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Ahh, July, when a cyclist’s thoughts turn to Northern France for the start of Le Tour. Shots of fields of sunflowers…Phil and Paul on TV at ungodly hours of the US morning ramping up the excitement for the finale. “Pedals turned in anger”…The Tour de France is upon us once again.

Computer screens in offices all over North America are avoiding work with one TDF streaming package or another. All seems right with the world.

That’s what’s in our minds as we watch…but what’s in the rider’s mind? (The effective rider at least!)?

Carrie Cheadle knows. She’s a Sport Psychology consultant in the Bay Area, and she works with lots of endurance athletes, adding mental skills to their toolbox.  She is to mental training for endurance athletes what @dwuori is to cycling comedy…that is, a top flight pro.

We discuss the different mental challenges of different kinds of stages, Flat stages in the first week; (where the challenge is focus, concentration, and attention), the high mountains (where confidence, the psychology of suffering, and imagery come into play), and the time trial stages; (again, suffering, pacing, pushing yourself, and goal setting are the skills).

Carrie is sponsoring Neil Browne’s (@neilroad) Online ‘Roadside’ Chats during the Tour (Athlete’s Audio is too…stage 12!) , and has more information about the skills mentioned in our Athlete’s Audio Academy interview on her youtube channel. Check her out at CarrieCheadle.com and follow @FeedTheAthlete on twitter.  I was lucky enough to interview her last year at the Association of Applied Sport Psychology conference on the topic of race-day fears.

Click & check out Carrie’s deeper dive on mental skills specific to cycling.

Carrie Cheadle lives in Petaluma, just north of San Francisco, California and has been consulting with teams, organizations, and individual athletes since 2002.

She has written a number of articles for many organizations including Nimble Training and Team Swift. She has been interviewed as an expert resource for articles that have appeared in VeloNews, Outside Magazine, Bicycling Magazine, Sporting Kid, Snowboard Canada, Men’s Fitness, as well as various local media outlets. She has been on the “Form & Fitness” expert panel for Cyclingnews.com since 2007.

Carrie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and Sonoma State University and her Master of Arts degree in sport psychology at John. F. Kennedy University. Her professional affiliations include membership with AASP (Association for Applied Sport Psychology) since 2002, becoming an AASP certified consultant in 2007. She is also a member of IDEA Health & Fitness Association and a member of APA (American Psychological Association) Division 47, Exercise and Sport Psychology. Carrie is also adjunct faculty for both Dominican University of California and John F. Kennedy University teaching undergraduate and graduate level sport psychology classes