UK made, high quality weights bench. With nearly 20 years of coaching experience, Alan develops the first product to help riders and athletes with their training. The Milway Performance Bench is supplied with a firm bench pad, high quality, textured upholstery and locally produced in The Black Country, the bench will not only offer a better training experience but long lasting use!
Offered in a choice of colours to suit your training environment, the bench is shipped pre assembled, with only 2 bolts required to fit before you can start using it. No more flat pack kits to try and build up properly before training can start.
Head over to Milway Performance website to see more details!
I will be offering training sessions from The Surrey Sports Park in Guildford
from 6-8th August.
These sessions will be aimed at progressing your fitness and include exercises
to help you specifically. Get the most from your training, riding and racing!
If you have been for previous sessions we can progress what you have done and
add further exercises or revisions!
Sessions can be booked for 60 or 90mins with a maximum of 2 athletes per session.
Cost is £60/ £90 per session, per person.
Dates:
Monday 6th August- Wednesday 8th August.
Please contact me: alan.milway@gmail.com for further information
and to book a place.
Many thanks
Alan
This year the Downhill MTB World Championships travelled to Andorra. The track is long and steep, with a good mix of terrain.
The weather was going to play its part; with heavy rain forecast for much of practice, then settling in to dry conditions for race day.
Track walk confirmed that there was numerous line options, and critical turns where time would be gained or lost – carrying speed would be vital.
Practice is split up between categories and meant for long days on the hill; filming, comparing lines and also gathering some data from the athletes. I had an accelerometer fitted to each of them over the course of practice and timed training to record the demands on the athlete during the course of a competitive downhill run. I always like to gather information to further my understanding of the physical demands of racing, and have used power cranks, heart rate monitors, blood lactate sampling and accelerometers for this.
Martin Maes competes on the World Enduro circuit, but loves to race downhill when the schedule allows. Still a Junior he has won World Cups and wanted to add a World Junior Downhill tittle to his Palmares. After a good week of practice he put in a solid run, and took Silver Medal, behind GB athlete and Downhill Junior Champion Laurie Greenland. A great result for Martin – who was incredibly mature in his approach all week.
Rachel Atherton had a hard season in 2014, with illness and fatigue hampering her, she still took Silver medal in 2014, and this year has had a full winter of training behind her. Following a 2nd place at the first World Cup round, has won every other race so far. A Gold was all she was after, and she managed to deliver after huge pressure all week. A fantastic result!
In the Men’s event, Gee Atherton is defending World Champion. After a year filled with niggling injuries from crashes and where speed and strength have been there, but a perfect race run has eluded him, alas Andorra was to bite him hard. In touch at the split, and with a bike set up for the bottom steep sections, Gee had a huge crash mid way down, where he caught a tree stump. A difficult end to the season for him, but one that fuels the fire in preparation for 2016.
A Gold and Silver Medal to take away in 2015 is reassuring that the program is working well, and I look forward to planning for 2016 already!
I was very happy to be told that I have been shortlisted for Coach of the Year! It has been a great season so far for the Mountain Bike and Motocross racers, and to be recognised for my coaching by the Birmingham Sports Awards is very flattering.
The season hasn’t finished yet though, and we head off to Andorra for the World MTB Championships next week, and this weekend is the final of the EMX Motocross Championships, where Adam Sterry and Jack Bintcliffe are both aiming to win their respective titles!
After a dominant season so far, Rachel chalks up another win (by over 9 seconds!) and with it the series title.
Last season was difficult for her with illness that she had to battle all year, but she came in to this season strong, fit and fresh and it has showed!
It has been great to look back on some of the pics from winter training as we now prepare for the final World Cup and the upcoming World Championships in Andorra.
It has been a great season so far for RMJ motocross academy. This motocross academy is run by Richard-Mike Jones (someone I actually used to coach when he raced!) and works with rides from Junior rookies through to GP racers. His Elite Academy is comprised of Adam Sterry, Ashley Wilde, Dexter Douglas, James Cottrell, Jack Bintcliffe, Matt Burrows and Nathan Dixon, who all work with me on their fitness and conditioning to tie in with their riding plans through Rich.
Integrating the training and riding is one of the big challenges and now we are in to the season, everyone is doing slightly different schedules and series’ so getting the balance is key for them.
We recently had an assessment day and re-tested a number of areas first assessed back in November. It was great to compare results and look at the % change across a range of different areas. There were also some clear correlations between riders which was great to note and learn from. To get more than 20% improvements in certain areas is really significant and shows the effort they have all been putting in! Really proud of their efforts and it is testament to a good training programme and integration with riding and racing calendar.
The MXGP heads to Matterley Basin this weekend and RMJ riders will be in full effect racing GP, Honda CRF150 cup and EMX, so they will be looking for more success!
I always enjoy writing magazine articles. Here is a recent piece I did for MBUK. It was aimed at encouraging normal mountain bike riders to try some different things in their riding to help improve their performance and get more from their rides.
After the travel and grind of a winter preparing to race, the season is now here!
We are in a period where the calendar of races and travelling leaves little room for manoeuvre so coming in strong and fit is very important. Although this was certainly the case for Gee and Rach, Tay had broken his thumb in New Zealand and came in to the first with only a short time in plaster, so the break was still fresh.
I use the word with caution, but Gee was looking dominant in practice at Lourdes, a step up from what I have seen recently, and really at an incredible pace. A crash in qualifying was unexpected and costly, damaging his thumb and leaving him in really agony. He bravely tried to ride the finals, with a lot of strapping to help him hold the bars and lots of painkillers. To roll down and be less than 20seconds off winning is crazy really, he is something else!
Tay did what he good and got great experience – first Elite race and to qualify and get down with a decent time made the fire burn more to prepare for Round 2.
Rach was her impressive self looking so strong at the top – where it is most technical. She made a mistake lower down but a 2nd place was a great start to the campaign.
It was then up to Fort William for BDS round 2 and a warm up for the World Cup. The weather was atrocious and the track shortened. Both Gee and Rach won, with a deep field of international racers. Check out the race report here:
The Enduro boys are now also in full flow – last weekend was the first round of UK Gravity enduro. Mark Scott has had a great winter and we have worked well together planning and testing his fitness, and he used this to take the Elite win.
He is now heading to Ireland to race EWS round 2 with Dan and Martin also.
I haven’t updated the site in a while and looking back over the past few months it isn’t hard to see why, things have been busy preparing for 2015! Things started earlier this winter with the Junior Motocross riders, and January was spent in USA and France. February in UK, then off to NZ in March before the 1st World Cup in France.
2014 was a great season and to have coached both 2014 Downhill World Champions was a big achievement. It was also great to see Martin Maes develop and win at Fort William, and Taylor win a world cup too – coming back from such a big injury to winning felt like reward for his hard work.
Training rides in California were sometimes caffeine fuelled!
At the end of 2014 season I sat down with The Athertons and we immediately went in to planning mode for 2015. Rach had a hard year with a difficult illness and she really showed some grit to be right up there with the set backs she suffered. She is hungry now and wants to be back at Number 1 so training sessions with her at the moment are very rewarding and she had a great start to 2015 with a 2nd place this weekend.
Sun Setting in california during road ride with Rach.
Gee obviously has a big target on his back being World Champ and he came in to this winter after an extended period of filming and commitments, but injury free and he has stepped up again; to continue hitting personal bests each winter amazes me. He expects a lot of himself and knows his body very well. Lourdes was difficult as he injured his wrist, but he showed amazing speed and form on the bike, and also confirmed he is one tough dude- riding with a broken wrist to salvage points is beyond possible for 99% of the population.
This photo was meant in irony but I think we pull it off haha!
Athy had a frustrating season last year with a broken leg – after such a great winter behind him. Something people won’t see, but this is the nature of racing and bikes. He has had a really focussed mindset this winter and is pushing himself really hard. We have done more on the road bikes than before, and tried to resist a drop on strength and power- in fact we are going the other way! Having Athy healthy and fit for EWS is an exciting prospect. New Zealand EWS was mixed for him – riding better than ever and right up there, but an unfortunate crash due to another rider being on his line forced him to retire, but he is fully fit and ready for races ahead.
US Olympic training Centre at Chula Vista – a great day spent here.
Martin Maes is great to coach and is so mature for his age – he is still a Junior! He has more pressure this year, and this will be his challenge, but winning a pre season Enduro in New Zealand showed him he is still right up there and helped his confidence.
When you train with the World Champion you have to dig deep. Taylor getting it done.
Taylor moves up to Elite for 2015 and knows it will be a big (but tough) year for him. Resetting expectations from Junior- Senior is a difficult transition and having been through it with Danny back in 2009/2010 I know it can be difficult but he will come in knowing that people don’t have specific expectations so he can ride with a little less external pressure perhaps. He has been in the gym and killing it so far, again having Gee in the gym with him must be motivating but sometimes frustrating- I think he works harder because of it and this can only be good. A broken thumb in NZ has made the first world cup very difficult, but he knows his speed and fitness are there.
Adam Sterry, professional motocross racer and strong as an ox. Matt Burrows keeps his eye on technique.
At the end of 2014 I stopped coaching Madison team and started to work with RMJ motocross academy. I used to work with Richard-Mike Jones when he was racing and it is great to be back working with professional Motocross riders again. He is now coaching and has a great programme. They are of the highest calibre and will be racing British Championship and selected GP’s this year so to be developing young talent and seeing the rewards on the track is motivating and refreshing. They are a great group: Adam Sterry, Ashley Wilde, Matt Burrows, Nathan Dixon, Dexter Douglas and Jack Bintcliffe.
RMJ academy pro riders (minus Jack!) A great group to work with from Juniors to GP…
We have worked hard together every week and to buy in to this level of commitment straight away shows they are willing to go outside of what they have done previously, and we are already seeing the results on the track: Hawkstone International was the first big MX race of the season and Adam qualified 4th before bike trouble (MX2) and Ashley had a storming day to go 6th overall in MXGP. They are all continuing this form and Adam Sterry opened eyes with an 8th overall at the GP of Argentina!
We used Hawkstone to collect race data. Ashley Wildes bike before storming to 6th overall on the day.
Another new recruit to the programme is Mark Scott. The talented Scottish rider is on the Wideopen Enduro team and has been grafting this winter. He will be one to watch I am sure this year and it has been great to put together a good programme for him and coach him in the gym – he is a power house!
I’m also continuing with Andrew Neethling after a number of good years together. Needles has moved teams for 2015 to Hutchinson/Polygon and I think this fresh set up will be good for him. I struggle sometimes during the winter when he says it is hot and sunny, and sends me pictures of amazing seaside rides and sand dune moto sessions, especially when it is -5 here!
Mark Scott has been grafting this winter.
Jack Bintcliffe practicing starts ready for EMX rd1
