Yogi Berra once said “Baseball is 90% mental.....the other half is physical.”

I made the varsity baseball team my sophomore year of high school, but the coach didn't play me all year. Finally, it was possibly the last game of the season, the ninth inning, we are down by two, and it could well be our team's last at bat for the year. The coach looks down the bench and as we make eye contact I can almost read his mind. I'm up off the bench, batting helmet on, bat in hand and standing next to the coach in a blink of an eye. The thought that I hadn't played all season never entered my mind. The fact that if we lost this game we were out of the playoffs and on our way home wasn't a concern at all. The idea that I could strike out wasn't even a remote possibility in my head. Mentally, I had already hit the ball and we had won the game....... If I only still had the confidence of an immortal, unstoppable 16 year old again.

Since that day, I've gotten a bit older, some might say wiser, still have some confidence left, but life has thrown me a few curve balls along the way. My confidence has been beat down a few times by reality, still there, but now it likes to be propped up by facts and figures instead of daydreams and fantasies. When it comes to cycling, I think Yogi's theory applies equally as well. Cycling is 90% mental and the other half is physical. Since I don't have the unbridled confidence of a 16 year old anymore, I play a few mind games that help me mentally as well as supporting my physical ability to hopefully get the best possible results!

Field sizes is one of the first things I used to be concerned about when it came to racing. I would look at the registration list and see how many people I was going to be racing against. The idea being that a smaller field gave me a better chance at a good result. It didn't really work that way. Then moving up in categories the field sizes get even larger 75, 100, 125. One day I finally had a mental breakthrough in regards to the size of the field......it is mostly irrelevant. In fact, this is the one time where the center line rule is definitely your friend. Thanks to the center line rule, when racing in a large field you are only racing 100 people, if you are at the back of the pack. It can be very difficult to move up when the group is all together. The center line tends to keep people boxed in. But, if I am in 20^th position or so on the road I am really only racing about 30 people, the ones right around me, and the people in front of me. The rest of the field is too far back and boxed in to really be a factor. So as long as I stay near the front, I have practically eliminated half of my competition for large portions of the race. Remember though, good position isn't necessarily decided on the road, it can be decided even before the roll out. Get to the start a few minutes early if you have to. It's a lot easier to get to the front in the parking lot, than it is to fight your way to the front out on the road.

Another mental trick that works well for me is course knowledge. Knowing the roads, the flow of the race, and the probable race tactics can make a big difference in how well you do. Knowing that I need to be in a good position for the cross wind section that is coming up, or that if I fight to stay on over the next hill the pace usually slows, can make the difference between staying with the lead group or getting dropped. Knowing where to work hard, where to stay in the draft, where to attack, and where to recover gives you a definite mental advantage over racers who haven't done their homework. During the race it's the unknowns that always cause negative thoughts and let doubt creep in. Don't be the one wondering “how many more hills are there”, or “when do we turn out of this wind”. Once the negative thoughts creep in, getting dropped isn't usually too far behind. You want to use the course to your advantage and cause the other racers to have those negative thoughts.

A final mental trick, and this one is one you have probably heard before, is to set realistic goals. We all dream of winning. In fact if I ever stop dreaming of winning I will probably quit racing. But the reality is even the best racers don't always win. In fact they don't even win half the time, not even close. So look at your abilities and what you have accomplished so far and set realistic yet challenging goals. And when you accomplish those goals, set new ones. Most of all, while you are striving to reach your goals, have fun! Sure there is the pain and misery, the legs ache, the lungs burn, you may even question your sanity at times, but it should still be fun! So keep setting goals and then celebrate reaching them. Whether it's a top ten finish, to just hang with the lead pack, or to not get dropped on the first lap of the Tuesday night race team ride, we have all been there and had those goals, and each one is an important step in your cycling career!

I suppose you might be wondering how my original baseball story ends. I wish I could tell you it had a wonderful fairytale ending, but the coach looked back down at me and just shook his head. I went and sat back down on the bench. We lost the game and went home...... Reality: 1, Hopes & Dreams: 0

Since we had a couple racers cross the finish line with solo victories this past weekend, I couldn't help but wonder to myself what was going through their minds as they were riding off the front for the win. Maybe someday I will be lucky enough to find out....

I have had plenty of time riding off the back by myself and lots of things tend to come to mind. Saturday I had devised a Strategy/Luck matrix in my head. The top had three boxes; Good Execution of Strategy, No Strategy, and Bad Execution of Strategy. Down the left hand side was; Good Luck, No Luck, and Bad Luck. A good execution of strategy and some good luck would have you at the top left of the grid and should give you a great result! I was down at the lower right end, bad execution of strategy and a bit of bad luck, the results were not so good. Sunday on the other hand, I had a much better execution of strategy and neither good nor bad luck, so I ended up with a decent result.

All this came back to mind this morning because I was reading an article on Pez about Bike Race Anatomy. It focuses a bit more on the anatomy of a Pro level race, but several of concepts play out in any level of racing. Once you understand the anatomy of the race, then building your, or your team's strategy becomes that much easier. Determine how you think the race will play out and base your strategy on that and your strengths and weaknesses.

I'm still working out my strengths, but I know I have two definite weaknesses; sitting too far back in the field, and I get dropped if I am forced to do to much work. Unfortunately my weaknesses compound each other. Sitting too far back often forces me to do too much work. So my primary strategy for almost any race is to stay near the front and hide as much as possible. Saturday I didn't do that and paid the price, getting dropped halfway through the race. Sunday I did a much better job at it and easily finished in the top half of the field.

Hopefully with a better understanding of Bike Race Anatomy and your own strengths and weaknesses you will start to see better results. Someday you might even figure out what you think about when you ride away from the field for a solo victory!

Here is the link to Pez: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6822&status=True&catname=Latest News

Enjoy!