dennis336

I've always been struck by the mental discipline of elite athletes. Those that seem to be consistently, over a career, to be at there best in the biggest moments.

I'm as far from being an elite athlete as anyone could be, but I'm often reminded in my small space of how important the mental aspect of doing a challenging ride - how we can mentally set our threshold lower - sometimes much lower - than our actual physical limitations.

I had a couple instances this past year or so where I was getting in my way mentally on difficult rides but, almost by accident, "something" occurred that distracted me from negative thoughts getting in my way.
1) During a ride up Mount Mitchell, from the start, I found myself overthinking about how my legs were feeling, how much further to go, questioning if I would make it, etc etc. Then, about two miles from the top - and probably the steepest grade of the whole climb - I connected with another cyclist and we got chatting away. Well, I got distracted from the negative thoughts and it felt like those last couple of miles were easier than the previous 18.
2) Cycling up Going to the Sun Road - Somehow I completely miscalculated how far I had to go to reach Logan Pass (the "top"). I paused at one of the pullovers and had it in my mind there was 2 or 2 1/2 miles to go and was having doubts about making it. I started riding again after a brief rest to enjoy the view and very soon came to a sign that said "Logan Pass - 1/2 mile". Seeing I was only 1/2 mile to the end gave me a burst of energy and the remainder of the climb felt comparatively easy.

Curious if others have similar experiences where you've found ways to overcome what you thought were your physical limits or if you have ways to consciously prepare yourself mentally for challenging rides and what techniques you use.

Happy New Year to all!

seypat

All that thinking can get you into trouble. Once you get into whatever it is you're trying to do, clear the mind and let it happen. Keep the nonpositive thoughts out of the mind. You have to be in the present, not the future or the past. You can't change the past, and the future depends on what you're doing now. Concentrate on that.

indyfabz

When on tour, I mentally try to break the day into segments. St. Mary to Sprague Creek Campground on the west side of Glacier NP is a good example. (The pass was still closed, and we had a flight in a few days.)

100 miles fully loaded with 3 long climbs and then a long slog to W. Glacier. Then another 10 miles to camp after shopping.

1. Climb out of St. Mary.
2. Up and down to the junction with Looking Glass Hill.
3. Climb up Looking Glass.
4. Descent to E. Glacier for lunch and snack pickup.
5. 12 miles up to Marias Pass.
6. Long slog to W. Glacier.
7. Final miles to camp after shopping.

I ticked off each accomplishment in my mind. During the long slog from Marias, I averted my eyes at each mile marker. Unfortunately, I caught sight of one and couldn’t help doing the math in my head. That was temporarily depressing, but I eventually wiped the math from my head and kept soldering on.

Ended up being about 12 hrs. on the road to W. Glacier. Fortunately, it stay light there really late in late June, so I had plenty of time for a firewood run from camp and cooking dinner for the two of us.

Got up before dawn the next morning and rode to Logan Pass with only minimal gear.

dennis336

I'll have periods of time where I'm able to do that but, riding solo (for me), it's a mixed bag on staying in the moment consistently. I've rarely actually bailed out on a ride due to difficulty, I just tend to make it harder than necessary .

dennis336

Good approach. I do try to do something similar - even if it's not in a formal or pre-planned way. e.g. get to the next milestone or pullover. Just need to not go out of my way to insert doubts.

Kind of related - I was listening to a podcast a while back about the value of doing hard, or uncomfortable things, to enhance our physical and mental strength and wellbeing. One of the contributors said he tries to make it a point to do things where he believes there's a 50% chance of failing. Idea being, if we only do things we're sure of succeeding at, we're not truly challenging ourselves or finding our limits. Granted, calculating the percent likelihood of failing at something is complicated, but the point taken about challenging ourselves out of our comfort zone.

Kai Winters

Overcoming the feeling of when my legs are done and my heart rate is too high.
When I can overcome that feeling it is great

seypat

Whether you succeed or fail, when you get back home and walk through the door, your pet will still think you're the GOAT.

There's also this. The Teddy Roosevelt Man in the Arena speech if the link doesn't work:

https://youtu.be/A311CnTjfos?si=Sek1UfhDUfEor3i3

dennis336

Ha! So true ... not so much when my kids were teenagers but the dog, totally

Lambkin55

I don't have any thing to add about mental toughness...
Just wanted to say, indyfabz's comments gave me flashbacks to my same experience this past Sept. (Except I went to Whitefish from West Glacier, which was down hill.)

Mtracer

Whether I’m relatively good or bad with the mental aspects of riding, I don’t know. But I try to break rides down into smaller segments. Sometimes a long ride, for me, can seem daunting, even if it’s one I do regularly. I start thinking, “how the heck do I do this?, it seems so long” But I tell myself, just get to the first milestone and go from there. Usually the negative thoughts are gone once I’m actually on the bike.

During rides, I just focus on the immediate goal. For example hold an intensity until a reach some upcoming point. Or when I’m doing multiple climbs, and getting gassed, and start thinking I can’t do another one, I tell myself that’s not a choice I need to make now. And most of the time after I recover from the current climb, I’m mentally ready for the next.

But there are times I give up. Not on the ride length, but intensity. That happened just the other day. About 30 miles into a 50-mile ride, I just couldn’t maintain my target power (zone 3 tempo). I know I could have kept it up for a few more miles, but I still needed to be able to finish the ride at some reasonable pace. So, I just relaxed and finished the ride at a more comfortable zone 2 pace.

I’ve been riding about 5 years. I can still remember the early days when any hill was a challenge. I would just pick landmarks like a crack in the road, mailbox, or weed on the side of the road, anything another hundred feet further away, as a goal. Just get to that. Then pick another and so on.

I occasionally still do that if I happen to be riding something very steep.

wolfchild

Keep focused and just do it ....overthinking stuff can create all kinds of doubts in your mind and make you feel weaker.

dennis336

Another variation on the mental aspect from my anecdotal experience.

I remember doing my first century ride ... at about the 75 mile mark, I was feeling like I learned what "bonk" means. I pulled over and took a bite of a Cliff Bar. It tasted like sawdust. I limped on to the last rest stop at 80 miles and (kind of) jokingly called my wife to pick me up (she said no - I got myself into this, I can get myself out. I think she was joking but I didn't push it). I did make it to the end - final total was about 105 miles. Those last 30 miles, I kept thinking "God, if you let me live, I promise I'll never do this again". After the end and the final refreshments, I started driving home and almost immediately, I started thinking "ya know, I think I went out too fast and I definitely didn't hydrate properly. I think I'll do another century ride and try to tweak a few things to see if I can do better".

The next season I did my second century ride. I did better at pacing and better at hydration but, at the 80 mile mark I was about ready to die (or so I thought). In my defense, this was, for CT, a really hot day with the temp up in the mid-90s. I was really feeling the effects of the heat. So, again I said "God, if you let me live, I REALLY promise to never do this again". Of course, on the ride home, I thought, "ya know, I can continue refining pacing and hydration and keep an eye on the weather forecast and only do a long ride like this if the temperature is in my comfort zone".

So, I did end up doing a bunch more centuries in the coming years and never felt as bad as those first two.

13ollocks

The few times I’m masochistic enough to head out with the “A-20” group (I’m a solidly 17-18mph average speed rider), the mental distraction of maintaining place in a constantly rotating pace line distracts me from realizing that I’m dying 😟
mental distraction is key for me - if I can keep myself from dwelling on the pain, either by daydreaming or talking to myself (these options are for solo rides, or course!), I can do far more than I thought I could, be it distance, pace, gradient.

indyfabz

I hope you took Blankenship Rd., etc. It’s nice back there, and you avoid the shoulderless section of U.S. 2 through Hungry Horse. Then again, you don’t get to say that you rode through a town called Hungry Horse.

Alan K

I tend to not overthink, try to keep my pace at a point where I don’t overtax my cardiac system and last the rest the trip, I have planned for me. Usually, I meet or occasionally beat the target.
My wife has slightly different opinion (she doesn’t bicycle much anymore) - she thinks that I do so much bicycling to escape or at least postpone my chores at home.

[I am not an elite athlete, not even remotely.]

rsbob 

Some what related: Yesterday I did a ZWIFT ride up 3 passes. I usually just watch the screen and grind away. But recently I watch videos or Netflix on my longer sessions and pretty much ignore the ZWIFT screen, and just gear down when there is more resistance. I was going up the last pass and glanced over at the screen which showed me beating my previous PR. I owe it all to distraction and not focusing on the % incline or distance to go.

Since I solo ride about 98% of the time, I find that listening to podcasts helps with distraction as well. I also listen to music (classic rock) but find I am far more engaged with the podcasts since they require more attention especially when doing what I consider high mileage (over 60).

So my approach is not about discipline (like a video I watched yesterday of a woman running 240 mile race - now that takes mental toughness) but more distraction. Like another pointed out, breaking the ride into chunks and celebrating accomplishing each chunk works very well - especially on long tough climbs.

dennis336

Embarrassed to admit it, but one of my forms of distraction is singing my standard rotation of songs that I recall the words to.

dennis336

Can relate on the avoiding chores aspect. I retired this past March and work was always the reason for not getting anything useful done around the house because, of course, my mental wellbeing depended on getting out for my bike rides. I was very protective of my "long" Saturday or Sunday ride. Now retired, it's harder to find a good reason to not be at least a little useful

dennis336

Yeah, it's sounding like finding what works for the individual to distract from the difficulty/discomfort is a common theme. That, and setting milestones within the ride. Both of which I try to do not always with great success.

Interestingly, I've heard of some elite cyclists talk about "embracing the pain" which is another whole psychological trick to play. I've tried it but the embrace doesn't last very long

PaulJensen

One strategy I’ve used for a ride like the Davis Double Century, was to keep the chain on the small chainring for the first third of the ride… Spin, save the legs…

seypat

"Just put one foot in front of the other" is still the gold standard.

indyfabz

When I rode across the country with a dozen other people, we’d occasionally pick a featured artist of the day and randomly blurt out song lyrics. During one particular slog of a climb, I sang the entirety of “The Drinking Song” by Moxy Fruvous.

Seattle to Bar Harbor took 93 days. I then rode home solo to Philly over the next few weeks. When you spend nearly 4 months on the road, you learn how to occupy your mind with something other than the thought of how much further you have to go that day.

dennis336

Now I won't be able to get it out of my head. Great, just great

dennis336

I pretty much always ride by myself. Singing and/or talking to myself is one of the risk factors of long, solo rides. It's only a little embarrassing when someone quietly comes up behind me and catches me in the act.

joesch

Also dont let the fear of a big effort and pain result in not doing a ride.
Ofcourse this assumes your capable of the ride.
I only plan to ride Alpe d'Huez in my dreams