Gearsandtears.com was founded by a group of friends with a passion for endurance sport. Our aim was to provide athletes of all ability with an entry route to the sport we loved through the provision of races and bespoke training plans.

Our events all had character. They included the Chainbreaker, the Holybourne Hillraiser, the Longmoor Lollop and most famously our Monsterman off- road duathlon series. These are now part of our history. Through them we made a lot of friends and created lots of good memories.

We are now solely focussed on the provision of individual training plans.

Success takes planning and preparation. It is not a chance event.

Our training plans recognise this.

Our plans will add direction and structure to your training. They stress quality over quantity. They seek long-term gains over short-term fixes.

If you commit and engage with your plan it will lead to results that speak for themselves.

All our plans are written by Ian Mayhew. Ian has over 20 years experience of delivering effective, training plans for endurance athletes. Put simply, Ian's plans work.

Ian’s experience covers a full range of distances and event types. It includes single and multi- discipline events. It includes single and multi- day events. It covers a range of environments and terrain.

Examples include:

Cycling events: Cape Epic, Great British Divide, Pan Celtic Ultra, Race Across America, race Across the Alps, Ride London, Trans Am Bike Race, Trans-Atlantic Way, Transcontinental

Running events: Lapland Artic Ultra, London Marathon, Marathon des Sables, Spartathlon, Trans Britain Ultra Run

Triathlons: from sprint distance through to ironman and Ultraman distance events, including Hawaii World Championships

Ian began his coaching journey by qualifying as a coach with British Cycling, British Triathlon and UK Athletics. He developed his knowledge further with academic study. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Sports Science and Business Management from Brunel University and a MSc (Distinction) in Exercise and Nutrition Sciences from the University of Chester.

Ian combines this knowledge with a wealth of personal racing experience. This includes a wide variety of cycling, running and triathlon events.

It is this mix of experience, knowledge, qualifications and proven track record, that should influence your choice of coach. Not the coach's personal PBs.

Most of our athletes are from the UK but Ian has successfully worked with athletes from Europe, Australasia and North America. This is possible due to the way we deliver our training plans.

Our training plans cost £90 per month. This represents exceptional value for money. Sometimes you really can get a good deal. 

Paying more will not guarantee you better or quicker results.

To provide enough time to demonstrate the value of our plans and to allow time for the coach/athlete relationship to develop we ask for an initial 3-month commitment. We ask that this is paid in advance.

We then ask that subsequent blocks are paid for by standing order direct to the gearsandtears bank account.

Some of the athletes Ian works with have been with him since he began his coaching journey, others are repeat customers, (taking out a plan to achieve a specific goal and returning when they identify a new target). In a market with so many people offering training plans this retention of athletes and high-level return business is testament to the value our athletes place on Ian's training plans.

If you are serious about improving your performances or achieving your goals, please do get in touch via ian@gearsandtears.com to discuss your goals.