It’s hard to believe, but it all came together perfectly on the day. With amazing support from my dad, wife, and kids, all the training, kit, pacing and nutrition worked beautifully. Despite some very wet and windy conditions, the plan proved resilient and we made it though without any major issues.

A week later, I’m still feeling stunned that this added up to, not just a 516 mile ride, but also the 2022 UK National Champion’s jersey!  Although I had said I would like to cover 480 miles, I had secretly believed that 500 might be possible – but I had zero expectation of going any further than this or finishing on the podium.

Now, I’m under no illusions that I’m the fastest or most talented long distance TT rider in the country – there were others on the start sheet who would normally beat me by a good margin.  But, with only 33 out of 54 riders able to finish in the wet and windy overnight conditions, I ended up being the one who came through the night with my plans intact. 

Reflecting on it now, I think I’ve learned two things. 

Firstly, if you can get a great team around you, figure out the components of a good performance then really work to optimise everything, it’s amazing how close someone with fairly average talent can get to a top-level performance. 

Secondly, part of the beauty of sport is its unpredictability. It’s hard to account for chance, weather and variable performances, and there will often be an unexpected winner. I just feel extremely grateful that, this time, it could be me.

Since the event, I’ve enjoyed answering a lot of questions from family and friends about how it went on the day.  I thought these could be a good way to finish my blog, so here they are:

How often did you stop? What did you do in your stops? 

The course was multiple loops of about 35-80 minutes, each returning to a central roundabout where most support teams were camped. My dad, my wife, and my two teenage kids all took turns supporting me from a simple base we set up from our camper van.

We had a well-drilled routine which worked very well on the day. Every 2 hours I stopped at our base and we worked concurrently for the quickest possible pit-stop. While I jumped off the bike and went for a pee, they replaced my water bottle, feed bottle, and energy bars on my bike. They then passed me a pitta bread sandwich which I stashed in the leg of my skin suit. Finally, as I jumped back on my bike, they passed me a small treat to eat as I pedalled off. 

The whole process took less than 90 seconds so we averaged about 40 seconds of stops per hour overall. As well as being efficient, my team did a great job of keeping me confident and motivated. Overnight, they always seemed cheerful and never mentioned the grotty weather. Over the last few hours, when I was starting to look and feel pretty wasted, they still kept smiling, told me I was looking great and encouraged me to keep pushing to the end.

What did you eat and drink all that time?

I had spent a lot of time on training rides figuring out and testing the most reliable way for me to manage 75-90g per hour of carbohydrates, along with electrolytes and plenty of fluid.

For the carbs, I took something every 15 minutes so that each hour I consumed 60g from a homemade drink mix (fructose powder, maltodextrin powder & electrolyte tablets), 15g from an energy bar (half a Torq bar), and 15g from a sandwich (pitta with various savoury fillings).  

For the water, I kept sipping from a bottle on my TT bars, aiming to need a pee about once per 2 hours.  For the electrolytes, I aimed to get about 500mg of sodium per hour from the drink mix and salty sandwich fillings (eg Marmite or salty cheese and bacon).

This plan worked well and I managed 90g/hr for the first 12 hours without feeling over-fed. By the last few hours I was feeling quite sick and full, but I was still able to manage all my energy drink and I averaged about 75-80g/hr for the event overall.

In total, I took in 1,900g carbs (7,600 kCal) while burning about 15,000 kCal.  Assuming I used about 1,500 kCal from glycogen stores, the breakdown of energy used was:

50% from carbs consumed

10% from glycogen stores burned

40% from fat stores burned 

I don’t know what the impact of all this was on my weight because I made a point of not getting on the scales for a week either side of the event.

How did you pace yourself?

From training (including a non-stop 600km Audax ride), I had an idea of the power and heart rate I could sustain over 24 hours, so I tried to keep within some fairly tight targets. 

In the first 8 hours, I tried to be strict about keeping my HR below 145 at all times and keeping my normalised power below 210w (67% FTP).  The route was quite hilly and it was tempting to push a bit harder on the climbs, but I kept reminding myself of the need to save energy.

In the middle 8 hours (overnight, from 21:30 to 05:30), fatigue started to build and I no longer had to hold myself back. When it became very wet and windy in the middle of the night, it was difficult to judge effort – everything felt like hard work.  I tried to ignore any thoughts or sensations and just ride to my target, knowing my body could cope.  I had factored in a drop in power of 0.5% per hour, so this meant aiming for 200w overnight.

Towards the end of the ride, and particularly on the bumpy finishing circuit, I stopped looking at power and focussed instead on just sustaining the highest effort I could without feeling too sick or wasted.  Eventually, I changed the computer display to just show total time and distance, focusing on racking up as many miles as possible while the clock ran down.  This felt much more motivating than watching my average power and speed constantly decline.

Did it hurt? What about your back and neck?

I had told myself beforehand that of course it was going to hurt, so it was no surprise when it did.  Because I felt so motivated, and because I had expected the discomfort, it didn’t really bother me when my neck and backside became sore.  The only thing that troubled me about sore muscles was that this might mean they would fail on me before the end. 

Happily, my back and neck held out nicely – I’m sure that is because of the amount of time I had spent training in the TT position wearing a heavy helmet.  Oddly, the only part of my body that really failed was the muscle raising my left eyelid. It simply became exhausted from constantly looking upwards until it was impossible to open my left eye properly. Thankfully, my right eyelid seemed to have better endurance, so I rode the last couple of hours with one eye open.

Didn’t you just want to stop and sleep?

I expected to feel strong urges to ease up or stop as the ride went on. Actually, these were never very strong, probably because I always felt my ride was going well.  I definitely felt the impact of being awake for a long time, but more in terms of slow and clumsy thinking rather than a strong urge to sleep.

Having a strong sense of support made a big difference, too. I felt this directly from my pit crew every time I passed them, but also from the many kind messages I’d had from club-mates, friends and family over recent days.

When did you realise you were in the lead?

I had no idea until 5 hours from the end when my wife shouted “you’re winning!” from the side of the road as I passed.  I couldn’t believe it so I guessed I had either mis-heard her or she was just speaking figuratively.  It was 40 minutes later, when I passed her again, that I could check what she meant. From that point on, I had an extra boost of motivation and tried my best to push as hard as possible, telling myself I must not throw away this opportunity by giving any less than 100% to the end.

How did you feel at the end?

I didn’t realise it at the time but my 13 year-old son, Will, decided to “interview” me at the finish and record the answers on his phone.  I’m pleased he did, because it would be easy for me now to underestimate how trashed I felt when I stopped:

How do you feel?  “Oh terrible, fucked, never felt this fucked in my entire life. I imagine this is how it feels to be in critical care.” 

If you could have one thing right now what would it be? “To feel decent, my feet not feeling so sore. I feel like they are in a flipping vice clamp.  That took years off my life, that did.“

What hour would you say was the hardest? “Probably the second last one.“

(a bit later) How do you feel now? “On a scale of one to bollocksed, bollocksed.“

So what’s next?

Firstly, a nice bit of chilling out, going on holiday to France and riding my bike without any performance goals. Next year, I plan to ride Paris-Brest-Paris, but very much for the experience rather than any particular target. Beyond that, we’ll see – I may do another 24-hr TT at some point, but it won’t be before 2024.

Massive thanks to:

The Mersey Roads Club volunteers for putting on another fantastic event

Alison, Cat, Will and Dad for supporting me all day/night/day

Toby at The Endurance Habit for all the coaching support

Phil and Alex at MV Fit for all the strength and conditioning training

Steven Harris and Rhona Pearce at Loughborough Uni for the nutrition and metabolic testing

My VC Venta clubmates and other friends and family for all their support and encouragement

Everyone who so generously donated to the Genies Wish charity, helping us beat our target and raise over £2,500 for people with terminal or life-limiting conditions.

N xxxxx

Only a couple of days before the big day! PLEASE have a look at my JustGiving page for the charity I am supporting. Genie’s Wish really deserves the donations, so they can improve the lives of people with terminal and live limiting illnesses. Thank you so much, Nick xxx

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fullgas

Mind Games

So the day’s nearly here and how do I feel? Anxious? Intimidated? Excited? A bit of everything?

Actually I’ve been pretty knackered, coughing my lungs up, and feeling ill. I probably caught a bug on the flight out to Portugal then got sick at the end of my final hard training block. The COVID lateral flows are negative, but perhaps it’s they’re false-negative. In any case, I’ve been off my bike for a few days and it’s hardly the final week I had hoped for. Thankfully it’s improving now with only 48 hours to go.

At least all the real training is in the bag. As I posted on Instagram before I got sick, I know I’ve done everything I can. Now it’s just about mind games and getting the job done.

Over those last 40 weeks of training, I’ve had plenty of time to think about the mental game, and I’ve learned a lot from others along the way.

The best opportunity was a 600km effort I did six weeks ago, on a hilly Audax ride round the Pennines and Lake District.

I used my road bike and it wasn’t a race, but riding non-stop and self-supported for 24 hours was perfect to learn more about how it feels to keep pedalling all day and all night. 

Here’s what I think I’ve learned:

1. Save Your Mind Bullets 

24 hours is much too long to sustain a hyped-up, dig-deep, go-get-it attitude.  If you’re well prepared and pace it sensibly, there’s nothing difficult until at least the halfway point.

So just follow the pre-ride routine, roll though the first few hours, watch your pace and keep eating and drinking.  It’ll get tough eventually, so save that mental energy until it’s really needed. 

2. Accept the Difficulty

Nobody can ride this long without discomfort – it’s part of the game. 

Along the way, you know you’ll have:

• difficult sensations: sore feet, legs, backside, shoulders, neck; heat and cold; nausea…
• difficult feelings: weariness, anxiety, doubt
• difficult thoughts: “I’m so tired…I can’t sustain this…I’m getting weaker…there’s so far to go…why the hell am I doing this…”
• difficult impulses: to sit up, ease off, miss a feed, extend a break, stop completely

Trying to crush or deny these difficulties isn’t sustainable. It might work for a while, but then the mental battle just becomes another source of stress.  

If you can, it’s far better to acknowledge and accept the difficulty, then move on regardless: “Ah, here’s a tough patch. Oh well, it’s not a surprise and it won’t last forever. Now, let’s try to focus on…”

3. Focus on Something Helpful

It’s best to have this pre-prepared. Positive thoughts don’t tend to come naturally when riding alone at 2 am!

Confidence:  “I know I can do this. I’ve done everything I can to prepare, my plans are tested, and there’s no way I’ll quit unless I have to.”

Opportunity: “Finally, here’s my reward for all the hard work in preparation. I’m lucky to be here: fit, healthy and with the choice do do this.”

Support: “My friends and family are on my side. They want  me to succeed and I want to do them proud. The other riders are on my side too, so let’s support each other and feed off the positivity.”

Physical: “Remember: smooth pedalling, steady pacing, nice aero position, relaxed shoulders, steady breathing…”

Bite-sized pieces: “…15 mins between feeds, 1 hr between laps, 2 hrs between pit stops… Almost done 1/4..1/3..1/2..2/3..3/4…”

4. Keep the Harsh Motivation in Reserve

Sometimes harsher, more aggressive motivation can work too.  Pressure, targets, the risk of failure, and competitive urges are all powerful forces and they can certainly help to dig deep.  

But they’re also mentally tiring and not sustainable for hours on end.  It’s best to use these thoughts sparingly, and only when really needed:

• “If I ease up now just because it hurts, all that training will have gone to waste.”

• “If I come up short because I didn’t commit 100%, I’ll regret my weakness tomorrow and forever after.”

• “If I let my friends and family down now by screwing this up, I’ll be ashamed to face them in the morning.”

• “Look at those others suffering – it doesn’t hurt me like it hurts them. Let’s show them what a real athlete looks like.”

• “Stop whingeing Nick. Just turn the pedals and do as you’re told. You’ll stop when I say you can stop.”

5. Remember Your Why

I find this the most powerful of all. As I wrote in part 2, I’ll just try to keep coming back to what I said at the start:

“Because this is who I am, someone who takes on challenges and sees them through.”

Next time: Did I make it to the start line? And how did it go???!!!

Only a week to to go before the big day! PLEASE have a look at my JustGiving page for the charity I am supporting. Genie’s Wish really deserves the donations, so they can improve the lives of people with terminal and live limiting illnesses. Thank you so much, Nick xxx

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fullgas

Fuel the Machine

Riding for 24 hours is as much an eating competition as a bike race. When a machine runs out of fuel, it stops.

The challenge is to be able to put out an effort, while still taking in carbs and burning fat, without emptying the body’s energy stores.  This is a tricky balance to strike and I’m lucky to have been helped with some testing at Loughborough Uni.

First, it’s important to understand the way muscles use both fat and carbohydrate for fuel.

Fat 

Even in a lean person, fat stores are effectively limitless in a 24-hour event.  Just 7kg of body fat contains 63,000 kCal : enough to ride more than 1,500 miles without eating. 

Sadly, fat has two major limitations. 

First, fat stores can only be burned quite slowly. In me, this peaks at about 48g/hr.  This releases 430 kCal, enough to produce about 125w of power on the bike (the body is about 25% efficient at converting food energy into mechanical work).

Second, fat-burning drops off when exercise gets more than moderately hard. My fat-burning peaks when I’m riding at about 215w (70% of threshold power). By the time I reach threshold, fat-burning is effectively zero.

Carbohydrate 

In contrast, carbs burn faster, but also have much smaller stores.  In my test at Loughborough, I could burn about 265g carbs per hour at threshold, enough to produce about 310w on the bike.

The problem is that using carbs at this rate will burn through the body’s stores very quickly. The 500g of glycogen stored in the liver and muscles contains only 2,000 kCal – enough to ride about 50-60 miles.

Fortunately, consuming carbs during exercise can make the stores last longer. Typically, we can absorb up to 90g/hr of carbs, but only when the conditions are perfect: low-to-moderate exercise intensity, the right combination of foods*, adequate hydration, and little fat or protein in the diet.

*The composition of carbs ingested is also important. Glucose and fructose are absorbed from the gut through different transporters at a ratio of 2:1.  To make the most of both routes, food should ideally contain 2g glucose (or glucose polymers such as starch or maltodextrin) per 1g fructose.

So what does this mean in practice?  For a short event like a 10 or 25 mile time trial, it hardly matters.  The intensity is so high that fat-burning is near-zero while the duration is short enough that glycogen stores will last the distance, even without consuming anything.

But for a 24-hour ride the opposite is true. Carb stores alone can only fuel 50 miles of riding, so carb intake and fat burning are crucial.  For me, riding at around 200w, fat burning can supply about half the energy I need, but I still need to make sure I’m keeping the carb stores topped up. If I don’t eat enough, or if my gut slows down, it won’t be long before the reserves run out and the man with the big hammer comes along.

Putting it Together 

So after a lot of trial and error, and applying the results from Loughborough, here’s my tested plan:

Pace

• ride a steady 190-205w Normalised Power (65%FTP) 
• keep the effort easy at all times (HR always <145)
• avoid power surges (power always <275w)

Carb Load

• for 2 days before the event, eat 8g/kg carbs per day, with low-fat, low-fibre foods (eg rice & pasta), generous salt, and plenty of water
• on the morning of the event, eat breakfast 3-4 hours before the start, with 120-150g carbs, some protein and just a little fat (eg rice and 2 poached eggs)

Food during event

• eat or drink some carbs every 15 mins
• consume 90g/hr carbs if possible, 60g/hr minimum
• take a combination of energy drink, sports bars and savoury snacks to give a 2:1 ratio of glucose:fructose
• minimise fat and protein intake while riding

Water during event

• consume enough water (about 500ml/hr) to need a decent pee once per 2 hrs 

Sodium during event

• consume 500-750mg/hr sodium per hour (eg 2xHigh5 electrolyte tabs in drink + 1x salty snack)
• If drinking more than 500ml/hr, take extra sodium (approx 1000mg per extra litre drunk)

Will it work? I suppose we’ll find out next weekend!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fullgas

So I’ve entered the UK National 24-hour Time Trial Champs in July 2022 – riding as far as I can on open roads in a 24 hour period – oh dear…

As a 44 year old dad working full-time as an ICU doctor, I’m not going to win – but I still want to ride a performance to be proud of. More than that, I want the whole process to feel enriching, with learning and adventures along the way.  

Over these six months, I’m finding out more about everything needed to perform in an ultra-distance bike race. By sharing what I learn, I hope to discover more about the sport, myself, and the ingredients of success…or failure.

Preparing for this 24-hour TT needs a lot of time in the saddle. Not using this time to experiment, learn, and refine plans for race day would be a huge, missed opportunity.

Experiments on a single person are never going to add anything to the world of sports science – but they’re still vital to figure out how to apply science to the individual. The fundamentals don’t change, but we all have subtly different minds and bodies with subtly different needs.  

Some differences, such as aerobic fitness, are pretty obvious. Riding at 200w will feel easy for some, hard for others, and near-impossible for others.  A simple fitness test (say, riding 20 mins as hard as possible) or looking back at race data can put a figure on this.

But some differences are much harder to measure. How many grams of carbohydrate per hour can you digest?  What percentage of your maximum power can you sustain for 12 hours without collapsing?

To answer these harder questions, we need a methodical approach. Without this careful planning and measurement, it’s far too easy to draw the wrong conclusions:

Were you faster today because you produced more power…. or was the course/weather/traffic more favourable?

Did you feel stronger today because you fuelled better… or because you were fresher/better-paced/more motivated?

For reliable answers, we need to standardise as many factors as possible, while adjusting the one thing we want to study. We then need a structured way to record and compare the results.

When planning my training with Toby last autumn, we realised a key question for me was:

“What combination of food and drink will give me the highest, sustainable intake of carbohydrate per hour?”

Experience during my four previous rides of 12 hours or more suggested this is a key limiter to my performance.  On each of these rides, I reached a point where nausea and fullness limited how much I could eat and drink. Unsurprisingly, I then found myself getting weak, spaced-out, and slow.

To tackle this, we started by looking at my training and racing logs, including power data and my notes on what I had eaten each time.

I then learned more about the physiology of endurance metabolism, including the way sugars are absorbed from the gut, and the limits of the body’s fuel stores.  I also read evidence and opinions on how best to fuel long efforts, and what were thought to be decent rules-of-thumb.

After learning about the important role of fat as fuel, and how this varies between individuals, I got in touch with physiologists at Loughborough University to find out more.  They tested me at various power levels on my TT bike while measuring the gas I breathed to calculate how much fat and carbs I was burning at each power level.

But most importantly, I tested the theory and refined my plans.

Toby and I included a series of nutrition tests during each of my weekly 4-hour endurance rides over the winter and spring. Each time, I tried to standardise my power and my pre-ride food, while tweaking one thing at a time for my on-bike nutrition. We were then able to look through my notes and power data to see what worked and what didn’t.

I now have come up with a plan that seems to work for me – at least over shorter durations. But this 24-hour is a LOT longer than those 4-hour training rides. 

So this spring I’m testing it out over longer and longer rides.  After a 200km/8 hour Audax ride in March, I added in some more savoury options (energy drink gets a bit sickly after a while!), then returned to Loughborough in April for a combined 6 hour ride and repeat lab test (full geeky data to follow!)

My final long test of fuelling and pacing will be this Saturday, on a 400km/16 hour Audax ride in East Anglia. Sadly this means skipping the tea-room and chip shop opportunities, as I’ll carry all my food and drink mixes in my jersey and an enormous saddle bag.

The roads are too bumpy for a TT setup, so I’ll be taking my road bike, but I’ll otherwise try to match my plans for race day.  To keep the experiment as realistic as possible, I will follow the first 16 hours of my power targets and fuelling plans for the 24.  I can then make any final tweaks based on my experiences (good or bad!).

So… let’s see how it goes!  Along with the fuelling, I’ll also be testing out a GPS tracker link, which should be live from the start (09:00 GMT+1 on Sat 7^th).  Let me know if it works, and I’ll report back via Strava at the end…

Live Tracker: https://www.wahooligan.com/users/live/BEJkGOtfhXblBCDWU5rxfg

Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/109563

If only all winter mornings could be like this one!

So I’ve entered the UK National 24-hour Time Trial Champs in July 2022 – riding as far as I can on open roads in a 24 hour period – oh dear…
As a 44 year old dad working full-time as an ICU doctor, I’m not going to win – but I still want to ride a performance to be proud of. More than that, I want the whole process to feel enriching, with learning and adventures along the way.  
Over six months, I’ll be finding out more about everything needed to perform in an ultra-distance bike race. By sharing what I learn, I hope to discover more about the sport, myself, and the ingredients of success…or failure.

It’s one thing having a goal for a 24-hr TT, but how am I going to get there?  It’s time to break down the demands of the event and figure out what’s needed…

Like any big challenge, it feels overwhelming to consider, all at once, all of the training and preparation needed.  Instead, I am a firm believer in breaking it down into separate areas, to appreciate what matters most and focus effort in the right places. As the cyclist and engineer Dan Bigham recommends in his excellent book, Start at the End,⁽¹⁾ we can begin by getting back to first principles.

Fundamentally, a 24-hr TT is a long, solo, ride against the clock on open roads. Results are given by mileage and the winner is the person with the highest average speed on the day. 

Speed on a TT bike comes from Power (pushing the bike forward) divided by Resistance (slowing the bike down). In a 24-hr event, the clock keeps running regardless, so the final distance will also depend on the amount of time actually spent riding.  The basic formula for a 24-hr, then is:

We can then look at each of Power, Drag and Time in turn to figure out what governs them.  The simplest of these is Time, which comes from the total time allowed minus any pit-stops (for food, drink, clothing, toilet, lights etc) and mechanical problems (punctures or otherwise). The formula starts to expand:

Turning now to Power, this is a result of all the factors leading to the body’s physical performance : the amount of power that can be sustained on the day. For an ultra-distance event, these are Aerobic Fitness, Pacing, Hydration, and Energy Supply.  So Potential Power can be shown as:

But there’s always a difference between our potential and what we can actually deliver on the day.  This is regulated by the mind, which tries to protect our body from excessive and damaging efforts.  It does this by governing our power output to what it believes to be safely sustainable – the concept of the “Central Governor”.⁽²⁾ 

But far from being a fixed restrictor of power output, the Central Governor is flexible and depends on our circumstances. Some factors will open up it up (eg. motivation, confidence and stimulation), while others will close it down (mental fatigue, worries and external stresses).

We can also break down the Resistance side of the equation. Cyclists are typically obsessed with weight, but on a flat or rolling course, wind resistance is actually the biggest factor.  

This analysis of my own data (from a 12-hr TT on the same course as this summer’s 24), shows 57% of my energy went into pushing me through the air.  Another 23% went into the resistance of my chain, gears, and tyres on the road, while only 20% was used to climb hills.

From these fundamentals, we can continue to work backwards, eventually finding the specifics that need to be developed.  

Taking Air Resistance as an example, this involves both Equipment Drag and Rider Drag.  Rider Drag depends on having an optimised riding position and then being able to sustain it… and a sustained position needs whole-body strength and resilience in the neck muscles.  These, then, are the things that I need to work on.

Expanding the diagram out to show everything I want to address, it starts to look a bit complex, but there’s also find something reassuring about seeing it all fit together.  

It is also good to recognise that, with 22 weeks to go, I am not starting from scratch in any of these areas.  Instead, I plan to use this blog to help me focus on each key area in turn, to work out what more I can do to give myself the best chance on the day. 

Next time, I’ll start by looking at how to develop the engine: aerobic fitness…

References:

1. Bigham D. Start at the End: How Reverse-Engineering Can Lead to Success. Wellbeck Publishing Group 2021
2. Weir JP, Beck TW, Cramer JT, et al Is fatigue all in your head? A critical review of the central governor model. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2006;40:573-586.

So I’ve entered the UK National 24-hour Time Trial Champs in July 2022 – riding as far as I can on open roads in a 24 hour period – oh dear…

As a 44 year old dad working full-time as an ICU doctor, I’m not going to win – but I still want to ride a performance to be proud of. More than that, I want the whole process to feel enriching, with learning and adventures along the way.  

Over six months, I’ll be finding out more about everything needed to perform in an ultra-distance bike race. By sharing what I learn, I hope to discover more about the sport, myself, and the ingredients of success…or failure.

So the motivation’s there, and I think know my reason “why”, but what’s my goal in this 24 hour TT?   A finishing position, a total mileage, or just to do my best on the day? 

Prof Steve Peters, the psychology brains behind the British Cycling successes of 2012, advocates just one simple goal of “do your best”.  He argues you can’t do better than this, so you win every time.⁽¹⁾ 

His advice fits nicely with the idea of intrinsic motivation but I find it too vague. Of course I’ll try my hardest on the day, but what would “doing my best” actually mean in terms of training and preparation? When I finish my ride, I want to know I have achieved something more tangible than this.

The most tangible goals would be to target a distance or finishing position.  My club’s 24-hour record has stood at 426 miles since 1988, while my best result in a National Champs TT was 9th place (in last year’s 12-hour). 

Both of these are exciting targets to beat, but they are also problematic. They encourage a very extrinsic form of motivation (recognition for a club record or top-ten finish), and they depend greatly on factors outside my control. I could prepare and race perfectly but still fall short because of the weather, punctures, or the performance of other riders on the day. 

Perhaps the right balance is to set tangible goals, but base them on aspects of the process I can control, rather than targeting the final outcome.  If I can set and achieve the right process goals, then I should feel satisfied with whatever result I achieve. 

A lot has been written about goal-setting, in sport and in the world of work. The concept of SMART Goals, introduced introduced to business in the 1980s, describes good goals as Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-Based.⁽²⁾

More recently, Scott Geller, a US behavioural psychologist, suggested four key questions to identify a useful process goal:⁽³⁾ 

• Can I do it?  (am I capable of following the process?)
• Will it work?  (will the process lead me to the outcome I want?)
• Is it worth it?  (is it worth the time and effort?)
• Do I have a choice?  (am I doing this for me or for someone else?)

I find Dr Geller’s questions an excellent summary of everything else I have learned so far.  If I can answer “Yes” to each of these questions, I should have found an effective process goal that is both intrinsically motivated and compatible with my own personal “why?”

So, after looking at past performances and considering what I want from this TT, I have written my goal. Above all, I want to finish the event with a sense of satisfaction that I have ridden a proper, solid 24-hour TT by turning up fit then riding the best I can on the day.  

To be more specific, I have added sone process goals that I believe are within my control. I have then listed outcomes I hope to achieve, both for physical performance (dependent on how my body behaves on the day) and overall mileage (dependent on weather and conditions). I hope these will give some extra motivation to train and prepare as well as I possibly can.

My Goal: Ride a solid 24-hr time trial 

Solid = satisfied I did everything within my control then gave my best effort on the day, leaving me comfortable with my result, regardless of performance relative to others. 

Process

• turn up fit, strong and well-prepared
• ride within my tested pacing plan
• keep pedalling for 58 mins per hr (moving time at least 23hrs 12 mins overall)

Performance (depends on my body)

• stay in my aero position throughout
• ride an average of 180w Normalised Power* including stops

Outcome (depends on external factors)

• Good: Beat 1988 VC Venta club record 426 miles (17.75mph)
• Great: Ride 450 miles (18.75mph = 83% of 12-hr speed**)
• Amazing: 480 miles (20mph, would be 0.05mph faster than local hero Andy Rivett in 2021, so unlikely to be achievable)

*Equals the power I managed in on an 18-hr solo Lands End – Portsmouth ride in 2020 (although totally exhausted at the end).  Equals 82% of my 12-hr NP in 2020 & 2021 (219 & 220w).

**In 2020, on the same roads as this 24-hr, I rode 272 miles at 22.7mph with 219w.

References

1. Peters, P. S. (2012). The chimp paradox. Vermilion
2. Doran, G. T. (1981). “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives”. Management Review. 70(11): 35–36.
3. Scott Geller (2013) The psychology of self-motivation. TEDxVirginiaTech

So I’ve entered the UK National 24-hour Time Trial Champs in July 2022 – riding as far as I can on open roads in a 24 hour period – oh dear…
As a 44 year old dad working full-time as an ICU doctor, I’m not going to win – but I still want to ride a performance to be proud of. More than that, I want the whole process to feel enriching, with learning and adventures along the way.  
Over the next six months, I’ll be finding out more about everything needed to perform in an ultra-distance bike race. By sharing what I learn, I hope to discover more about the sport, myself, and the ingredients of success…or failure.

Find your reason why

Last week I wrote about finding the right sort of motivation for a big challenge like a 24 hour TT. I’ve enjoyed lots of interesting feedback but when Cat, my 14-year old daughter, read it, she just asked, “Why?”  A simple question, but with no easy answer.

Thinking more, I’ve appreciated how important it is to have a rock-solid answer to this question.  As the professional ultra-endurance performance manager, Laura Penhaul, says, “the “why” is so important behind any big endeavour. The person doing it has to know their “why”, their purpose. Otherwise, when it gets difficult, they’ve not got something to draw on.”

Back when my obsession was mountaineering, we had a simple, if clichéd answer: “Because it’s there.”  But I doubt George Mallory’s famous quote will work so well at 3AM on a nondescript A-road in Shropshire. “Because the A41 from Whitchurch to Prees Heath is there” doesn’t quite conjure the same emotions.

So, taking Penhaul’s advice, I have tried to find my own “why”. This is really a philosophical question: Why should any animal do something that doesn’t help its species survive and reproduce?

I believe we need to give our own lives more meaning than this, by living as fully as we can. For me, this means trying to make the most of all my roles in life – as a husband, father, doctor… and as an athlete.  

Whatever the reason, taking on challenges and having adventures has always been part of my identity – something that makes me feel excited and alive. I get a kick out of trying to do something that feels extraordinary.  I suppose this is how I’ve found myself climbing north faces in the Alps, competing in an Ironman and riding 50, 100-mile, and 12-hour TTs.  

So this must be my personal “why”.  When things are going well, I won’t need to think about it – but when the training’s a grind or when the racing hurts, I can tell myself: 

“Because this is who I am – someone who takes on challenges and sees them through”

Speaking of which, it’s time to stop navel-gazing, get outside and train now!  After working the weekend on ICU, this morning I have a nice, steady 4-hour loop along the South Downs to enjoy.  It should feel good to give the mind a rest and just let the legs settle in to a steady rhythm, building up those base miles…