Just imagine what you can do, if you put your mind to it!
When you have a major cycling event coming up, some coaches recommend visualization to help bring about the best performance.
Visualization, they say, takes practice. It\’s hard, for example, for me to imagine myself riding at top speed against a strong wind. I know only too well that the reality is something very different! I guess visualization means imagining myself riding strongly against that wind, undeterred, be my speed what it may. See the difference?
Visualization is a sort of \”booster shot\”; a psychological leg up. I admit that I\’ve done very little of it. Naturally I pictured myself finishing Tour de Cure still feeling as strong and energetic as when I rolled off at the start; but I was really quite tired by the end. But still elated😊
Just imagine yourself riding strongly, \”full of spit and vinegar\” as people once said, on a morning when it\’s dark and cold; blowing hard, and raining. HA! I don\’t want to think about it at all! If I ride on a day like that, I only want to finish the darned ride; get indoors where it\’s warm; and divest myself of sopping wet cycling gear.
That\’s OK. Few people, I suspect, enjoy riding on such days, much less attempting exercises in visualization at the same time. Try again another day!