DROP AND GIVE ME 20!

Meet Alan Milway, coach to some of the world’s top downhiller racers

I used to run a holiday company in Morzine. Between seasons, I taught PE, thinking that my Sports and Materials Sciences degree wouldn’t pay as a career. Alongside this I coached motocross riders and wrote articles for DirtBike Rider. Gee Atherton read one and emailed me about training, back in 2006. The following year, I worked with him leading up to the World Champs in Fort William, where he got third. After that I started training Danny Hart. When he went on to win the World Champs in 2011 it opened a lot of doors for me. I now coach full-time.

One day I’ll be up in the Highlands testing with The Dudes of Hazzard, the next I’ll be in the performance gym at Birmingham Uni training top DH and MX riders. Add into the mix writing workout plans, bike coaching with +3 and attending World Cups and training camps, and no day is ever quite the same!

My job is to maximise an athlete’s potential, so that at a race they can let their skills do the talking. There’s always a rationale for exercises. Some riders, like Tracy Moseley, want to know the reasoning behind everything, whereas Brendan Fairclough is the opposite – he wants to know what to do, but without too much science.

I don’t think I’ve worked with a ‘lazy’ athlete, but some like to rest more than others. Brendan never sits still – a rest day for him is a two-hour ride and moto laps in the evening! Matt Simmonds has a raw strength that’s impressive for an MTBer. Gee and Rachel are amazingly powerful too. I really like the way Joe Breeden approaches things – for someone so young, he’s very mature and focused, but not overly serious.