How to Build Confidence in Your Cycling

For example, after a bad day of training, you might say, "I had a horrible race." Instead, replace that negative statement with something more positive: "I'll work hard and ride better tomorrow."

A thought-stopping sequence in training or competition should go as follows: When you start to think or say something negative, say "stop" or "positive." Then replace that thought with something positive.

Use Negative Thinking Positively

Even though it's important to emphasize being positive all the time, the truth is, you can't. You won't always ride as well as you want to and there are going to be negative thoughts. I became aware of this fact not too long ago while I worked with a group of highly-ranked junior cyclists.

One night at an evening dinner during one of our training camps, several cyclists approached me and said, "Sometimes things just stink and can't be turned into positivity." This got me to thinking. Sometimes, negative thinking can't be avoided, and, it could even be healthy. It means you care about your cycling and you want to do better.

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Negative thinking can also be motivating—if it's used correctly.

There are two types of negative thinking: give-up negative thinking and fired-up negative thinking. Give-up negative thinking involves feelings of loss and despair. "It's over" or "I can't win" are examples of this. You dwell on past mistakes and failures, and it lowers your motivation and your confidence. Your intensity might also drop, because in essence you're surrendering to defeat.

In contrast, fired-up negative thinking involves feelings of anger and energy, and can be used to give your psyche a boost. "I'm having a bad day. I hate riding this way." This will keep you motivated to improve so that it doesn't happen again. Fired-up negative thinking increases your desire to turn things around. Your physical intensity and your energy levels will go up. Your focus turns to being aggressive and separating yourself from the field.

If you can only be negative, choose to be fired-up and use it to your benefit.

Confidence Challenge

How are you going to respond the next time things aren't going your way? I call this the Confidence Challenge. It's easy to be confident when you're riding well, when the conditions are ideal, and when you're competing against a field than you're better than.

What separates the best pro riders, for example, is that the best cyclists in the world are able to maintain their confidence when they're going through a bad patch in their cycling. By maintaining confidence, they can continue to work hard rather than give up. In time, they believe that their cycling will improve.

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The challenge is being able to get through the down periods quickly and without losing your confidence.

To master the Confidence Challenge, there are several things you'll need to do.

• Develop an attitude that challenges should be sought out rather than avoided.
• Believe that experiencing challenges is the only way you can become the best cyclist possible.
• Realize that obstacles are supposed to make you uncomfortable.

Here are a few simple rules to follow to begin your own Confidence Challenge:

1. Seek out every possible challenge you can in training and in competition.
2. Be as prepared as possible to meet these challenges.
3. Stay positive and motivated when faced with difficult circumstances.
4. Focus on what you need to do to overcome these challenges.
5. Accept that you'll make mistakes and that you may not always succeed when you face a challenge.
6. See challenges as experiences that you can learn and improve from.
7. Never give up.

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