Learning to suffer is the key, psychology will be the next frontier in cycling

In today's cycling, dominated by numbers and where every aspect of competition and preparation is perfectly measured, and where equality is at its maximum, the mind often becomes that differentiating element that determines whether the cyclist drops from a group or is able to hold onto the wheel or even attack when the pain in their legs tells them to stop.

Psychology becomes another key factor in the preparation of cyclists

Learning to live with the pain and suffering that cyclists endure when pedaling to the limit is the goal for which the role of the sports psychologist is becoming increasingly common within teams so that cyclists have tools and are able to manage those limit moments when their mind tells them to give up.

To delve deeper into the work of sports psychologists in cycling teams, the well-known website Velo has interviewed those who work with EF Education-EasyPost and Human Powered Health, who have explained how they teach cyclists daily to not fear pain but to accept and master it.

RECOMENDADO

This Specialized patent reveals a dual chain that breaks with everything we knew until now

Black Friday 2025 cycling bargains: save on Garmin, POC, Maxxis and more

Black Friday Garmin 2025: the ultimate guide to choosing your GPS at the best price

Problems for Campagnolo as it announces significant cuts to its workforce

Unexpected move: Florian Lipowitz, the signing that nobody saw coming

Chris Froome returns for the umpteenth time, but he is already 40 years old and without a team. Why doesn't he retire?

Anyone who trains in a structured way has surely experienced one of those days when you know you have to perform some tough intervals, and just thinking about what awaits until training time arrives already suggests the suffering we are going to endure to the point that we block ourselves, and the training doesn't go well even though our power data says we should be able to perform it perfectly.

However, the mentally trained cyclist will be looking forward to that training as a challenge, knowing that it is the path to achieving their goal and having confidence in their physical abilities to know that they have the physical capacity to nail the training.

According to these sports psychologists, the first step is to recognize when negative thoughts begin to arise so that, when they do, they can say "enough," take a moment of mental pause, and apply different mental exercises and techniques that allow them to channel those thoughts.

That would be the second step, learning to reframe those limiting thoughts and transform them into something positive. One of the techniques that these psychologists agree on is making the cyclist aware and remember in those moments why they are doing this since, beyond a way to make a living that excites practically everyone who gets on a bike, they always find deeper motivations that can be leveraged in those moments when the mind wants to stop.

These motivations can range from achieving a victory to honor someone, overcoming the impostor syndrome that some say they suffer from, or simply trying to prove something. In any case, they are powerful motivations when used in the most difficult moments of competition. In any case, psychologists always seek to explore new motivations in the professional cyclists they work with so that they become tools for dealing with suffering.

In any case, the conclusion is that while watts, nutrition, aerodynamics, etc., are what decide races, the cyclist, no matter how many qualities they have, can only go as far as their mind allows. So, preventing the mind from becoming a limiting factor in performance has made the role of the sports psychologist increasingly relevant in the rosters of professional teams.