Jered Gruber Realizes His Dream

Look back now when Matt decided to take me on as a little experiment,
which was about this time a year ago in fact, and I can't believe it. I told him that I would do anything, I just wanted to get better, faster, stronger, just like anyone. I had big dreams, I had just started racing and I wanted to get fast, I wanted to go far. I didn't know it though, but I wasn't prepared at that time. I thought that my dividends in cycling should be reached with as many hours as possible. So I did my prescribed workouts, I did everything he asked, but I added a little Jered time on top of everything, and I'll be damned if I didn't explode into a million pieces by March. I couldn't believe that I could make gains by focused training that didn't include 30 hours on my bike, in fact I was seeing weeks with 10-12 hours. I couldn't understand that my races did not warrant 25 hour weeks. I was too hardheaded to understand the idea, I just knew that Pro's and 1's and 2's trained a lot more than me, and that's where I wanted to be.

That's not how it works though, he constantly told me. You're not ready for that yet, take one step at a time. The wise words constantly fell to deaf ears and I did more and more, but after my explosion, I had somewhat of an awakening per se, and I saw that everything he had told me and prescribed was what I SHOULD have been doing, no more, no less. I was the idiot not to do what he said, and from then on I followed directions and watched the form come around and the results follow right after that. I indeed got better, faster, stronger, everything I wanted.

Now, I never told Matt about this, though I have a feeling he probably knew to an extent, but it's very telling. I know I'm young and enthusiastic, so I'm supposed to make these mistakes, but without Matt, I think I would have continually made the same mistakes, I wouldn't have had this wise voice to direct my enthusiasm. Coaching is not just about training plans and testing though, I think more of it has to do with excellent communication, and there is where I think Matt and I have really succeeded. I talk to Matt constantly throughout the week, batter him with questions, ask WHY am I doing this?
Where is this going? What about what this coach says? I am not an easy person to coach by any means, but he answers my questions patiently and in the end shows me the light. :)

His constant support and help through my constant questioning and hardheaded riding have literally propelled me forward into a new realm where I now HAVE to ride 25 hours a week. I've gone from a middling 4 at the end of last season to a competitive 2 with a chance this year to race for a major U23 team in Germany. My improvement has been ridiculous when I look back at it, in one year now, I have made strides that would not have been possible without Matt, there is no question there, but I'm looking to go MUCH further this coming year.