by Nikki Butterfield, professional cyclist, Webcor Builders Women's Professional Cycling Team

1. Take the time to find a coach that matches your personality, goals, experience and expectations from the relationship……and stick with them.

2. Sit down with your coach (or ‘advisor’) at the beginning of your season and pick out the races that excite you and suit your physical attributes- these are your ‘no excuse’ races. The pressure is on to perform. Everything else is preparation for these key races or helping your teammates achieve their goals for the year. Don’t get caught up trying to be 100% every race.

3. Heart rate and power are invaluable training tools (I have almost every file from the last three years) but at the end of the day you have to ‘feel’ it….no number on a computer screen or coach can feel what you are feeling.

4. If you have been sick or injured take the time to rest, rebuild, and come back ready to go. The number of times I’ve ‘hoped’ I would find something in a race (and sometimes have)….but most often it just serves to put you in a hole. ‘The best prediction of good race form is good training form leading it’ (DTM). Sounds simple huh!?

5. When choosing between professional team offers the first priority is organization and a reputation for following through with what they promise (race calendars, leadership and money mean nothing without this!).

6. Enjoy the process! Look around!

7. To get the most out of yourself you have to be selfish and single-minded sometimes, but the most important thing is that the people closest to you are happy and you are in a positive environment.

8. You are better off being underdone than overdone.

9. Minimize all the ‘negatives’- avoidable stress, pessimistic people, unmotivating environments etc etc.

10. Sleep is key!!!!