Alex West: Life as one of the best eRacers in the world
In the second part of our Canyon Esports series, we continue to take a look at how to cope with training challenges.
It can be hard enough dialling into a virtual meeting when you’re office based, but when that meeting is around collaborative training, that’s another matter.
Canyon Esport’s Alex West talks us through life as a professional eRacer and how he’s benefitted from using the InfoCrank power meter in his sessions.
We have a fully international team, so it can be quite difficult to communicate with everyone across different time zones. Thankfully, we have such a tight knit squad, so it makes it easier to organise ourselves without having to say too much.
However, with those different time zones and schedules, it becomes too difficult most of the time to train together. We do practice team time trials together as well as riding important courses as a team ahead of race day. During the races, we all have certain roles that are designed to get the best end result for the team so it’s useful to have a run through.
When we are racing, the race team and Rhys, our manager, all talk to each other on Discord, an app which allows groups of people to keep in touch via our microphones in real time. This is pivotal in our team’s racing as it allows us all to relay important information throughout the race which helps us to stay ahead of the competition.
There are many advantages of being part of Canyon E-Sports, it’s an excellent team. We are backed by many great companies, including, of course Verve Cycling, which allow us to perform at our best both in training and on race day. Rhys is a great manager – he is always keeping us motivated and making sure we have all the information and equipment we need to continue as the number one team in E-Racing.
All of the the members of the team are super close and we trust each other to always give our all and help each other achieve the best possible result for the team. Racing with friends allows me to dig a little deeper and stay motivated during hard periods of training.
In the last 12 months I have taken on more work at my job as a bicycle salesperson which has been tough when it comes to time management and being able to train the way I need to be able to stay at the top level of sport. Lately I’ve been finding different ways to adapt to this which I am confident will get me back to my top level and hopefully even further.
Being a part of Canyon Esports is a huge honour and it drives me on to stay focused on my goals. I will always be motivated to perform at my best for myself, the team and our sponsors. As an elite athlete, I always have a competitive hunger which pushes me to continue to improve so that I can always stay on top of the ever growing talent that appears on the E-Racing scene.
Having Verve Cycling as a partner is essential in my training and racing and helping me achieve those goals. The InfoCrank power meter is always accurate, especially in changing temperatures which is extremely important when it comes to making sure you are training in the correct zones day in, day out. Being able to train this way puts me in a better position to adapt to certain training blocks which in the end allows me to perform the best I can on race day. InfoCrank is also a self-calibrating unit which makes verification from E-Racing governing bodies seamless as the data is always true and correct.
My advice to people taking on a new challenge would be to set yourself small, achievable goals along the way to keep you on track towards your main goal. This will allow you to stay motivated and give you a larger chance of completing your targets. Don’t be put off by the bad days, there will always be bumps along the road, use these days as motivation to come back stronger and build on yourself.
