Have you ever noticed that the rides with the biggest pay-off are the ones that we consider the most difficult? When you say that something is too hard or too difficult, what do you mean, exactly?

Are you talking about the skill that is required? Are you talking about muscle strength and cardiovascular endurance necessary to sustain your pace for 100 miles? Or when you say, “that ride is too difficult,” are you talking about the terrain and the weather? Or are you thinking about the emotional toughness required to keep the pedals turning and not quit?

Easy rides are the ones we know we can do.

Difficult rides are the ones that our local heroes have done. We might dream of riding them, but we don’t, because we believe we aren’t up for the challenge on some level.

Have you also noticed a rider in your club – a regular Joe or Jane just like you and me – that has taken on one of these “too difficult” rides and succeeded? Have you wondered how they have done it?

Everybody has their own technique for breaking out. But if you are new to the game of stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone, here are a few tips that have worked for me in the past, and I hope will work for me again on the Rocky Mountain 1200.

Load it up

The first step to finishing a challenging ride is to catalog the benefits of finishing. No kidding – make a list and be specific. If the ride organizer offers medals, write that down. If the jersey rocks, write that down. If the ride is in a great location, and you can tie-in a family vacation, make note of how much the kids will enjoy the time away. If riding this event means you’re going to need a better bicycle, add that to the list. Load as many positive associations into finishing that ride as you possibly can.

Chunk it down

Riders who are successful at cycling’s most challenging rides chunk them down. They take that big, hairy, nightmare-of-a-goal ride and slice it into smaller, easier, increments that they know they can do because they have done them before. The longer, more difficult rides become a string of short, easy pieces the riders are confident they can manage. Randonneurs may blow your mind because they can ride 1200 kilometers in less than 90 hours. But the most successful Randos will tell you they focus on one leg of the route at a time, often resetting their odometers at each check point. They do so because thinking about how far they have to travel is just too daunting.

Feel the fear

As human beings, we are twice as likely to act to avoid pain as we are to seek pleasure. So try this mind game when you roll out of bed, thinking it won’t hurt to miss just this one training ride. Link the decision to failing at your goal. Think about how you would feel if you aren’t fit enough to climb that mountain pass. Picture your family at the finish line waiting for you, and how you would feel as you roll up to them … in a SAG Wagon. Make as many negative associations as you can between failing to train and failing to finish, and you will be surprised to see yourself up and moving for the coffeemaker.

Shout it out

Let the people in your life know you have made this commitment. The more people you tell, the harder it will be for you to back down. Just before you head out for the event, send out an email to your friends, family and co-workers with a link to the web site, and point to the page that will show your progress along the route. If you feel like bagging it 600K’s into a 1200K, you will think twice about it because you know everyone is watching.

Buy the jersey

Organizers spend hours debating the designs and the colors and the fabrics of their jerseys. They post them as early as they can before the ride, because they know the jersey symbolizes the event, and everything it stands for. Even the toughest riders go weak in the knees when they hold their official finisher’s jersey. The tougher the ride, the more value it has. They wear them with pride on club rides. Some even frame them.

If the event you’ve picked for this season is really important to you, then put your money down early and buy that jersey before they sell out. You might be hesitating, especially if you aren’t confident you will finish and you don’t want a jersey for a ride you couldn’t complete. To that I would say, ‘all the more reason to buy it.’ Fear of owning a jersey for a ride you didn’t finish could be the motivation you need to keep the crank arms turning and get that ride done.

Here is a more positive spin a negative neural association: imagine how lousy you will feel when you cross the finish line, having completed the ride of your life, and all you have to show for it is the stinking t-shirt.

Tags: Psychology

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.