Cycling

The sound of asphalt and the constancy of the pedal stroke

Road cycling is by far one of the activities that has most shaped my capacity for mental endurance and perseverance. On a carbon bike there is no engine and no tricks: speed and the distance covered depend exclusively on the energy you are able to generate and sustain for hours.

I started cycling as a fitness complement, but I quickly found myself captivated by the epic of gran fondo routes and the climbing of mountain passes.

The battle against the gradient: Climbing passes

There are few sensations comparable to summiting a first-category pass after an hour of uninterrupted ascent:

• Managing fatigue: Learning to live with the burning in your quadriceps, pacing your heart rate so as not to go into oxygen debt prematurely and keeping a fluid cadence even when the gradient exceeds 10% or 12%.
• The solitude of effort: On the hardest ramps the world shrinks to your front wheel, the asphalt rising ahead and the mental countdown of the kilometres remaining. You develop an internal dialogue of self-motivation and serenity that proves transformative for facing any complex challenge in life.
• The reward of the descent: After the suffering of the climb comes the payoff of the descent: carving corners at over 60 km/h, braking firmly before the apex and feeling the acceleration as you exit towards the next straight.

Applied technology: Watts, cadence and telemetry

As someone passionate about data, contemporary cycling is especially appealing to me for the quantity and quality of metrics it allows you to analyse:

1. Power meter (watts): Training by power zones (FTP - Functional Threshold Power), objectively measuring energy expenditure without the distortion of wind or perceived fatigue.
2. Heart rate and variability (HRV): Monitoring muscle recovery and autonomic nervous system stress to avoid overtraining.
3. Route planning and aerodynamics: Analysing elevation profiles, drag coefficients and nutrition and hydration strategies for long rides of more than four or five hours.

A pillar for the mind

Dedicating entire mornings to the bike gives me a mental clarity that is hard to achieve any other way. Rhythmic pedalling acts as a meditation in motion where complex technological architecture problems find clean, intuitive solutions while you devour kilometres on the road.