I’ve gotten pretty fast on my own, but thinking I want to explore aiming a breakout 2025 with the help of a coach.
From what there’s public about them, this is my shortlist. The 3 of them sound equally great.
Kindly submit any insights on how to make the selection. Extra valuable if you have work with any of them.
Old
Does Tim coach amateurs?
Looked up Steve’s pricing: $599 US/mo? I can safely say I’m not his target market 
Basecamp starts at $399 for a master coach. Not sure on Kolie.
I’m fully in support of 1-1 coaching, but for a masters athlete like myself, paying $600USD/$900CAD each month for coaching services would be insane.
I mean, which one fits you better. You need to talk to them to figure that out
I’ll do it for $598.50. 
I would set up consultation calls with all of them and see which one you vibe with best.
I’ve worked with Steve and couldn’t recommend him more highly.
The truth is, you’ll likely get faster with any of them unless there is a very specific discipline or breakthrough you’re looking for or some genetic barrier you feel you’ve come up against. In that case, maybe one of them is better than the other. I think Steve is particularly strong at getting the most out of masters-age athletes.
Good luck.
As far as I’m aware, Kolie is in that price range too ($600+).
For most amateurs, I think the coaching philosophy is more important than the specific coach which is maybe what this question is getting at. My coach is in Kolie’s coaching group and based on my listening of his podcast my training is very similar to what he would be doing but for a fraction of the price.
Good question
This is a given, I also want to get some of the collective wisdom.
Thanks!. Looking back on your experience, with the benefit of hindsight, is there anything you would have liked to do different when working with him?
This is a very good point. It seems that Kolie and Tim are in one camp and Steve is different. He seems like a Maverick and that sort of attracts me. Tim seems to be pretty systematic, I guess more traditional….
I like a lot of what I hear from Kolie. But sometimes with his online persona, makes me think we could butt heads a bit, which is ok, but worth considering.
I ask a lot of questions and like to understand the thought process, trade offs, etc.
So Kolie is my coach, and I would say this is one of the things he excels at.
IMHO a coach is someone who inspires and is invested in your success first and foremost. When speaking to them I would look for these characteristics above others.
What type of rider (personality) do you think would have a less smooth experience? (Provided courtesy and work ethic is a given)
This - a decent “associate” coach working under the guidance of a “master” coach, or following the guidance of a “master” coach whose approach you agree with, and whose philosophy agrees with you, will give you 98% return at a significantly reduced cost. That 2% may actually be meaningful to you, but it would be absolutely lost on me. You may find you don’t like the personality, approach, hours, etc. of a master coach and actually prefer the drive and desire to please of a fresh coach.
What some coaches market vs. what they actually do when the rubber meets the road in training are vastly different. Most coaches who run prominent coaching companies are going to market certain things because that’s how you attract the “everyday” client. How they coach elite masters might be something totally different… you’ll have to actually talk to them about their particular approach FOR YOU. That’s my $0.02 on philosophies.
I don’t think you’d have THAT much difference in approach from any of those coaches. That said, Kolie and Tim both have “minions” that are excellent coaches, cost half as much, and consult/talk with Kolie and Tim about their clients on a regular basis. I have been coached by both an Empirical coach and one of Base Camp’s coaches in the past. Both were good at the technical coaching bit. What mattered more was which one I “jibed” with better and which one gave me better feedback based on what I needed. (I have no experience with Steve.)
While you can glean some of that from interviews and consults, honestly you’ll know after a few months of working with them.
The questions to ask, IMO, would be:
If you’re willing to pay the $600/month those tippy top guys command, that last one would be critical for me because I would absolutely not want to be someone’s guinea pig at that price point. I’ve made mistakes with my super-masters clients in the past and learned a lot from those mistakes, but fortunately they were (1) very understanding and I was up front with them about the approach we were going to take and what I think we messed up; and (2) paying me $99/mo at the time. 
I honestly don’t know. My experience has been wonderful, and Kolie is super conscientious and invested in his clients success, so unless someone is openly antagonistic I can’t see any issues. That said, as I previously wrote, you really have to speak to each guy to see which one gels best temperament wise with you.
i’m getting started myself and even at the price I set for myself ($50/month) I have a fear of messing someone up! lolol
No different than many other industries - sometimes people fixate on paying top dollar for the senior staff when they would be far better with the “minions” who have learned from the masters and have the required support. Back in my software consulting days, I delivered the same or better results than many of the Sr. staff - I worked harder, learned more, leaned on them when necessary … plus, some “Sr” staff were senior only by age/tenure.
I think he works alone. Thanks for your detailed post.
Personally I’d ask each of them to review my last year of training in TP and then do a consultation with you. There should be a charge for that as it would take a bit of time to review, but then you could get a handle on their thought process as they gave you feedback on the past year and what they would do differently and why that may garner different results.
Kolie Moore has said on his podcasts that there were times he did a consultation with an athlete and basically told them what they were doing was solid and they should just keep doing it, so he sounded pretty transparent.
Yeah I think you’re right.
This is a really good idea. It’ll set me back about $500.