Thankfully my trainer is a mountain biker and has competed in the past - he also road bikes - he is a life-long avid cyclist. He and his wife seem to have taken me under their wing as I progress and he even went with me to my first ride outside of the training parking lot - I think they were more nervous than I was about my first time around cars

I train with him two days a week - and he is also my spinning instructor. He does focus on core and balance training, along with strength training and plyometric exercises. I also do my own strength training twice a week outside of our sessions - usually before spinning

As we get closer to spring I see our exercises starting to change, and I will ask him about this as well.

Thanks for your input - I suspected that I was focusing too much on the actual numbers...