I (Nate) started Catalyst Coaching in October of 2015. In August of 2017, Jim Peterman joined me. I think anytime someone starts their own business they can be really protective of it. I put so much into starting Catalyst, and my personal livelihood depended on its success, so for a long time I was very afraid of bringing more people on. When the opportunity to work with Jim came about it was an easy question to say yes to. Jim is someone I already knew really well and is an expert in his field of exercise physiology. I knew that I would enjoy working with him and that he would bring knowledge I didn’t have. Since Jim joined, I’ve thought many times about adding another coach. However, it’s taken me a long time to find someone that is the right fit. Having put so much into starting the company always makes me a bit nervous and resistant to change. When I had the chance to bring on Johann van Zyl, I realized immediately we had to do it. Johann simultaneously meshes with mine and Jim’s coaching ideologies, yet broadens our horizons and the knowledge we can collectively provide to our athletes. When we bring on a coach we are not just bringing on one coach for one athlete, we are bringing on someone that strengthens the company and contributes to the crosstalk we have that trickles down to all our athletes, whether they’re coached by Johann, Jim, or myself. With that, I am really excited to add Johann to our team of coaches, and I want to share a bit more about him.

There is plenty of commentary at the moment on the “state” of professional cycling. Folks don’t usually seem to refer to the current affairs as a “state” when it’s in a good way, so I guess it’s simple enough to say it’s in a bad way.

Just in the US teams have been folding, some of our best riders are struggling to find jobs, it takes a bit of the fun out of it. People are frustrated, angry, confused. I don’t know if it is necessarily confusing - I am not sure that sponsors of domestic cycling teams get much in terms of any return on investment. Sponsorship at least on the domestic level probably does not really make sense regarding return on investment, it comes down to enthusiasm and philanthropy. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but a thing that in my opinion needs to be realized and embraced. I don’t want to get too far down that road though as there is plenty of opinion and commentary out there, and in no way do I feel I’m an authority to speak on it.

“Injury”, it is a bit of an interesting term. An interesting term because it can span such a range of issues, and such a range of repercussions. A scrape from a slide out in a corner is a fair injury, but so is a concussion that might keep an athlete out of training for a couple months if not longer. The implications vary, but the term stays the same. That said the goal here is not to have a ramble on semantics, rather to have a rant on dealing with injury.