About Bill Brunner
I started riding seriously at 13 and began racing in a development program in Brookdale Park in Bloomfield NJ. As a member of the Nutley Bicycle Club, I had the good fortune to race all over the Northeast before being given the opportunity to race as a junior in California for the Pasadena Athletic Association (PAA). PAA was a powerhouse team with a development program that taught that training, strategy and tactics would bring results. My success at PAA paved the way to competing in Europe with teams in Ghent and Luxembourg City.
I returned to civilian life and attended Engineering and Law School while managing and ultimately owning a group of auto dealerships. (I actually first met Bill Elliston as the automotive supplier of the Navigators team!) I acquired my first America Bicycle League (ABL) Coaching License in 1977 under the tutelage of the great Eddy B and began my journey of helping “new” riders. After raising four athletes with my wife Susan, coaching youth hockey for 15 years and junior cycling for half as many years, I began coaching cycling professionally.
I continue to run the Montclair Development Team, formally Colavita Junior Development, and have brought riders and teams to National Championships and international events including the Junior Men’s UCI Nations Cup Tour de l’Abitibi. Bill E. and I crossed paths at the Tour several years ago, and that started a collaboration where I worked for Bill on the Mid-Atlantic Devo Team and later afforded Montclair juniors the opportunity to ride for the team.
I also continue to compete as a Master rider and have won numerous State Championship medals on the Road and Track and two Maxxis NJ Garden State Cup Series Championships.
As a coach, I’ve worked with juniors to masters with disciplines including road, TT, track cyclocross, MTB and, runners including marathon and ultra-marathon.
Send Bill B an email to get started.
“I’ve never met someone who spends more time devoting their attention to the success of a cyclist than Coach Brunner. Coach Brunner’s mentorship gave me the ability to rise from a Cat 5 to a Cat 3 in just one year. He doesn’t just treat the cyclists he coaches as clients, but goes well out of his way such as driving me to races and even mentoring me when I first entered college. There are countless lessons in cycling that Coach Brunner taught me that you can’t find and read anywhere. I developed the skills of a seasoned professional, and in two years of racing I was able to read the pack and sense when moves would go off the front. I also became so much more comfortable maneuvering and sprinting in a pack through his guidance. The workouts he provided always helped my performance when it mattered. Cycling is still a large part of my life because he never let me burn out.
Coach Brunner’s mentorship also allowed me to race with the team run by Coach Elliston in the Tour de l’Abitibi. Coach Elliston took a holistic approach to mentoring both on and off the bik, and was quick to recognize what a cyclist’s strengths and weaknesses were to cater their training efforts in the most effective manner possible. There were mistakes the top riders in the Tour de l’Abitibi made which weren’t replicated by the large European national teams and Coach Elliston’s team; this made our team stand out from the crowd and receive recognition. After spending time under Coach Elliston, I got my best race result in the Iron Hill Twilight Criterium.
Both Coach Brunner and Coach Elliston are an instrumental part to my cycling career and made it a lifelong sport. I have never trusted anyone more as a coach as I trust them. It’s truly impossible to find anyone as humble and devoted to a sport as they are. Once you build a relationship with them, they become family.”
-Dan Lehman
As I moved on to college at Bucknell University, I continued to work with Bill as he also took over coaching our collegiate program. Working with both new and experienced, male and female cyclists, Bill knew retention of athletes in collegiate cycling can be a challenge. He was able to quickly grow a passion for racing and training in our team which went beyond podium places. With his guidance as coach, the student run Bucknell University Cycling team grew to its largest headcount in almost a decade, consistently qualifying for Collegiate National Championships during the years he worked with the team.
More than 10 years later, as a working professional who participates in local group rides and races, I still reference Bill’s teachings on and off the bike. Bill has the knowledge, coaching mentality, and experience to provide value to athletes of all levels and ages, and I highly recommend him.”
-Alex Breakstone
“I was fortunate to work with Bill Brunner for several years as my lead coach. During this time, I was always amazed at the depth of knowledge he possesses in a wide range of topics, be it race analogy, types of foods I needed to consume per and post-race, as well as microbiology of the muscle cells and what type of aerobic or anaerobic I needed to do to push me off those plateaus we often find ourselves on.
Bill always took the time to listen to my concerns and was flexible to change the plan if needed to help me recover or push harder to meet the goals I wanted to achieve. As an older athlete this was not always an easy task, but due to his coaching, I was able to accomplish my goals of becoming State Champion more than once, and overall regional gravel champion. I was only able to do this through the coaching that Bill Brunner provided.”
– Alan Whitney
“I’ve never met someone who spends more time devoting their attention to the success of a cyclist than Coach Brunner. Coach Brunner’s mentorship gave me the ability to rise from a Cat 5 to a Cat 3 in just one year. He doesn’t just treat the cyclists he coaches as clients, but goes well out of his way such as driving me to races and even mentoring me when I first entered college. There are countless lessons in cycling that Coach Brunner taught me that you can’t find and read anywhere. I developed the skills of a seasoned professional, and in two years of racing I was able to read the pack and sense when moves would go off the front. I also became so much more comfortable maneuvering and sprinting in a pack through his guidance. The workouts he provided always helped my performance when it mattered. Cycling is still a large part of my life because he never let me burn out.
Coach Brunner’s mentorship also allowed me to race with the team run by Coach Elliston in the Tour de l’Abitibi. Coach Elliston took a holistic approach to mentoring both on and off the bik, and was quick to recognize what a cyclist’s strengths and weaknesses were to cater their training efforts in the most effective manner possible. There were mistakes the top riders in the Tour de l’Abitibi made which weren’t replicated by the large European national teams and Coach Elliston’s team; this made our team stand out from the crowd and receive recognition. After spending time under Coach Elliston, I got my best race result in the Iron Hill Twilight Criterium.
Both Coach Brunner and Coach Elliston are an instrumental part to my cycling career and made it a lifelong sport. I have never trusted anyone more as a coach as I trust them. It’s truly impossible to find anyone as humble and devoted to a sport as they are. Once you build a relationship with them, they become family.”
-Dan Lehman
As I moved on to college at Bucknell University, I continued to work with Bill as he also took over coaching our collegiate program. Working with both new and experienced, male and female cyclists, Bill knew retention of athletes in collegiate cycling can be a challenge. He was able to quickly grow a passion for racing and training in our team which went beyond podium places. With his guidance as coach, the student run Bucknell University Cycling team grew to its largest headcount in almost a decade, consistently qualifying for Collegiate National Championships during the years he worked with the team.
More than 10 years later, as a working professional who participates in local group rides and races, I still reference Bill’s teachings on and off the bike. Bill has the knowledge, coaching mentality, and experience to provide value to athletes of all levels and ages, and I highly recommend him.”
-Alex Breakstone
Bill always took the time to listen to my concerns and was flexible to change the plan if needed to help me recover or push harder to meet the goals I wanted to achieve. As an older athlete this was not always an easy task, but due to his coaching, I was able to accomplish my goals of becoming State Champion more than once, and overall regional gravel champion. I was only able to do this through the coaching that Bill Brunner provided.”
– Alan Whitney