- It's no exaggeration to say
that this GCN video could revolutionise your cycling,
because your head could make or break
your ability on the bike.
So, coming up are some tips
on how to get the most out of it,
but first, we need to talk about pain.
(intense rock music)
When we're riding really fast
or for a really long time,
our physiology limits our performance,
so that's things like
our muscles, and our heart, and our lungs.
And we know when we're getting towards our limits,
because typically our breathing gets uncontrollably fast
and we get pain in our legs.
But have you ever wondered whether or not
that pain you're feeling is really your body saying no
or actually your head?
Because there's been an awful lot of research done,
and a lot of it quite recent that says
that a lot of it may well indeed be your head.
So for example, a couple of years back,
there was an article printed
in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Sports Science,
and they had shown that actually tolerance
of exercise-induced pain was a fantastic indicator
of a cyclist's ability to time trial.
Then there's an awful lot of weird stuff going on as well,
where researchers are actually
using non-invasive techniques to manipulate nerves,
and so they've been able to reduce exercise-induced pain
by up to 12% and then that had a knock-on effect
of improving a person's ability by 38%.
So, if our bodies are capable of so much more then,
how are we going to take off the rev limiter?
Firstly, how your legs are feeling
isn't actually important.
When I first heard that statement,
I must say, I was taken aback,
because, as cyclists, we're always told
to listen to our bodies and to learn to read the signals.
But actually, it's very easy,
and particularly for experienced cyclists,
to start to get it wrong.
If you, for example, start listening carefully
to pro cyclists who are struggling with race results
in post-race interviews,
more often than not,
you'll actually hear them talk
about their legs and their bodies
as if they're somehow separate from the rest of them.
So they'll say things like,
- "I just couldn't go into the road today."
- Or,
- "Yeah, body just wasn't really responding today, yeah."
- Or,
- "Well, my legs just weren't working properly today."
- And admittedly, if we start exploring that issue,
than it leads us to a very dark and complex place,
but the simple answer is just stop listening to your body.
Take a leaf out of Jens Voigt's book,
and tell your legs to shut up.
- [Voigt] And I think I had lactic acid up to my eyebrows.
- Or, take one step further,
and don't even ask the question to your legs anymore.
And actually,
although it's a very subtle difference sometimes,
instead of thinking,
I need to press harder on the pedals now,
if you instead think,
"Oh, I'm going to go faster."
It can actually have a really powerful effect
on your mental state on the bike.
A lot of riders also get great results from using
distraction techniques that also block out the pain,
particularly on long climbs like this one.
So there's loads of different ways of doing it
but, very simply, you could just try counting.
So every half pedal revolution, until you get up to 10,
then go back to zero again.
That's also got a positive knock-on effect
of allowing you to maintain a specific cadence
and therefore also pace,
but for less performance-oriented riders,
you can get some pretty good results
out of singing.
- ♫ People try to put us down
- ♫ Talking bout my generation.
- See I think it would be almost impossible
to feel pain at the same time as
singing something like this,
♫ Bread of heaven, bread of heaven
♫ Feed me now and evermore
Admittedly, some scientific research may well be needed
in order to back up that statement.
♫ Feed me now and evermore
Okay, so the jury well may be out on singing,
but there is genuine scientific validation
for the performance benefits of swearing.
Because researchers at University of Keele in the UK
show that in a 30 second max sprint
that actually swearing gave an improvement,
on average, of 24 watts.
Now, clearly, there's no distraction techniques
going on there.
So what actually is happening?
Well, the researchers think that swearing
puts your body into fight or flight mode
and, as well as triggering adrenaline production,
it also stimulates stress-induced pain relief.
So, genuine performance benefits to be had.
Although, let's face it,
to preserve the peace and tranquillity
of our mountain climbs,
maybe we should save it for short intervals
and also do it quietly.
Come on you (bleeping), turn those (bleeping) pedals
for crying out loud (bleeping), come on!
Come on, you (bleeping)!
(Yelling)
(Bleeping)
Pedal!
Now, unfortunately, there will be many occasions
where you can't ignore the pain.
But what you can definitely do
is improve your tolerance of it.
I suspect most of us cyclists are slightly masochistic
in that we actively enjoy the pain
that we feel when riding uphills fast for example.
And that enjoyment is incredibly powerful
because it allows us to tolerate more of that pain.
But it is also very easy to go from
perceiving it as good pain to bad pain.
We are not robots,
and our emotions can very easily tip us
into a completely different frame of mind.
It might be that you suddenly notice
that the person riding next to you
isn't breathing as hard as you,
or, a really common one,
you turn a corner only to see
that the summit of a climb isn't metres away,
it's kilometres away.
And at that moment, I can guarantee
that the pain in your legs will suddenly increase,
your tolerance of it will decrease,
and your performance drops off a cliff.
The way through it though,
is actually just to recognise when these moments happen,
because realistically,
you're never going to be able to stop negative thoughts,
but what you can do is choose to ignore them
and then think about something different,
something positive,
so you can think about how far
you've already come up the climb,
or how fast you've been going,
or how many riders have already been dropped.
Think positively, not negatively.
You may well find though,
that there are times when the task at hand
just feels completely overwhelming.
You might be midway through an epic ride
or halfway up a monster climb,
and in either case,
the finish line could just very well feel
an awfully long way away
and actually be completely unmanageable.
But if that is the case,
then the solution could be a very simple one.
Because instead of focusing on the finish,
you could just break the task down into manageable chunks.
So, focus instead on the next hairpin bend,
or one more kilometre,
because you can always do one more kilometre,
even it might not feel like you can do 100.
And then, you can take it on one step further as well
by actually rewarding yourself
when you've achieved that particular task.
It could be something as simple
as taking a sip from your bottle
if you've got a sweet-tasting drink in there,
because research has shown consistently
that even the sensation of having something sweet
in your mouth is considered a reward by your body,
and therefor, it actually acts as a performance-enhancer.
You don't have to swallow any carbohydrate,
but just the sensation of it in your mouth
will improve your endurance.
Bonkers.
Now much of what we've talked about already
is very internal,
so how we as individuals manage or tolerate
or block out pain.
But actually, for a lot of us,
external factors can have a huge influence.
Perhaps the roar of the crowd as you ride past
will really spur you on.
But then it could also have very negative effects as well.
As you catch the sound of a lone passerby
commenting about how tired you look as you ride past,
which will then have you weeping silently
into your handlebars.
But nevertheless, you could harness
the power of external factors
through visualisation techniques.
Remembering consistently and repeatedly
those moments where a crowd has spurred you on.
And, really powerfully, is actually using loved ones,
someone special to you as some form of inspiration.
Whatever you're doing, you're doing it for them.
You can push harder for them,
you can go further for them.
Now, it might be slightly dark again,
but nevertheless,
it's a really good tip actually,
and it's worth having it in your back pocket
for special occasions.
There's a number of points there that you can try.
Remember to not accept pain for what it is.
You can try and block it out,
you can also harness the power
of a positive mental attitude,
you can use visualisation techniques,
you can use the stimulus of rewards.
Oh and you can also swear from time to time,
if that also floats your boat.
Now, do, before leaving this video,
make sure you subscribe to GCN.
It's very simple, just click on the globe.
And then, if you're after more content,
well, in the same vein as thinking yourself faster,
there's an old, but a good one up there,
which is how to ride faster for free,
and then down there,
you can't ignore the power of training,
but also pain tolerance can come
from some dirty interval sessions and that one
is one of our toughest indoor training sessions yet.