that makes me a strong cyclist unfortunally thats not true, racing is different.

With Richard i crossed in 4 years of training most of the aspects of road cycling

i raced Gran Fondos and have strenghts to finish in top 20 age and top 100 overaall in Gran Fondo Stade Bianche with 4000 people at the start, learn to manage fatigue, nutrition, mental thougness.

Then i decided to race criterium races and Within season Richard changed my strenghts to be focused on those races very different from G.fondos

2020 unexpected Challenge was to be able to Race indoor on Zwift with the same strenghts as outside. There was no goal but i reaced well and i finished
always in top 5 riders in A races, beeing able to stay with lead group.

if you have the will of really change and improve Hire Richard Rollingson