Finding Motivation Everywhere
It’s such fun to observe myself and my mindset as I ride. You may know that I was a coxswain on a rowing team before I came to cycling. In that seat one of my top roles was finding ways to motivate my rowers. That might be by telling them where they stand relative to the boat next to them, or by giving them a sense of how far they’ve come and how much is left to go. I think I got pretty good at even creating motivation when another crew was beating us. I knew they were faster, but we could stay with them and let them pull us forward we make that crew work for it they don’t get by easy! (Can you feel my blood pressure rise as I just imagine the scenario?)
I’m finding that I am bringing that skill from rowing to my riding. On two rides last week I took note and I want to share with you:
I was riding home and moving at a good clip. There’s a temporary red light on my commute where the road has construction and narrows to one lane. Another rider was waiting at the front. I’ve gotten naughty/ gone “local” and take to departing after the last car has come through but before the light turns green. I think it makes things faster for the traffic behind me. The other cyclist didn’t come with me, but he did go flying past me a km later. I couldn’t life my speed to jump in behind his wheel so he got about 100m ahead of me. I set my sights on keeping the margin between us as small as possible through the tunnels (~4km total). At times he gained, but then I would close back to the 100m margin and kept it pretty close to that even coming through the tunnels. Then, as we hit the small rise in the approach to Malgrate, I passed him. That felt great. Who knows what he was up to? Maybe cooling down… but still, he motivated me to get home a little faster than I would have otherwise.
On the way to work last week it felt like a normal Monday morning. My legs felt fresh as I’d only hiked over the weekend. No big rides. Going through Onno I heard a wheel behind me. He sat behind me for a while. And I noticed my pace pick up. I find it motivating to have someone with me. As I went, he came with me. In the climb into Limonta, we kept the cadence high up the hill. I could feel that it was a lot of effort for him to push. And I kept on the gas in the downhill out of Limonta. He came too and we took that curve fast to lead well into the final climb. I finally acknowledged he was their and gave him a little “bravo” to which he responded “brava te”. He turned off for the delicious Sancassani bakery thanking me for the ride. Later I saw on Strava that he pushed me faster than I’d gone in a long time. Thanks to you sir!
it’s fun finding motivation in your compatriots, whether they know it or not.
