Multisport: What Does It Take to Be Great

Written by: Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.

Being successful in your cycling is being the best you can possibly be- finding and expanding your limits. Your potential in cycling is limited by two things, commitment and talent. These two qualities, in combination, make a good cyclist better.

Every individual has a certain amount of talent and athletic potential. Part of it is genetic- a gift from your parents. Another part is improvements from training. Regardless of the inherited and developed levels of ability, the "best physically gifted" cyclist will not always win the race.

Why? While coaches will say that 75 to 80 percent of your physical potential is inherited, the remaining 25 to 30 percent comes from your mind. You need to consider the mental side of training and competition, because winning is an act of the will as much as of the body. Cyclists with less talent, but with more willingness to succeed, toughness and desire, can often outperform more talented cyclists who lack these qualities.

Commitment is the attribute that brings the above qualities into focus for competitive cyclists. Commitment is what you "do" with your talent. It is the answer to questions such as: What amount of training am I willing to do to qualify for the National Championships? How hard am I willing to train during the off-season?" Commitment is how badly you want to win.

The following ideas can help you enhance your sense of commitment to cycling:

Set goals and targets for yourself. What do I want to achieve during this cycling season and the next season? How am I going to get there?

Be tough and willing. What are you willing to give up to become a better cyclist? Am I willing to go out on those long road rides in the middle of winter? If I get dropped in a race, am I willing to chase until I get back to the pack?

Know yourself. Acknowledge strengths and weakness. If I am a poor sprinter, am I willing to spend some time on the track to improve my speed? What keeps me going when the times are tough? Do I set realistic goals?

Have a plan. Use your strengths in cycling to carry you from one level to the next. Do I have a training diary? Know where you are going and how to get there.

One example of a cyclist with commitment is Lance Armstrong's comeback. He has an above normal quota of inherited talent, but also had a great capacity for commitment. He set his sites during his comeback on not just being competitive in the peleton again, but with a goal of winning the Tour de France. When a cyclist is committed, no coach can predict what levels of performance he will eventually reach.

Start now, not tomorrow. Start with today's workout- what are you waiting for? What kind of support system do you have to improve your performance. Use as many resources as possible in your quest to be the best- coaches, equipment, family, etc. How can they aid you? Be efficient, besides training hard, train smart. What is the quickest, smartest and most efficient way to reach your goals. If you plan properly, you will succeed. Enjoy your success and learn from your failures. When you fail, analyze what happened and learn why you did not reach your goal and work to not let it happen again.

Talent and commitment to the sport are the combination which can take you to your goals in cycling. Remember, you determine how good you want to be at this sport.

Cyclists have always found that goal setting skills contribute to performance and confidence in training and competition. Chris Carmichael likes to plan an entire year's training in advance for his athletes. "I can't believe that cyclists work from week to week or race to race," he says. "We work on a whole year's program, looking far ahead to races we want to do well in." In fact, by November, he has planned the basic structure of the whole next season's training and competition schedule. Fine tuning of the schedule will take place from month to month.

Training is not an end in itself but an activity with a purpose. The purpose being to learn to win more races than the cyclist just above you in the club program, to qualify for the state championships or to help your team win the team time trial competition at a stage race are specific goals. In the absence of goals, either small or ambitious, it is virtually impossible to persevere long enough to see a training program bring results. For what is the purpose of pushing yourself so hard, after all, if you cannot measure what you have accomplished? One cyclist's goal may be to win five races this season; another to break one hour for a 40 kilometer time trial. To keep motivated you cannot let yourself be satisfied; you have to keep raising your goals.

Whatever your personal program, however, it will not bear fruit unless its goals are likely to be attainable. Dr. Jerry Lynch, author of the Inner Runner notes that, "In my work with elite athletes at the U. S. Olympic Training Center, I have seen one major trait between those who reach their goals and those who fall short can be attributed to their level of commitment to reaching their goals. The stronger the commitment, the better the chances for obtaining objectives. This holds true also for the recreational cyclist as well. Many set unrealistic goals, complain of the difficulties of reaching their goals or are most likely not committed to reaching their goals. Most likely there are other major commitments in their lives. If their profession or family are more important, then cycling will (and should) take a back seat to cycling. Knowing this exists when you develop your goals will help help you set more realistic goals and reach them successfully. Cycling must fit into the priorities of your lifetime goals."

In other words, preparation is the basis of success. Outstanding performance in cycling depends on your willingness to become more efficient through mental and physical training.