It has long been recognised that mental fitness in an athlete is just as important as physical fitness but, until comparatively recently, there was no formal strategy to help athletes in this area. We reprint the following article for readers' consideration. Canadian Sport for Life is excited to add "Mental Fitness for Long-Term Athlete Development" to its growing list of pan-sport resources. The document, written by a team of experts led by Karen MacNeill, Ph.D., explains that mental fitness is just as necessary for success in sport as physical fitness or technical comprehension. The messages and activities highlighted in the article align with Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) and address how athletes, coaches, and parents can aid the mental development of athletes at each stage of LTAD.

Success in sport requires athletes to push their physical limits of endurance, power, speed, and strength. Athletes must be technically sound and tactically aware in order to achieve best results. As determined in "Mental Fitness for Long-Term Athlete Development", so too must these athletes train and push themselves in the areas of focus, composure, and determination. The article states that 40 to 90 percent of success in high-performance sports is accounted for by mental factors, and that these mental factors must be trained and tested throughout an athlete’s career.

The resource outlines expected outcomes of mental training, which has many facets: stress management, self-talk, goal-setting, and focusing distraction control among others. "Mental Fitness for Long-Term Athlete Development" frames the various mental fitness activities athletes should practice for each LTAD stage, clearly stating whether the activity targets the pre-performance, performance, or post-performance phase."Mental Fitness for Long-Term Athlete Development" is available electronically for download at canadiansportforlife.ca.

Canadian Sport for Life is a movement to improve the quality of sport and physical activity in Canada. CS4L links sport, education, recreation, and health and aligns community, provincial, and national programming. Long-Term Athlete Development is a seven-stage training, competition and recovery pathway guiding an individual’s experience in sport and physical activity from infancy through all phases of adulthood. CS4L, with LTAD, represents a paradigm shift in the way Canadians lead and deliver sport and physical activity in Canada.

Reprinted from Canadian Cyclist

Gabriola Cycle and Kayak  has organised some great cycling tours over the years. To see their offerings for 2013 go here. They still have spaces on their group tours.  Any of their trips outside \Canada are tax free.

Many of our readers either come to or have friends who visit  the Nanaimo Region on holiday or business. Some of the more scenic riding is on Gabriola Island, the road routes caressing the shore and the mountain bike trails rising to the highest points on the island. A new B & B and bike rental is set up to cater to Gabriola visitors, whether or not they bring their bikes. For information on The Garden B & B, go here

Next Thursday is the final session at Pleasant Valley School for this winter. MIVA is very fortunate to be able to rent such a great facility for a very small price and all who have come to one or more sessions over the last three years have commented favourably on the set-up and the opportunity for a great workout.

Curiously, the attendance numbers this year started out quite low and after the end of November plummeted to two or three. Perhaps some of our readers can explain this and offer suggestions to make the programme more attractive.

For next winter, the sessions will be free to all paid-up members, so the indoor trainer nights will become a benefit of membership. MIVA is one of the few clubs that will do this.

This documentary on the legendary Eddy Merckx, perhaps the best road cyclist of all time, gives a vivid view of the sixties and seventies era of era of road racing when Eddy was the king. The film is often grainy and the French commentary gives viewers a chance to practise their school French. However, if you want to soak yourself for a while in the days of toeclips, friction shifters and Mafac centre-pull brakes, click here

See how many of yesterday's stars you can spot, make a list, with team and time spot on the video, and  submit to info@bikeracing.ca. The most complete list will win it's compiler a MIVA skin suit! Deadline for entries - March 1st.