Meet Nick Owen - the man willingly combining World Tour coaching, with crit racing masochism

We start by eulogising Pog's career, and paying our respects to what he gave us and the sport. Yes we're all grieving, deeply sad, and grateful at the same time. Big feelings, big meaning.

We then shift into a conversation with Nick Owen!

Nick’s a sports scientist and cycling coach, based in Melbourne, Australia. He works with road and track cyclists at Olympic, Paralympic, and World tour level, the top domestic pro's in Australia’s newly formed ProVelo Super league, and also masters guns and emerging junior talent.

This conversation goes deeper into the coaching, training, sports science and performance aspects of cycling, and really is a rare chance to hear from the horse's mouth on the ins and outs of top cycling performance and what it takes.**

We also discuss recent races from more of a spectator point of view, and what us non-elite cyclists can do to bring out our best on the bike.**

Enjoy!

**See chapters for more detail and episode navigation

Nick Owen Website: https://nocsportsscience.com

Nick Owen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickowen5/

Chapters

• 2:56 His current coaching focus, the bigger names he works with, the scope of his role
• 15:36 His career so far, background in cheffing, & what that’s done for his career in sport
• 21:41 What AFL football and Pro cycling can learn from each other.
• 28:37 Observations of the spring classics, Pog and MVDP at Tour of Flanders, and the microscopic variables at the top level
• 42:45 The process of taking .8 secs off a best time, to win an Olympic gold medal
• 45:44 His athletes in the women's Ronde Van Vlaanderen
• 48:08 Hypothetical: What he'd do with Wout van Aert, & the curse of being really strong
• 1:03:48 How Kasia Niewiadoma & Luke Plapp are alike
• 1:10:37 Luke Plapp's current focus and direction
• 1:13:54 Nick's own racing, and the experience of doing 7 crits in 8 days(!) last summer.
• 1:30:36 Training advice for masters: low hanging fruit, common mistakes, and what happens when he rides with his returning pros.
• 1:47:32 Why his athletes love him so much