A Tuesday-night criterium and a long gravel race ask different questions of a rider. The coach you hire should be able to discuss the one you are trying to answer: holding position, surviving repeated accelerations, or still riding well several hours into the day.
Start with your discipline, target and available training time. Add where you live and where you will race. Those details tell a prospective coach far more than "I want to raise my FTP" on its own.
Roadman sells coaching. This is our advice on choosing a service, not an independent ranking of American coaches. Our coaching for US riders should stand up to the same questions.
Check USA Cycling credentials accurately
USA Cycling's current coaching pathway starts at Level 3, followed by Level 2 Intermediate and Level 1 Advanced. Level 1 is the advanced tier. Ask for the coach's exact credential and current status, rather than relying on a vague "elite coach" description.
USA Cycling links to its coach directory from that page. Use it alongside club recommendations and your own enquiries. A credential gives you something to verify; the next question is how the coach has worked with riders preparing for your kind of event.
Ask for a case that includes the rider's starting ability, weekly hours, preparation period and result. An anonymised account shared with permission is reasonable. A podium photograph or a large FTP increase without that context tells you little about whether the service would suit you.
Make the enquiry specific to your discipline
For criteriums and road racing, explain where the difficulty appears. Losing the wheel after a corner, being badly placed before a climb and struggling with repeated attacks need investigation. Ask how the coach uses both your race file and your account of what happened. If you need practical riding-skills work, establish who can provide it near you.
For gravel and long road events, discuss the full day: terrain, surface, equipment, food, refill opportunities and the longest rides you can fit into preparation. Ask how the coach would assess a ride where the early power looks comfortable but the final hours unravel. Give them your notes as well as the file.
For mountain-bike events, include technical demands in the brief. Ask how skills practice fits around fitness training and whether the coach has experience with your event format. Do not let an endurance label hide the riding skills the course requires.
For triathlon, establish who coordinates the swim, bike and run. The bike programme needs to account for the rest of your training week. If you already have a triathlon coach, discuss responsibility before buying a separate cycling service.
Put your home conditions and travel into the plan
Tell the coach where you train, the terrain you can reach and the conditions that regularly force you indoors. A rider spending winter on the trainer and a rider with year-round outdoor access need different practical arrangements, even if they enter the same race.
If the event is somewhere unfamiliar, send the organiser's current course information and your travel dates. Ask what preparation requires specialist advice and what can be rehearsed at home. A coach should be able to explain the limits of a remote programme, particularly when the event's conditions differ substantially from your usual riding.
Use your own recent rides to make the conversation concrete. For example:
I am preparing for a long gravel event. I have two weekday evenings and one longer weekend window. My last long ride went badly after the second refill stop. I can share the route, power file and what I ate and drank. I want to understand what went wrong before simply adding more training.
This is an illustrative enquiry. It identifies a question the coach can investigate without pretending that one failed ride proves a fitness or fuelling problem. Pay attention to the follow-up questions they ask.
Test the time-zone arrangement before signing
An overseas coach can be accessible, and a coach in your own state can be difficult to reach. Find out the actual arrangement.
Book an introductory call at a time you could sustain during a normal working week. Confirm the calendar invitation in your local time zone. Then ask when messages and completed sessions are reviewed, what happens over a weekend and how a last-minute schedule change is handled.
Daylight-saving changes can alter the gap between countries. A recurring invitation with named time zones is clearer than an informal promise of "eight in the morning". If a service includes group calls, check those fixed times separately from any introductory sales call. A convenient sales appointment does not establish the programme's ongoing availability.
Compare the work included in the price
Request the same details from each coach:
- Who writes the programme and reviews your rides?
- How often is that review, and what feedback do you receive?
- Are calls individual or shared, and how often can you attend?
- Which plan adjustments and message responses are included?
- Are software, testing, setup charges or in-person sessions extra?
- What is the minimum commitment, and how do you pause or cancel?
Ask to see an anonymised example of feedback. It should show how the coach explains a decision and what the rider does with it. That gives you more to compare than words such as "personalised" or "premium".
Our coaching-price audit records a dated sample of advertised offers. Check the current quote before buying. Price alone cannot establish whether you are getting useful individual attention; the delivery terms and the work you see matter.
Where Roadman fits
Not Done Yet costs US$195 per month and includes an individual TrainingPeaks plan, weekly review by the Roadman coaching team and live group coaching led by Anthony Walsh. Nutrition, strength and recovery guidance are part of the programme. Roadman Inner Circle, at US$525 per month, is the option for individual coaching with Anthony.
Roadman is based in Ireland. Check the live-call schedule against your local time and ask how your individual review works before choosing a programme. If your main need is hands-on skills coaching in your area, include that in the conversation too.
Send Roadman your riding goals and training availability if you want to discuss the fit. Include your time zone, target event and the part of your riding you most want help with.