Think back to your last experience of competition. Perhaps it was a race, or simply a sprint for a local town sign. How did you perform? More importantly, how did you explain your performance? An optimistic attitude can have positive influence on cycling performance.

We have just passed the summer solstice and most of us in the northern hemisphere are facing long and hot days on the bike. There are lots of ways to improve our physical capacity in hot conditions, but can we improve our riding through improving our psychological response to heat stress?

With the off-season upon us, now might be time to consider coaching for your 2018 and beyond goals. Or this might be the season where you take up more responsibilities with your cycling club or team. What makes a truly transformational coach?

Over the many years of coaching athletes of all levels, I’ve often tried to identify what makes certain riders successful and others not. Of course, the definition of success ultimately has to be defined by the athletes themselves. What may be defined as a success by one athlete may be a complete failure by another…

Most of us ride our bikes for fun, not a pay cheque, so why do we do it? Why is the fascination with pain and suffering so deeply ingrained into our enjoyment of cycling?

Dig down deep (or often not very deep) into an endurance athlete and it becomes very obvious that the main thing limiting their success or even enjoyment of the sport is usually not physical ability, but what goes on “upstairs.” The Brave Athlete offers a refreshingly candid and practical approach to sports psychology.

Do you want to upgrade your brain as well as your body? Emerging evidence suggests that riding your bike may be a potent cognitive performance enhancer. Does cycling make you smarter?

What is the hardest part of a training session? The first step out of the door. In the Northern Hemisphere, winter is drawing in, the temperature is dropping and many cyclists are summoning the willpower to hit the roads or face the drudgery of the home-trainer.

Hard day, easy day, repeat. Most athletes are familiar with the core tenant of periodized training. The concept is often lost when it comes time to apply it to the bigger training picture. The need for a recovery phase following the 'hard ' part of the season is often over looked, undervalued and misunderstood.