“At the halfway mark of our mini-camp there was a realization, between the two of us, that what we were doing was right. There was a simple, and singular, purpose to our existence. It felt like we were in a Hemingway novel. We were lean, we were hungry, and the outcome of our efforts was either going to ruin us or leave us at our true peak — that fleeting moment that occurs every so often in an athlete’s career. That rare height, where your ability to endure is only outdone by the speed at which you can propel yourself forward, is beautiful. Between ruin and ethereal highs, with the way we were riding, Howes and I suspected that we were headed towards the latter.”
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Another good one!
Live in the moment “I’ve been working on my inner voice quite a bit, especially recently. I find I’m better able to talk to myself and have real clarity when I’m fitter physically. When I’m not as fit, which tends to be earlier in the season, I’m terrible and there’s a lot of negative self-talk. Where I’ve had the most success is to embrace where I’m at and think ‘why do I not want to be here?’. Now I try to embrace it and remember I am paid to be here and I’m technically doing this for my own pleasure. I try to live in the moment, where I am right now. It makes a huge difference when it works. A good example would be on a climb, when I’m really suffering. In the past I haven’t been good on long, long climbs, but I’ve improved a lot. In the past, I’d get 1km into a 20km climb and think ‘I’ve still got 19km to go, I can’t sustain this pace, this hurts too much.’ Whereas now I’ve found a way to break the climb down by thinking about where I am at that moment. I focus only as far as I can see ahead on the road - get to K19, then K18, then K17.”
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