Training makeover
GB Olympian Jonny Bellis coaches business owner and dad Tom Kite
Apassionate mountain biker as a youth, Tom Kite rediscovered his love of cycling after getting a “grown-up” road bike in 2013. After joining Strava, beginning racing and moving quickly from fourth to third-category, Kite says he’s “addicted to the adrenaline kick of a race, break and placing well in a sprint”.
Owner of a lettings agency and dad to three young children, the 33-yearold has his eye on a cat-two licence and needs a schedule to fit his busy lifestyle. We’ve left him in the capable hands of GB Olympian, Jonny Bellis. CW: What do you most want to improve in your cycling? TK: I’d like to improve my sustained threshold efforts, for breakaways. Lots of the local races are on flat courses, so naturally suit the larger riders. I have always had a good turn of speed, but found this has probably worked against me — I’ve tended to rely on my sprint more than others. I sometimes feel at lower levels that racing can be quite negative, with lots of riders wanting to sit in and wait for a sprint.
CW: What are your motivations?
TK: I like pushing myself physically to my limits, and racing offers both suffering and competition. Since starting riding my bike four years ago, I have lost almost three stone and changed aspects of my lifestyle. I still have a drive to compete at as high a level as I can, and I
want to encourage my kids that sport is such a good lifestyle choice.
CW: What are the barriers to you training as well or as much as you’d like? TK: Time is at a premium, especially this last year with my daughter Elsie, who will be one in October. Being tired has not only reduced my motivation to train, but also reduced the quality of my training. I try to train for eight hours per week, but some of this is unstructured commuting.
CW: What are your strengths and weaknesses in training?
TK: I don’t have a power meter, so train using my heart rate. Though this works to a degree and I can see improvements over time, it is much harder to see any changes week to week. Sometimes I don’t train as specifically as I should.
1. Improve functional threshold power (FTP) 2. Obtain Cat 2 licence 3. Race more often