FACE DOWN YOUR FEARS

Being aware of risk is vital in keeping us safe, whereas being irrationally scared actually makes us more liable to crash. Sports psychologist Dr Josephine Perry explains how to put cycling fears back in their box

- Josephine Perry

Cycling is pitched as a cheap way to commute, an efficient amble into nature, an excellent path to fitness and an exhilarating way to get your competitive juices flowing. The adverts show intense or smiley faces, loving the freedom cycling gives, sucking up the effort. But what we rarely see depicted or hear spoken about is the fear. It is there, lurking in the background – and none of us is immune. Pros and amateurs alike are all, at some point in their riding lives, seized by the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response. Once we are honest with ourselves about our fears, we become more open to learning how to override them. This feature aims to do just that, tackling the six most common fear-inducing situations.

AFRAID OF FAST DESCENTS

Causes of this fear: Our brain is designed to look out for threat. It has a special part called the amygdala (you might have heard it referred to as your inner chimp), which keeps us alert and jumps into action whenever we are in a risky situation.

Descending fast downhill is one of those situations – no surprise that our chimp starts gnashing its teeth. The amygdala sets off a chain reaction, flooding the body with cortisol and adrenaline, making us hyper-alert. The problem is that that alertness makes our focus extremely narrow, so we only see a little of what is ahead. It can block out a lot of our peripheral vision and tighten our muscles – not great when staying relaxed and finding a rhythm is so key to being safe and fast.