How do I feel when I ride

I am asked by many of my non-rider friends how do I feel when I ride? The answer is: it depends. On normal workout days I just ride and try to accomplish the goals set by my coach. On hard workout days, race days, and test days I start out nervous, antsy, tense like a race horse, ok Shetland pony, waiting for the bell to ring. Then bam we are off. My tendency and the tendency of many others are to go out way too hard. Because I want to ride as strong as possible I try and calm myself down, ease off the watts, and ride my race. After the first few minutes the adrenalin washes away and I am left with either the mental struggle to ride as hard as possible or the odd feeling that I feel somewhere between neutral and an amorphous feeling of bad.

Feeling that a ride is not going well is shared by many cyclists. I have talked with racers and people in my bike gym and they all have similar experiences. I have been told the body has good days and bad days, fast days and faster days, it just depends on the day.

Recently I feel tired during a race. I am not sure if I have more to give or I have given too much. This mental battle is constant. I have learned to stay focused by repeating my mantra of the day. The mantra helps focus my mind, ease the pain and give the ride focus. I have learned that focus on long rides is the key. If I focus then what I feel does not matter and I am able to dig deep to do my best.

So the simple answer to the question of the day is: I am feeling great; wait no miserable;... what feelings, I am saying my mantra.

The mantra always rules.