The Cycling Coach | Bosseau Boshoff

When you start moving in cycling circles you will soon hear the name Bosseau Boshoff. Those who know him also affectionately refer to him as Boss and it doesn’t take long to figure out that it’s not just short for Bosseau.

By Benno Stander

Bosseau Boshoff Apart from being the guy in charge at Road Cycling SA and team manager for the SA road cycling team, Bosseau is also private coach to some of the biggest names in mountain biking today.

He has good ties with Valencia as most of the local top riders he coaches are Valencia riders. Bosseau also manages the entire Valencia road team and ladies mountain bike team. “I pretty much do everything that has anything to do with cycling.” We caught up with him at Valencia to find out more about what he does.

Bosseau started cycling when he was 15 years old and after military service he went to France to try and cycle professionally. He soon realised that cycling there was just too far ahead to compete. He then came back and opened a bicycle store in Jhb called Finish Line Cycles.

“Kids started hanging around the shop and asked us to start a club. We did and before I knew it I was coaching them,” he laughs. “What I know about cycling was learnt over time and through trial and error I guess. But it paid off quickly and in my time at Finish Line some 26 springbok cyclists made their way through our ranks and we definitely became the force to reckon with.”

Bosseau took an eight year gap from cycling and, as one does, picked up some weight in the process. “My obvious plan to shake it off was cycling. I cycled with some top competitors and even though I battled initially, I quickly picked up my pace and stayed with them. They were keen to know how I trained and what they were doing wrong so pretty soon I was back in coaching.” That was just over three years ago and at the moment he takes care of about 30 riders.

Bosseau Boshoff

Preparing for your first race

We asked Bosseau to give some advice on how to prepare for your first race. Here are some of the important things he thinks you should consider:

Surround yourself with the right people

You don’t have to hire a coach for your first race but chat to friends that have done races. Joining a club is also a good idea as you will continually pick up interesting and useful bits of information you’ll need when cycling. Also visit the bike shop regularly and see what people are buying and what is on offer. You don’t need all the fanciest gear for your first race but its good to understand what makes one item better than another.

Set positive and realistic goals

If your goals are unrealistic you will end up being disappointed and if you don’t feel that you are achieving you might not continue to cycle. Every little bit of progress is good, no matter how small and how long it takes.

Relax

People get very nervous and worked up. Take a deep breath. Relax and enjoy every moment out there on your bike. Cycling can become very mental and I always tell my riders to mentally break up a race in sections. If you are doing a 40km just focus on the first 10km. Then the next and so forth. Decide beforehand how you are going to break up the race and choose which sections you are going to push harder. Planning is key.

Bosseau Boshoff

The right gear

• If you think your brain is worth R100 then it is fine for you to buy a helmet for R100. According to Bosseau a proper helmet that fits properly is a non-negotiable item as soon as you get on a bicycle.

• Cycling pants are also very important and can greatly increase your level of comfort. Bosseau admits that even though some of the brands are ridiculously overpriced, after receiving an expensive pair to try out he will never change back.

• It’s not all about the bike, says Lance, but Bosseau says it has a lot to do with the bike especially for women starting out. You need to have the right size bike that is set up the right way, or cycling will not be much fun. Each brand of bike has a scale for measuring to see what size frame will suit you. Make sure you get the right one and don’t let sales people convince you otherwise as they might just be trying to move stock.

Wednesday Crit Race at Mbombela

Every Wednesday cyclists from all around Nelspruit gather to race against each other on roads around the stadium for 40 min.
There are even prizes for winners of premium lap and bell lap as well as an overall winner prize. Anyone can take part and there are even kids under 10 competing.

According to Bosseau the idea behind these races is to get Mpumalanga riders to compete more often. “We don’t have that many races and it is expensive to travel to races in other provinces. So riders end up not racing enough and not learning enough out of every race. If you make a mistake today it is easy to correct it next week. But if you only race every second month you keep on making the same mistakes over and over again.”