I got a coach before I entered my first race, but then I came from another sport, so realised the importance of coaching in anything.
Originally Posted by
revchuck
Also, I think that people who are farther from realizing their potential benefit from coaching more than experienced, accomplished riders. A coach's knowledge, experience and guidance shorten the learning curve considerably.
Yep, I took up waaay more of my coach's time in my first year, and got much more in return. Everything, from advice on what bike to buy, what tyres to buy, what to eat, how to warmup, which races to enter. And that's before all the advice on how to actually race/train.