Many years ago I was a competitive cyclist; I road criteriums and an occasional road race. These days the best I manage to do is compete against the clock, specifically the alarm clock when it rings at 7:30a and I'm supposed to get on my bike for my MWF ride. When the clock wins I dutifully ride the lakeshore from Rogers Park to Fullerton and back. I grew up in hilly suburban Philadelphia, but here in the midwest there is only one true enemy for the cyclist, the wind. For some reason near the lake in Chicago the wind is usually either from the north or south. Thus, my little morning ride is almost always impacted…ride into the wind first…or get to ride into it on the way back…I’d always choose that tail wind home. I have to confess if Weatherbug says the wind is more than 20 mph from the north I hit the snooze bar.
One thing I’ve noticed is how much my performance on the ride back home can be affected by what the flag at Fullerton tells me. If my cycle-computer says I was hauling on the way down and it turns out I was riding into more wind then I expected…watch out…I’m going to give it all I have on the way back…sprinting the last mile to set a new personal best. But if I was pushing the same gears on the way down, thinking I was riding into a major south wind (thanks to pre-ride Weatherbug data) and find old glory stagnant when I arrive…I groan…all that work for nothing…and no extra help on the way home…a drudgery.
In “A Little Deception Helps Push Athletes to the Limit” in The New York Times Gina Kolata describes a series of experiments conducted by researchers trying to understand how the body and brain interact to produce ultimate performance. Kolata describes experiments from the Thompson and Corbett labs that pit cyclists against avatar racers. First they systematically measure the cyclist’s “best effort performance” on multiple occasions. Then the cyclist enters into a virtual reality race between themselves and another rider. They are told that the one rider represents them, exactly as they are currently performing, while the other rider is pacing at their best prior performance…but not exactly. The researcher has actually deceived them and their “best prior performance” avatar is actually riding 2% faster than they ever had before. More often than not the rider catches and even passes their avatar, achieving what they have never done before. Where does this extra ability come from? Interestingly monetary incentives don’t produce the same effect and if the rider is told that their avatar is going 2% faster than they ever have they can’t match the pace either. Likewise, if their deceptive avatar goes 5% faster they can’t keep up and actually do worse in the long run. Thus, it seems that riders know about what they are capable of but there is a bit of reserve energy saved for the fight…as long as the fight isn’t too far out of range.
None of this is a particular surprise as I stand and look at that limp flag. The mind is a powerful force, as Kolata quotes the great runner Roger Bannister, “It is the brain, not the heart or lungs that is the critical organ. It’s the brain.”
