{"id":8145,"date":"2025-05-28T14:31:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T12:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=8145"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:43:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:43:38","slug":"ultra-cycling-adventures-the-psychology-of-going-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/05\/28\/ultra-cycling-adventures-the-psychology-of-going-long\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultra Cycling Adventures \u2013 The Psychology of Going Long"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>How can you get fit enough to ride a 1,000 km race? The thing is, fitness is not usually the main concern with ultra cycling events. With these crazy distances, it\u2019s much more about being able to handle discomfort, negative self-talk, extreme fatigue, and the unexpected. In other words, it\u2019s a mental challenge, and the psychology of going for so long is fascinating.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Sleep-deprived, saddle-sore, and somewhere between hallucination and exhaustion, ultra-distance cyclists push far beyond normal physical limits. In races that stretch for a thousand kilometres, they are battling a different enemy. Their true challenger is the mind. The loud inner voice citing the endless number of reasons to slow down or quit is bad enough during regular, single-day races that I\u2019ve experienced. It\u2019s hard for me to imagine how they cope in these ultra-cycling scenarios that I\u2019ve never done myself.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe you have to be there and experience it to find your way to deal with it. That\u2019s why I will let the seasoned veterans speak for me in this article. Some of their strategies may seem obvious, some are quite surprising and are making me want to try it for myself.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The highs and the lows will pass<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThere are lots of highs and lows, and the lows are a challenge. But because I\u2019ve done so many races, I know that the hard moments won\u2019t last forever. I\u2019ll accept that the next hour or so will be rough, but that it will pass. I check in with myself; ultimately, if I\u2019m giving it my all, then that\u2019s all I can do, and it\u2019s important to remind yourself of that. Sometimes I\u2019ll listen to music or an audiobook, eat a snack\u2014little things to uplift my mood and make the best of it. I work hard to avoid negativity, as that doesn\u2019t help anything. Once you get through those dark hours, there\u2019s always something beautiful that comes up, and I\u2019m quickly reminded how lucky I am to have these experiences.\u201d &#8211; Lael Wilcox (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/zqB4XYtHdbg?si=Grxb4ObjzMziNgZL\">@laelwilcox<\/a>).<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It\u2019s like having a newborn baby<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cMost things that go wrong can be sorted out by just keeping on pedalling. It is a bit like having a newborn baby. There&#8217;s only ever a couple of things that could be wrong: Am I hungry? Am I tired? Am I thirsty? Do I need to go to the toilet? I quickly figured out there are certain times of day that I do better. I can ride all night and morning and feel great. Come late afternoon, my pace slows, and I start to hurt. Because I am aware of the time of day when I feel like this, I can be more gentle on myself or more stern, but I just keep pedalling and finding ways to get through it.\u201d &#8211; Emily Chappell (@emilyofchappell) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/health\/training-performance\/ultra-racing-crazies\/\">for Outside Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Playing games with yourself<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cAt night, if you see a blinking light, your mind goes from sleepy to chase mode. Something switches, and you\u2019re like, \u2018let\u2019s do it.\u2019 You have to play games with yourself to keep yourself motivated. You can get into this bikepacking mode and then you start relaxing, taking more breaks and everything.\u201d &#8211; Sherry Cardona (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/4T667o3GyJg?si=7eovr-9WxJDu-4IY\">@sherry.cycling<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Hallucinations<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Hallucinations are nothing rare if an ultra-race lasts longer than two nights. Here is what Lachlan Morton described after Badlands, a 720 km gravel race through the desert lands of southern Spain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe second night, that\u2019s when it starts to get really loopy. You start to think, who\u2019s left a suitcase in such a strange place? I could hear music. I was looking around, looking for this small town where they were playing music. I started to get worried. I had this sensation. It was a very clear night and I could see all of the stars, but the stars were a roof just above my head. Time started to pass in a really slow way. Five minutes felt like 45 minutes. It felt like I was stuck for a really long period.\u201d &#8211; Lachlan Morton (@lachlanmorton) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/sport\/cycling\/article\/hallucinations-and-seven-minutes-of-sleep-the-mad-world-of-ultra-racing-zt072wvzn\">for The Sunday Times.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The fear of failure<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWhen I\u2019m injured, when everything is going wrong, don\u2019t give me a Mohammed Ali quote. Don\u2019t tell me to be happy, don\u2019t tell me to be positive. You know, I\u2019m scared. The fear of failure is far, far greater than the inspiration of success. But it doesn\u2019t make you positive, inspired, happy. And I think it\u2019s so important to call it what it is, and to stop telling people to high-five, be happy and be more positive in high-pressure situations. That\u2019s not helpful.\u201d &#8211; Mark Beaumont (@mrmarkbeaumont) for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crisiswhatcrisis.com\/podcasts\/mark-beaumont-on-breaking-records-cheating-death-and-pedalling-with-purpose\">Crisis What Crisis podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>One hour at a time<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI take it an hour at a time, enjoy the scenery, pay attention to my body, stay busy with taking care of myself, finding food and water, a place to sleep. You can\u2019t think about the long term or you\u2019ll never finish. There will be bad days when you suffer and you\u2019re not riding well. I just keep moving and don\u2019t let those low times stop me. You will experience the full spectrum of emotions throughout the race, and your mood can change from one minute to the next.\u201d &#8211; Steffen Streich (@steffen_streich) for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/health\/training-performance\/ultra-racing-crazies\/\">Outside Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can you get fit enough to ride a 1,000 km race? The thing is, fitness is not usually the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":6018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-8145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ultra Cycling Adventures \u2013 The Psychology of Going Long - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/05\/28\/ultra-cycling-adventures-the-psychology-of-going-long\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ultra Cycling Adventures \u2013 The Psychology of Going Long\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How can you get fit enough to ride a 1,000 km race? 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