Why Motivation is Key to Cycling Success

Everyone says it. Motivation is your best friend, it's the mental power that makes you go that extra mile, it's the voice inside your head saying "let's do it" and the force that makes your legs shake after a ride.

Yep ... that's motivation.

To understand motivation further, you need to have a purpose. Motivation always has a purpose behind it. Ask yourself, what are you setting out to do? What are you trying to achieve? What benefits will this give me? Giving yourself reasons to go outside gives you the stepping stone in allowing you to accept that this is the right thing for you. That it's the thing you need. The stimulus you always wanted.

Once you have these purposes in place, you'll use them as an excuse to go out there and be better than you ever were. That training schedule goes out of the window. The rest days become an intense sprint. Your hands grip the handlebars a little more tighter.

You know what's coming.

Your purpose IS your motivation.

So how do you get started? And how do you actually stay motivated?

First, set yourself one specific, achievable goal. This will enable you to be focused on what you really want and provides you something to work with.

Secondly, think about how you can include that goal into your cycling habits. For example, it could be that you start cycling 30 miles a day, and over the next 4 weeks, you want to cycle 50 miles a day. You would start to gradually increase your miles every week.

Finally, keeping track of your progress is just as important. Use an app (Strava for example) to record your goal and see if you are hitting it. If not, what is going wrong, and what can you do improve? Remember that progression takes time, so don't fret if things don't go well at the start.

Those are fairly short to allow you to have a centralised, minimalistic view that this is much simpler than it is. They can easily be achieved.

If you feel like you are losing motivation, the best way to regain it is to remember why you wanted to be motivated or reach that goal in the first place. It gives you a happy, kind reminder that you are doing all this for a good cause. A reminder that yep, you are awesome!

Be sure to get inspired by reading a book or talking to friends or family who have set similar goals to you. Don't forget to regularly reward yourself!

This is all a collective effort in reaching those goals and most importantly, becoming a better you. You'll start to see results of all your hard work and perseverance which will in turn translate to better performance. Your legs will be pumped and raring to go for the next ride out. You will always have that mindset that you want to go out, be cycling and explore the world one pedal stroke at a time. You'll make going on your bike a habit you can't stop. Cycling is proven to make you be happy. After all, that's what matters most.

You'll not only be a better cyclist, but a more healthy, positive nurturing person at times when you aren't in the saddle. Cycling will make you appreciate the good things in life. Remember to think positive, be grateful and embrace every single challenge you encounter.

You are awesome. Always remember that.

Shaz