Zwift coach profile: Shayne Gaffney, GC Coaching

Based in Woburn, Massachusetts, Shayne Gaffney is a USA Cycling Level II coach who is also a licensed Physical Therapy Assistant holding a degree in biology. (It’s always assuring to know your coach has the background to understand how training effects the body… check out Shayne’s blog for useful tips like core workouts which apply to every cyclist.)

Like other Zwift Insider sponsoring coaches, Shayne uses Zwift (he’s been on since the early beta days), and he couples that with the coaching expertise needed to get you to your peak fitness and beyond. Read below to learn more about Shayne.

Tell me about your cycling background. What sort of riding have you done, for how long, etc?
I started cycling in 2006 when I got into triathlons after being burnt out from middle and long distance competitive running.  I have done road, cross, TTs, and mountain biking, but my forte and passion lie with road.

When and why did you begin coaching?
I began coaching in 2012 after a friend said she needed help running a Computrainer Program and thought I would be a great match from my background (and she would pay for the license and testing fees!  SCORE!  ?).  So, I took her up on the offer and have truly enjoyed every minute since.

Every coach has particular philosophies which define their methods. How would you describe yours?
My philosophy is quite simple: Fitness = Consistency over Time, or, F=C/T.  Nothing changes without a consistent stimulus!

Do you use Zwift personally, and if so what for?
I do use Zwift personally and have been using it since the Beta testing phase!  I use it for a myriad of things like training, racing, social riding, and satisfying the competitive aspect of my brain via the various jerseys.

How is Zwift a useful tool from a coach’s perspective?
In three ways:

1. It is visually, socially, and competitively stimulating, keeping the athlete engaged longer
2. The workout creator is better than any other, bar none
3. It gives the athlete the ability to receive the greatest benefit from their time invested in their training, especially with the smart trainer becoming more widely used.  You can literally change, swing your leg over the top tube, and be doing structured workouts in 5 minutes!

If you had just one piece of advice you could share with all Zwifters, what would it be?
Whatever you do, do it consistently!  It is far better to ride shorter multiple times a week than to ride longer a couple of times a week.

Testimonials

Mike Heck from Hutchinson, KS

For several years I have had the desire to complete a multi day long distance ride.  I have always felt that my interests were more towards endurance riding than racing.  After some health setbacks in the last couple of years, the stars finally aligned and I picked a ride.  This ride was no small goal for me, it included about 400 miles and almost 30,000 feet of climbing at altitude over 6 days.

I talked with Coach Shayne about helping me prepare for this event. He had some great ideas and so we worked together to get prepared for the big week.  My goal was to not just finish, but finish strong.

Coach Shayne’s workout plans, encouragement, and an appropriate amount of pushing was instrumental in my completion of the ride.  He tailored the workouts to meet my schedule and he was always available to provide advice and the encouragement that is needed when things seem to not be going well.  I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone, especially, someone that is just looking to get started or has a specific event in mind.  I was very impressed with his knowledge and ability to help me meet my goals.

Dan Shinnick from Rowley, MA

– The A group, the fast ones on the Saturday ride.

– A sub 5 hour century.     

These were my goals and they had eluded me for years because, I now see, I didn’t really have a plan for achieving them.  I began working with Coach Shayne Gaffney in January of 2015 through his Pure Power (P2) classes looking to finally crack them.  I came away from the P2 class seeing a remarkable increase in both my power and confidence.  Recognizing the clear benefits structured training had for me, I asked Coach Shayne to coach me through the rest of the 2015 season and I began to consider racing.  Having never raced before I was incredibly nervous.  But working with Coach Shayne only continued to improve those two facets and as I approached the first race of the season at Mt. Blue, I knew I was ready.  Through the season as my confidence and ability grew, each race became more fun than the last.

Thanks to Coach Shayne being so generous with his time and knowledge, I achieved my original goals, grew to set new ones and achieved those as well.

Zwift coach profile: Ric Stern, RST Sport

While based in London, Ric Stern of RST Sport is coaches clients all over the world, including Australian Michael Frieberg who won the Omnium event in the 2011 World Track Cycling Championships.

Ric and his team of coaches work with all types of cyclists and triathletes, achieving no small level of success on the national and world championship levels.

Like other Zwift Insider sponsoring coaches, Ric and his team love and use Zwift, but also have the coaching expertise to help you get to the next level. Read below to learn more about Ric and his team.

Tell me about your cycling background. What sort of riding have you done, for how long, etc?
I started racing in 1984 as a junior and have been racing since then. I began with time trials which, at the time, was the way most people started in bike races in the UK, and I’ve TTed over most standard UK distances (and a few non-standard distances) to include short hill climbs, 10, 25, 30, 50, 75, 100 mile TTs as well as a few 12 hour TTs.

I’ve road raced, done criteriums, ridden the track, and taken part in sportives too! On top of that I’ve raced in France, and rode most of the Tour de France route in front of the riders.

When and why did you begin coaching?
I began coaching my friends in the 1980s (not that I really knew it was called coaching then), and started properly in the 1990s.

I began collecting power meter data in 1993, and wanted to bring an empirical, scientific approach to coaching, which I felt was lacking. I had this burning desire to help people (my friends at first) to get better and ride faster. There seemed to be all these old wives tales, which didn’t make any sense to me. So I was very much driven by the science of how the body worked both from a physical and mental perspective.

In 1995 I started (and eventually finished) a degree in Sports Science, which I felt would help me understand the science and be able to better understand how to help people achieve their goals.

Every coach has particular philosophies which define their methods. How would you describe yours?
My philosophy revolves around the science and using both peer-reviewed evidence as well as my own experiences of applying those data in a real world setting. That’s not to say my coaching doesn’t have any fun sessions (because it does), and it’s not all highly structured intervals (because most people don’t like, want, or need anything that rigid).

Do you use Zwift personally, and if so what for?
Yes, I use Zwift. I used it through beta although I must say I generally stop using it when the weather is really good. I do use it to help me schedule in both endurance sessions and structured intervals or blocks of work.

How is Zwift a useful tool from a coach’s perspective?
Because you can get athletes to ride without too many distractions (e.g. cars, junctions!) and you can have a feel of what the rider is doing in terms of the ‘environment’ where they’re riding. At RST Sport we coach riders all over the world, and work with these athletes remotely. I can’t always see where they’re riding so knowing they’re riding a route I’ve done on Zwift allows me to see how they classify it, which allows me to understand how they classify other routes.

If you had just one piece of advice you could share with all Zwifters, what would it be?
I think my favorite piece of advice, for virtually all riders is, don’t start too hard. Most people overcook things at the start of either races or training, where a more measured effort is nearly always better! (exceptions are events that last less then ~60-secs). Oh! and enjoy it!

Testimonials

Michael Frieberg  (Australia) said this about RST Sport after winning the 2011 World Track Championships:

To me the RST Sport team is my Formula One pit crew, ready to squeeze every ounce of performance from my body. Whether it be in aerodynamics, nutrition, training, testing, racing, pursuiting or sprinting, every facet of my performance is recorded, measured, calculated and analysed finding improvements in speed, efficiency and recovery. RST is my personal sports institute devoted to making me faster.

Selene Yeager (USA, editor of bicycling.com) said:

Coaching is as much about art as it is science. Anyone with working knowledge of physiology and the sport can cobble together a training plan. That’s the science. The art is knowing your athlete, digging in a little deeper on what makes them tick, and fine tuning the plan and your training approach for that specific athlete to meed that specific athlete’s need. That’s the art. And to that end, Neil Kent is an artist. I was already doing well when I started working with Neil, but he saw where I needed improvement (aka threshold tolerance on the flats) and the areas of racing in which I felt less confident (aka NERVES). He designed programs that systematically dissolved those weaknesses. I went into the biggest race of my life Brasil Ride with multi time national champion Rebecca Rusch with the most confidence I’ve ever had; raced stronger and smarter than I ever have, and emerged with a stage race sweep and overall win. Through it all, he always encouraged me to enjoy the ride; checked in regularly to be sure I was on point and feeling happy; and was as much a friend as a coach. I’d recommend his services to anyone.