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Coach Dan Smith
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Dan Smith, the SportVelo founder, is an experienced endurance coach with plenty of years in the cycling industry. He's been a full-time professional coach for eight years and in the cycling industry for over 20 years. He coaches individuals and groups. |
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Paris-RoubaixDan recounts one of his most memorable experiences while working at RockShox: "I had a fantastic opportunity to go to France for the first time in 1994 and support the Paris-Roubaix World Cup race for RockShox, who provided selected pros with suspension forks for the brutal, cobbled race. And all the pros wanted one because Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle had won the race the previous two years on a RockShox. I knew that the pro peloton was competitive, but I had no idea just how fleeting success could be until Eric Vanderaerden approached me in the hotel lobby. As a big fan of professional cycling, I knew immediately who he was. The strong Belgian rider had won the race in 1987, solo, and was now racing for a different team in a different era. This former winner pleaded with me for a RockShox fork. “Can I get a fork? I won this race once.” As if I didn't know who he was! Even though he was at the end of his career, it was obvious to me that the pros were only as good as their last race. " "We did give him the coveted fork, and he rewarded us by being in one of the first moves of the day and staying in a breakaway group for about 100kms in the middle of the race. Now that was cool."
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Coaching ExperienceDan is an Elite Certified United States Cycling coach, and a level 1 United States Triathlon coach, and he participates in USAT and USAC seminars to stay on top of the most recent science in endurance training. In particular, he has lengthy experience training and coaching with power, starting with CompuTrainers in 1989, and presently working with all types of power meters and Cycling Peaks analysis software. He coaches athletes to successes on the road, triathlon, cyclocross, track, and mountain biking, from strong local triathletes to nationally ranked cyclists. Athletes he coaches have achieved goals such as several district championships and medals, national championship and medals, qualifying for triathlon nationals and worlds, and racing in the Olympic Trials. Before founding SportVelo, Dan promoted cycling events (road, track, and criteriums) and led numerous cycling clubs over the years. A competitive swimmer in college, he raced as a triathlete after graduation. Dan has raced bikes for over 20 years, starting in the Pro, 1, 2 ranks, and he presently competes in the Masters 45+ 1, 2, 3 category. He has competed in track, cyclocross, mountain bike, and road events, such as the National Road Race, the Redlands Stage Race, and other NRC races. As a master race, he has won the 2006 Hood River criterium, the local 2000 Pescadero Road Race, the 2005 Madera County Stage Race, the 2005 Cingular Lake Front road race at SuperWeek, and placed 4th at the 2004 Masters National Criterium. He won two stages and placed third overall at the 2002 Elkhorn Classic stage race. Industry ExperiencePrior to launching SportVelo, Dan helped build the business at RockShox, Inc. as the Director of Aftermarket Sales and Customer Service. He is a master wheel builder, Barnett Bicycle institute graduate, and has wrenched for professional road teams in Europe (Paris-Roubaix World Cup race, 1994, 1995, 1996), as well as provided race support for professional mountain bike teams in the US , 1992-1999. SportVelo takes a dual approach to training: gradually improving your weaknesses while maximizing your strengths. Although it's tempting to complete only those workouts where we excel, challenging ourselves with difficult workouts often pay off dividends.
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