‘Hard labour on the farm taught me how to suffer’

Sean Kelly was ranked number one in the world from 1984 to 1988. He won countless major races including the 1988 Vuelta a España and took multiple stage wins in Grand Tours

CW: How much does the ability to suffer separate successful riders from the rest? Sean Kelly: The ability to suffer is very important — you just can’t get results without it. Everybody suffers in cycling but the great riders can suffer that bit more. CW: Is it a natural ability, or can you train yourself to suffer? SK: Some people have it naturally, but yes, you can also train yourself to suffer more, and everybody can improve that ability. You train it by pushing the barrier up a little more and more each time over many weeks and months. CW: It has been reported that, in the early days of your career, when the going got tough, you endured because you didn’t want to go back to working on the farm if you failed. Is that true? SK: Yes. I did very hard physical labour on the farm from a young age. There was a lot of hardship and difficult conditions. This definitely was a motivation. This kind of background also probably helped me to develop mental endurance and resilience to pain. CW: Are some modern riders less motivated because they grow up under more comfortable conditions? SK: Yes, even manual labour is easier now, and many grow up without experiencing physical hardship. As a result, their ability to suffer may not be as good. CW: Did you have any mental tricks or techniques to help you deal with suffering on the bike? SK: In the Classics, you may be suffering after five hours and still have an hour and a half to go; and in the Grand Tours you have to survive weeks of it. So it helps if you have ways of coping. For example, I used to say to myself: "Everybody else is suffering as well, and a good many are probably suffering more." I used to convince myself of that, and it helped. CW: What advice would you give to riders on coping with suffering? SK: You have to be motivated for the event in the first case. If you are not motivated, it is very hard to suffer and you are not going to have a good race. CW: Is there any upside to suffering on the bike? SK: Some days you can finish totally empty, in a really bad state. Then you know that you have pushed yourself to your limit and it makes you feel good. CW: When you look back at pictures of yourself suffering on the bike, what do you think? SK: It’s amazing how fit I was back in those days. When you are at the top of your game, you can push yourself to the extreme.