Embracing the headwind

Since my little altercation with the single track at Stromlo ruled me out of the Canberra Tour*, I have been out smashing some kms to get some form to take to Rutherglen. While I was out on Saturday I found myself up against a block headwind- so common in autumn and spring around Canberra. As I was bemoaning how hard this ride was and how slowly I was going, I thought of something I read on the "All Men are Liars" blog.

I have plagerised the most pertinent part of Sam's post here:

In a team meeting,... [the coach] tells his group of fringe players a story he'd heard in church about the Devil having a closing down sale because he's moving to another spot. A potential customer comes in to see what the Devil's got on offer and asks him what is his best seller. "Discouragement," says the Devil, "because as soon as people get discouraged it makes all of my weapons work."

In the context of my ride, I was about 15km in to 90km and the discouragement of the wind was making me want to turn around, go home and curl up in bed. Deep down I know that these kms are essential to a strong year on the bike, but mustering up the motivation to keep going was hard work. And then the epiphany occurred.

Embrace the headwind. If anything is going to bring me back to fitness it will be hard rides, like this one in the wind. Funnily enough, after this the ride got easier! (No I hadn't turned around to have a tailwind!!)

Mental toughness is often the only thing that differentiates athletes on race days. And, this toughness only comes out if you don't let the devil in!

In other news, my knee is looking really good and is standing up to training well.



*If you want to know what happened at the Canberra Tour, head on over to MiffyG or Ride Happy