Highly effective habits are very important and extremely needed for a cyclist who contributes his life to cycling. Why are those habits so important? Different cyclists may have different habits and some of the habits work very well while others don’t. Some of the habits are good for cyclists’ health and can improve their cycling performance while some other habits conducive to good health and may go against improving cycling performance. So it is of vital importance to develop highly effective cycling habits to be a lifelong cyclist.
And sometimes you may wonder why that cyclist performs so well and whatever you tried, you just could not catch up with him. Sometimes, you will feel very strange why a beginner can make such rapid progress and even catch up with those who have been cycling for years. There must be some secrets in that. And now let’s uncover the veil behind the magic.
1.Be connected to your bike.
You may not believe it, but I always believe that everything has its own spirit. So has the bike. The bike for cyclists is like the springboard of a diver. Without the bike, the word “cyclist” will lose its meaning. Our relationship between cycling is like a marriage, and the bike is like the emotional foundation of the marriage. That’s why we need to be connected to our bike.
Every time before starting a ride, you can take a look all over your bike, appreciate what the bike has gone through with you for a moment and maybe you can try telling it this: “Hey, buddy! Thank you for all that. I very appreciate what you have gone through with me. And now I am going to attend a cycling race. We will work together, all right? Now, wish me luck.”
Love your bike as if it’s a real person and stay connected to your bike with all your heart.
2.Know what you are going to do and why you are going to do that.
Every morning when you are still in bed, take a little time to think about what is your plan of the day, and keep in mind that why you are planning them? Remember, for a cyclist, every day is a brand new day that you have the opportunity to learn new things and to improve yourself.
For example, it’s a rainy day and you have to stay at home because the rain is too heavy. Then take the day to rest. Focusing your mind what you are going to do to rest and the reason why it helps to rest, but not keep thinking it’s really a bad day. Just take a happy-go-lucky policy and reconcile yourself to your situation.
3.Being calm.
It’s quite usual that unexpected things happen in a sudden when cycling, such as an unexpected cat, a zigzag, and you start feeling very nervous and being afraid of having a crash. Well, at this very moment, the last thing we do is being nervous. Jut chill out and be calm. Believe in yourself that you have enough time to react and you can make it successfully.
Expect for those emergencies, we also need to stay calm on the road as if you know everything about it and you have the confidence to deal with it. Only being calm can we actually enjoy the wonderful cycling experience. We are cycling for fun, not for freaking out.
There are many things you can do to stay calm, such as listening to music, thinking about happy things and so on. Keep in mind that don’t grab your handles so hard or your fingers will get numb. Find out the way which can chill you out and stick to it. And if you are still afraid of a crash, you can practice using the front brake to stop quickly and effectively.
4.Get a good night’s sleep.
Sleeping is the most important part of a human life and it takes one third of our day. Getting a good sleep can not only make you fresh all day and have a good mood, but also is beneficial to your daily cycling performance and progress. Recovering from high-intensity workouts or racing also needs a good night sleep. And good night’s sleep helps you prevent from illness to some extend.
Getting a high-quality sleep needs us to pay attention to several things: your sleeping environment, your before-sleep habits, your sleeping bedding and so on. People sleep best in a quiet, cool and black environment, so create an optimal sleeping environment for yourself: quiet, cool and black. Develop some before-sleep habits and stick to them, such as listening to some soft music, do some reading, have a cup of hot milk and remember don’t eat too late or exercise intensively 2 hours before bed. Find the most effective way and then stick to it. Buy a good pillow and mattress as a high-quality sleep is worth every penny.
5.Break your big dream into smaller ones and push your limits step bu step.
We all have ambitions, like I want to cycle a century, but it’s not possible that I can do it at the very beginning because it is a huge project to the old me. Then what should I do? Give it up? Of course not.
The right thing to do is to break your big dream into smaller ones, like 10 miles a time, 20 miles, etc. Remember to set a goal at your every ride and try hard to go get it. It’s essential to do things step by step until we get it. We need to push our limits each time until our dream come true. Although sometimes things may not go so well, we actually make progress.
There are still some other habits for a lifelong cyclist, and we all know that Rome isn’t built in a day, there are still many things we need to pay attention to if we want to contribute our life to cycling. Everything needs our efforts and perseverance. No matter how hard the thing is, we will get it. Develop these highly effective habits and improve yourself.
The Best Effective Habits Cyclists Require
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