Then he was mine for forty-five minutes or so, way past my initially allotted ten minutes. Thankfully, it turns out Ian loved to talk about his mental game. I think everyone can learn something from what Canada’s most successful rider had to say about the psychology of his ride.

If you are like many riders, there are times when you wish you could relax on command. Of course, it’s very difficult to will yourself into a pleasant lull when you most need to. Fortunately, you can learn how to truly relax your body so you can “push the relax button” in times of stress. It just takes a little work.

There is a saying that best sums up getting ready for the competitive arena, “if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. Preparation doesn’t just mean training your skills. Yes, you have to replicate what you learned to do at home, but there is more. A performance situation places different demands on the rider.

Riding is a relationship-based sport. You have a teammate who must somehow be made aware of your goals and develop a willingness to follow you. For beginners this is a given. For the rest of us, there is simply no excuse for not becoming well versed in the art of connection.