Whether you’re tackling tough intervals during a training session, pushing yourself to the top of a climb, or grinding into a persistent headwind, mental perseverance is a valuable skill for any rider looking to improve. For some riders, the ability to dig deep comes naturally. Others are motivated by direct competition.

I have always been in the second group of riders, motivated by racing other people. It was always hard for me to produce the level of effort in training that I could muster in a race. I could certainly hit the numbers, but I found that I couldn’t sustain them in the same way I could while in race. My working theory has always been that while racing, there is so much going on that my mind would naturally be focused elsewhere, allowing me to push the effort while being distracted from how much my lungs and legs were burning.

For a long time, I struggled to develop a mental strategy that would allow me to push harder in training. Visualisation and music were helpful, but ultimately, I would still fall apart during longer efforts.

“I realised that what I needed to do was embrace the suck of a hard interval and switch my mindset.”

I think sports in general and, to some extent, cycling in particular has an obsession with glorifying pain and suffering. I’ve always had some disdain for this because riding a bike is something I do because I enjoy it. Sure, there is absolute satisfaction from completing a hard ride, workout, or pushing your physical limits in a race. But to hear some folks talk about it can make it seem like cycling is a hobby for people who enjoy hurting themselves. I don’t think that’s true, and I believe there is a key distinction between pain and what athletes do when pushing their limits.

Once I began to view the feeling of pushing my limits during a hard workout not as “pain” but as discomfort, I was able to tolerate the effort much better. It was a mental switch from pushing hard on the bike and thinking, “Oh boy, this hurts. I’m not sure I can do this much longer,” to thinking, “This is really uncomfortable, but I can manage.”

The difference is small but crucial. Our brains understand pain as a signal from our body to stop. So, constantly thinking about the feeling of pushing hard, as pain kept me fighting with my brain not to quit the effort. Simply thinking about the feeling as discomfort created a way for me to acknowledge the feeling without needing to distract myself from it.

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