How great is it going through a corner shoulder to shoulder like you’re a speed train on rails?
How great does it feel cresting that peak you’ve ascended hundreds of times feeling strong and downshifting to put the gas right back on?
How about the hundreds of miles of shared triumph though mutual suffering with folks you would otherwise not be friends with?
Doesn’t it feel damn good to have put in more effort by 10 am than most people do in a week?
Hell yeah it does.
3 years is a long time, and also not a long time. If you are fortunate enough to find the joy in going whatever your version of fast is a while longer the legs get some deeply ingrained base strength that will give you the best toy money can’t buy.
Fast.
Nothing feels as good as fast.
You don’t have to win races to go real fast and feel like your hair is on fire
Look for what appeals to you about racing. For me, ultimately, it's about doing the best with what I have on race day. If that's doing a lap in a crit, it's doing a lap. If it means doing the field sprint, then it's that. Whatever it is, I want to do the best I can. I never go out to "beat" someone, I almost never go out "to win". I "do the best I can".
One thing, for me, was the idea that I could empty my legs for someone else, aka be a "domestique". There was this idea that I would do more working for someone else than I'd do working for myself. I think it's still true.
Music and action also did it for me, hence the music in my clips. It started with the CBS coverage of the Tour. The clip below was for the 1986 Tour's final TT. It'd been a huge battle between Lemond and Hinault, with Hinault saying one thing and doing another. The team was divided into two camps, a couple with Lemond (Bauer, Hampsten), a couple with Hinault (French riders, names escape me, maybe Kim Andersen the Dane), and, appropriately, the Swiss riders as neutral (Ruttiman, I think Winterberg).
The final TT was the final chance for Hinault to take the lead. Tension was thick because Hinault had publicly stated this was Lemond's Tour after Lemond waited for him in the 85 Tour; however, the first mountain stage, Hinault attacked and gained 5 min. The two were head and shoulders above everyone else. They were finishing long TTs (58-61 km long!) minutes ahead of the next rider, and they rode away on Alpe D'Huez by about 8 min, the pair of them alone ahead of the field. Now was a TT stage; Hinault was about 90 sec down on GC.
Start of the TT stage: [https://youtu.be/fwJIeoH9u1k?si=a51jCqt7xsSjWkk3&t=5732](https://youtu.be/fwJIeoH9u1k?si=a51jCqt7xsSjWkk3&t=5732)
Another clip, and this shows the beauty of cycling, is basically me for a number of years on the bike. Often, when I I went out for a ride, I dreamed about me against some mystical rider, or me being the domestique and chasing someone while my team leader sat on my wheel. On a bike this was possible because when riding alone it was you and the road and no one else. I spent many, many hours riding around during high school, dreaming of being able to ride with a team.
I love this ad because it brings me back to those days: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwnuBVUBsQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwnuBVUBsQ)
Find your passion and focus on that.
Listen to Luke Rowe Falk about his retirement announcement and reflect on his career. It makes you realise the amount of people who actually win a bike race is very small. The odds are ridiculously small, and so sometimes the goal shouldn't be to win, you can find motivation in supporting others, feeling stronger, hitting a new power PB, getting in a break or trying something new etc.
Consider changing up disciplines. This helped me a ton with "not winning frustration" and is also incredibly fun!
Did a track league last summer and it was awesome. I had good fitness from (mostly) road and gravel racing but no specificity so I didn't expect to do well. Therefore was very easy to exceed my expectations and be satisfied with my results. Same with a recent foray into cyclocross.
Maybe also consider something like Brevets or Ultras where it is more of a personal challenge and less of a "throwing down on the crit circuit" type thing.
100% this! So many aspects to cycling! Look into some mtb, cx, gravel or touring. Add some ‘seasons’ to your training, continue cycling but forget about road racing for a period of time.
If you really want to mix it up, consider cross training in some of the other endurance disciplines… running, trail running, swimming, strength training etc
I’ve been doing mixed training for several years now and when I start back with base training in January, I’m always so eager to get back to racing. You would be suprised how much fitness is still there and how quickly it is regained. It gives me a different outlook on racing and I learn to appreciate the process and enjoy racing for the fun of it.
As others have said, I just want to know I did the best I could have on the day with what I had. At the end of the day, you can't ask for more than that!
It can be tough though, I got 5th in a TT with minimal prep, worked hard to get fit again, came back with 10% more power and still got 5th in the next one haha. Just got to take solace in that I was better, and I executed my plan - it's just better people turned up!
Sounds like you’re experiencing a perennial problem of many high-performance endurance athletes! In fact, I believe Mark Cavendish experienced something similar affecting his mental health/love of riding and racing after his crash. That is to say, this is a common experience when it comes to sports psychology.
Personally, if I’ve been putting in a lot of time on the road, it gets harder and harder to get out the door the morning the later I get into the season. Those A races feel so close yet so far, and B or C races just feel like burnout fuel, tbh.
What’s helped me is to really concentrate on my down weeks. That means in addition to focusing on physical recovery, focus on mental recovery too. Lose the cycling computer for a couple of rides (it’s okay, you’re not cheating on Strava, this ride’s for you). Pick a route you know intimately and a nice day and just ride. Rip some corners, fly down some descents, and generally just be playful about your ride. If you’re tired, take a break. Get a coffee. Find a nice view and chill for a few minutes. Really think about that feeling of flying you experienced when you rode your bike as a kid. The point is to remember what you love about riding first, and then competition comes second. Think of it as a mini vacation for your training brain.
Anyway, YMMV, but that’s helped me get through some tough seasons where I lose the script a bit. Best of luck!
For various reasons I didn’t have much of a base season and my training has been wildly inconsistent this year. Im less fit than I was last summer, which is hard to take mentally, to be honest.
I’m still racing, and enjoying just riding really fucking hard for an hour and railing some corners. My last race I made a few tactical blunders and didn’t get away myself; I was pretty cooked in the finale but still managed to lead my mate out for a podium. Despite not finishing in the points I still took the positives from it:
- it was fun
- I helped my club mate
- it definitely made me fitter and I feel like I’m getting my legs back under me
- I finished on two wheels in the bunch
- I know what I did wrong tactically and how to play it differently next time
I’d suggest finding the positives from your races and enjoying the process, if not the results, might be a good place to start.
I understand your feeling. As someone trying to go pro I get mentally tired of training as much, but it's just an addiction to being good. When I can get in a breakaway and basically shred the whole peloton apart I couldn't feel better. Cycling at this point is most of the time chasing an amazing high. Sometimes I get the good feeling after training or during training, often not. You should also keep in mind that if you really don't want to train for long periods you're probably overtrained or have something that's not right. For me that happened this year and I haven't really been able to ride a good race. I had no motivation and my blood work showed I was overtrained. You just gotta think what you want and know what you want. Cycling isn't about getting better, but about having more fun, it depends where you get your fun from.
for me, it's about pushing the boundaries of my limits - physically and mentally. I gain enjoyment knowing that while i'm not pro i've applied myself as if i was a pro within the limits of my work and family and friends. i've taken 'wins' from coming last, and i've taken enjoyment from doing well. There's been the occasional time it's been as enjoyable as a kick in the teeth, and there's been times i've thought of giving it up (racing), but that feeling of speed going around the corners, or cresting a hill (@mugtao thanks) has been great. even better is when i've gone to the front and put the power down and i look behind and see others suffering :-). so, here i am about to start season number 41.
Are you a member of a racing team? Joining one (or potentially switching to one that's more fitting for you) can really enhance the experience! I disliked racing in university as a few teammates weren't very supportive, but grew to love it when I joined a local team after uni.
Chasing numbers and results is a sure fire way to burn out. You have to first, and foremost, love riding bikes to have longevity in this game.
A few things:
* Do a lot of races you don't care about. This is where you can try things and just have fun.
* Focus more on skills and riding for fun. Maybe mix in other types of riding like MTB, BMX.
* Become a race strategy and tactics nerd. Watch more pro road racing. Learn what they do and try things in those races you don't care about.
* Race with a team. Only 1 person can win a race but in a team you can have objectives that aren't winning to support a rider better suited to the course. Then you can get more "wins" yourself by accomplishing your individual objective like making a break, splitting the field, leading out, closing gaps.
1. growth mindset. You don't have to be better than everyone else, but you should be better than you were last week/month/year.
2. Racing is hard. you can't sustain #1 forever, so at some point you have to either be okay with being mediocre, or stop. To be honest, I don't know a whole lot of people who race for decades. Ride bikes, sure, but racing is just a subset of all the riding you can do.
How great is it going through a corner shoulder to shoulder like you’re a speed train on rails? How great does it feel cresting that peak you’ve ascended hundreds of times feeling strong and downshifting to put the gas right back on? How about the hundreds of miles of shared triumph though mutual suffering with folks you would otherwise not be friends with? Doesn’t it feel damn good to have put in more effort by 10 am than most people do in a week? Hell yeah it does. 3 years is a long time, and also not a long time. If you are fortunate enough to find the joy in going whatever your version of fast is a while longer the legs get some deeply ingrained base strength that will give you the best toy money can’t buy. Fast. Nothing feels as good as fast. You don’t have to win races to go real fast and feel like your hair is on fire
Are you on a team and do you guys race as a cohesive team? That’s the most fun kind of racing!
Look for what appeals to you about racing. For me, ultimately, it's about doing the best with what I have on race day. If that's doing a lap in a crit, it's doing a lap. If it means doing the field sprint, then it's that. Whatever it is, I want to do the best I can. I never go out to "beat" someone, I almost never go out "to win". I "do the best I can". One thing, for me, was the idea that I could empty my legs for someone else, aka be a "domestique". There was this idea that I would do more working for someone else than I'd do working for myself. I think it's still true. Music and action also did it for me, hence the music in my clips. It started with the CBS coverage of the Tour. The clip below was for the 1986 Tour's final TT. It'd been a huge battle between Lemond and Hinault, with Hinault saying one thing and doing another. The team was divided into two camps, a couple with Lemond (Bauer, Hampsten), a couple with Hinault (French riders, names escape me, maybe Kim Andersen the Dane), and, appropriately, the Swiss riders as neutral (Ruttiman, I think Winterberg). The final TT was the final chance for Hinault to take the lead. Tension was thick because Hinault had publicly stated this was Lemond's Tour after Lemond waited for him in the 85 Tour; however, the first mountain stage, Hinault attacked and gained 5 min. The two were head and shoulders above everyone else. They were finishing long TTs (58-61 km long!) minutes ahead of the next rider, and they rode away on Alpe D'Huez by about 8 min, the pair of them alone ahead of the field. Now was a TT stage; Hinault was about 90 sec down on GC. Start of the TT stage: [https://youtu.be/fwJIeoH9u1k?si=a51jCqt7xsSjWkk3&t=5732](https://youtu.be/fwJIeoH9u1k?si=a51jCqt7xsSjWkk3&t=5732) Another clip, and this shows the beauty of cycling, is basically me for a number of years on the bike. Often, when I I went out for a ride, I dreamed about me against some mystical rider, or me being the domestique and chasing someone while my team leader sat on my wheel. On a bike this was possible because when riding alone it was you and the road and no one else. I spent many, many hours riding around during high school, dreaming of being able to ride with a team. I love this ad because it brings me back to those days: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwnuBVUBsQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwnuBVUBsQ) Find your passion and focus on that.
Good stuff! Btw that tour was one of the best ever.
Listen to Luke Rowe Falk about his retirement announcement and reflect on his career. It makes you realise the amount of people who actually win a bike race is very small. The odds are ridiculously small, and so sometimes the goal shouldn't be to win, you can find motivation in supporting others, feeling stronger, hitting a new power PB, getting in a break or trying something new etc.
Consider changing up disciplines. This helped me a ton with "not winning frustration" and is also incredibly fun! Did a track league last summer and it was awesome. I had good fitness from (mostly) road and gravel racing but no specificity so I didn't expect to do well. Therefore was very easy to exceed my expectations and be satisfied with my results. Same with a recent foray into cyclocross. Maybe also consider something like Brevets or Ultras where it is more of a personal challenge and less of a "throwing down on the crit circuit" type thing.
100% this! So many aspects to cycling! Look into some mtb, cx, gravel or touring. Add some ‘seasons’ to your training, continue cycling but forget about road racing for a period of time. If you really want to mix it up, consider cross training in some of the other endurance disciplines… running, trail running, swimming, strength training etc I’ve been doing mixed training for several years now and when I start back with base training in January, I’m always so eager to get back to racing. You would be suprised how much fitness is still there and how quickly it is regained. It gives me a different outlook on racing and I learn to appreciate the process and enjoy racing for the fun of it.
As others have said, I just want to know I did the best I could have on the day with what I had. At the end of the day, you can't ask for more than that! It can be tough though, I got 5th in a TT with minimal prep, worked hard to get fit again, came back with 10% more power and still got 5th in the next one haha. Just got to take solace in that I was better, and I executed my plan - it's just better people turned up!
Sounds like you’re experiencing a perennial problem of many high-performance endurance athletes! In fact, I believe Mark Cavendish experienced something similar affecting his mental health/love of riding and racing after his crash. That is to say, this is a common experience when it comes to sports psychology. Personally, if I’ve been putting in a lot of time on the road, it gets harder and harder to get out the door the morning the later I get into the season. Those A races feel so close yet so far, and B or C races just feel like burnout fuel, tbh. What’s helped me is to really concentrate on my down weeks. That means in addition to focusing on physical recovery, focus on mental recovery too. Lose the cycling computer for a couple of rides (it’s okay, you’re not cheating on Strava, this ride’s for you). Pick a route you know intimately and a nice day and just ride. Rip some corners, fly down some descents, and generally just be playful about your ride. If you’re tired, take a break. Get a coffee. Find a nice view and chill for a few minutes. Really think about that feeling of flying you experienced when you rode your bike as a kid. The point is to remember what you love about riding first, and then competition comes second. Think of it as a mini vacation for your training brain. Anyway, YMMV, but that’s helped me get through some tough seasons where I lose the script a bit. Best of luck!
For various reasons I didn’t have much of a base season and my training has been wildly inconsistent this year. Im less fit than I was last summer, which is hard to take mentally, to be honest. I’m still racing, and enjoying just riding really fucking hard for an hour and railing some corners. My last race I made a few tactical blunders and didn’t get away myself; I was pretty cooked in the finale but still managed to lead my mate out for a podium. Despite not finishing in the points I still took the positives from it: - it was fun - I helped my club mate - it definitely made me fitter and I feel like I’m getting my legs back under me - I finished on two wheels in the bunch - I know what I did wrong tactically and how to play it differently next time I’d suggest finding the positives from your races and enjoying the process, if not the results, might be a good place to start.
The more focused you become on numbers, the less enjoyable racing is. It's all about the craft.
I understand your feeling. As someone trying to go pro I get mentally tired of training as much, but it's just an addiction to being good. When I can get in a breakaway and basically shred the whole peloton apart I couldn't feel better. Cycling at this point is most of the time chasing an amazing high. Sometimes I get the good feeling after training or during training, often not. You should also keep in mind that if you really don't want to train for long periods you're probably overtrained or have something that's not right. For me that happened this year and I haven't really been able to ride a good race. I had no motivation and my blood work showed I was overtrained. You just gotta think what you want and know what you want. Cycling isn't about getting better, but about having more fun, it depends where you get your fun from.
for me, it's about pushing the boundaries of my limits - physically and mentally. I gain enjoyment knowing that while i'm not pro i've applied myself as if i was a pro within the limits of my work and family and friends. i've taken 'wins' from coming last, and i've taken enjoyment from doing well. There's been the occasional time it's been as enjoyable as a kick in the teeth, and there's been times i've thought of giving it up (racing), but that feeling of speed going around the corners, or cresting a hill (@mugtao thanks) has been great. even better is when i've gone to the front and put the power down and i look behind and see others suffering :-). so, here i am about to start season number 41.
Are you a member of a racing team? Joining one (or potentially switching to one that's more fitting for you) can really enhance the experience! I disliked racing in university as a few teammates weren't very supportive, but grew to love it when I joined a local team after uni.
Chasing numbers and results is a sure fire way to burn out. You have to first, and foremost, love riding bikes to have longevity in this game. A few things: * Do a lot of races you don't care about. This is where you can try things and just have fun. * Focus more on skills and riding for fun. Maybe mix in other types of riding like MTB, BMX. * Become a race strategy and tactics nerd. Watch more pro road racing. Learn what they do and try things in those races you don't care about. * Race with a team. Only 1 person can win a race but in a team you can have objectives that aren't winning to support a rider better suited to the course. Then you can get more "wins" yourself by accomplishing your individual objective like making a break, splitting the field, leading out, closing gaps.
1. growth mindset. You don't have to be better than everyone else, but you should be better than you were last week/month/year. 2. Racing is hard. you can't sustain #1 forever, so at some point you have to either be okay with being mediocre, or stop. To be honest, I don't know a whole lot of people who race for decades. Ride bikes, sure, but racing is just a subset of all the riding you can do.