"If you beat me, it's because at some level I decided to let you.You hear that, Tadej?"

Protecting your ego is as easy as pretending you didn’t try

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In common with most riders who've ever trained with any purpose, I've always kept track of a couple of subjective scores along with the more objective training data. These have always been a simple "How did you feel?" and "How hard did the effort feel?" They are scored from 0-10, 10 being "best" or "hardest".

As a coach, I've always set some store by these numbers. They're a godsend if you want to spot overtraining early rather than just wait for the client to drop dead.

I have, however, a confession.

Anyone who might have tried to use the numbers I've carefully recorded for well over 20 years as a coaching aid would have a problem. Under, "How did you feel?" I have never recorded a number other than seven. Sometimes I go for seven immediately. Sometimes I think about it. But it's always seven in the end. An eight, if it ever happens, will be a wild rush that I'd like to experience.

But I have the nagging feeling I'll be writing down a six first.