Coach Adrian Bennett is ready to support your cycling ambitions. Whether you are a licensed racer working through the category system, a gravel aficionado, an ultra-endurance athlete, or simply seeking skills and fitness, Coach Adrian can talk to you about training plans and hourly services that meet your needs.
Adrian has helped elite road racers find success. He has coached riders in preparation for events like the Unbound Gravel race, the Day Across Minnesota, Lon Haldeman and Susan Notorangelo’s PacTour events, cross country mountain bike racing, cyclocross, 100 mile ultra runs, and ultra distance cycling events on and off-road.
Adrian has experience supporting clients of all ages and ability levels. He is excited to work with novice and developing cyclists on their training and skill development. Adrian would love to help you get the hang of your local singletrack or support you as you gain confidence handling your bike on descents or in the pack.
From teaching folks to ride for the first time to crafting advanced, discipline-specific handling skills lessons, Coach Adrian is excited to tailor live, in-person services to your specific needs at any level!
Adrian’s broad experience of cycling helps him zoom in on the important variables critical to success in the field. He systematically troubleshoots clients’ training processes, finds the challenge areas, and creates a concrete action plan. Adrian has raced as a full-time student, office worker, and mechanic. He knows the scramble of balancing ambitious cycling goals with real life responsibilities. His work in the power meter industry gave him an insider’s knowledge of how to get the most from power-based training. Remember: Power isn’t everything. It merely allows one to sit at the proverbial chess table of racing.
When it comes to the chess table, Adrian teaches from his depth of tactical experience, whether it’s field sprint positioning or when and how to eat on a 29-hour ride. He approaches clients’ training programs with methodical attention to detail.
Adrian wants to help clients achieve their maximum potential as athletes and competitors while maintaining a sustainable life/work/training balance. He recognizes the importance of good times on the bike, without compromising the discipline of purposeful training. He is a supportive, compassionate coach who wants his clients to feel welcomed and heard.
When not racing or working mechanic jobs, Adrian earned a B.A. from Oberlin College with a double major in History and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. As the captain of the Oberlin Cycling Team for several years, Adrian learned to mentor aspiring racers. He showed them good form on the bike, pack etiquette and handling skills, and accompanied them on many “firsts,” be it first race, first ride over 50 miles, or first podium. He helped nervous racers feel a sense of purpose and belonging in the scrimmage of the field.
Adrian is familiar with conducting repeatable power tests, training through brutal Midwestern winters, and handling most bicycle types in most imaginable conditions.
How did he catch the endurance sports bug? Adrian’s first cycling obsession was unconventional. After discovering randonneuring during his senior year of high school, he assembled a 1969 Raleigh Super Course from the bike shop junk pile and completed a Super Randonneur series (200, 300, 400 and 600 kilometer rides) with the San Francisco Randonneurs before his 18th birthday.
During college, bike shop colleagues convinced him to try road racing, launching a five-year obsessive hustle of weekends on the road and a scramble for upgrade points. He raced all over the United States, primarily based in Ohio, California, and Oregon. After some respectable stage race showings and road race podium finishes in the Pacific Northwest region, he earned his Category 2 road license from USA Cycling. He also completed the Unbound Gravel Race in 2017 as part of the Project Y documentary film.
After a mountain bike crash in 2014, Adrian went to the doctor to investigate possible rib-cage trauma. There he learned that he had a bicuspid aortic heart valve. Though initially discouraged from racing, after additional testing, he was given the tentative green light, and continued for three more seasons. He’s taking it easy on the heart now, sticking to a program of mostly low intensity activity, feeling like he got the answers he needed to about his potential as a racer.
Adrian is based in Woodside, CA. He works as an architectural steel fabricator when not coaching.
Adrian can be reached at 612-383-6381 or via email: coachadriansbikeshop@gmail.com
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