Mentality of testing - testing your mentality

V02 Max testing has been used for years, by all kinds of athletes, for all kinds of reasons…but what is really being tested?

Sure you come out of it with a bunch of numbers and a good indication of the kind of shape you are in for riding your bike…but for a cyclist, or for me anyway, there is a little more in it than that.

(150 Watts) you are testing yourself…on a lot of levels…your physiology is only a small part of it…your psychological strength is pushed, a lot more, a lot further…harder…this seems harder than it should be.

(200 Watts) it’s your ability to focus…un-focus…control…control your breathing…your breathing moving the valves of the alien apparatus that is perched on the top of your head…like one of those old hard shell Bell helmets (you know the ones with the flip up logo for added ventilation)…valves open, close…vents, chambers…your heart…wow!! your heart rate is low but you are breathing heavy….

(250 Watts) maybe you just need to relax…relax…I feel tight…just relax and breath… this isn’t so bad I guess…it’s sort of like racing only without the fun…racing is fun, especially when you can really move…move…move your legs…keep it moving.

(300Watts) It’s not like you’re moving…but you are pushing…it has the same kind of rhythm as the first few anxious minutes of a break…anxious minutes left…anxiety…my heart rate is coming up…this is getting a little tough…tough…you gotta be tough…it is only going to get worse…worse or….

(350 Watts) better…it’s a journey that makes you better…stronger…I feel stronger…stronger than last time…stronger than ever…this is taking forever…but you keep going…keep pushing and racing…to beat yourself…your toughest competition…

(400 Watts) It’s a test that pushes you to the pinnacle of your strength…it is a test because it tests you…what are you capable of…what are other people capable of…it’s like a race…and now its go time…it’s getting tough…winding up…up the tempo …

(450 Watts) this is the tempo…hard…hard to hold…hard to push…hard to pass…pass out…out cold…maybe I would rather be out in the numb cold…my hands are cold, numb like pins and needles…

(500 Watts) the cold…I start to feel like an anti-cold…hard to catch but everyone’s trying…this is it, this is for the racing…you get through this, you win the race…against your opponents…against yourself…this is the best part…the pain…the pain everyone else must be feeling…feeling only in the legs…none in the hands…it’s out of my hands…it’s all the head now…

(550) The head is hot and cold…harder…it’s harder…I am slowing down…I need to go faster…faster…faster… … … …this made me faster…more pain in the bank…to be saved up and redistributed to competitors later in the friendly exchange of gifts called a bike race.
-by Zach Bell