Page Chen, G12 陈沛铨

Last week, I set out on an 80-kilometer cycling trip with my friends Lucy and Lily. The route was a round trip crossing two mountains — a journey demanding as much mental fortitude as physical stamina. What began as a test of fitness, however, turned into a powerful lesson on how mindset shapes performance.

After Lily and I crested the first series of hills, we stopped to wait for Lucy. Although Lucy normally rides at a slow pace, her falling so far behind felt out of the ordinary. In fact, Lucy possesses greater raw strength and cardiovascular endurance than either of us, so a physical limitation seemed unlikely.

When she finally appeared around the bend, the reason became clear. She was walking her bike uphill, tears streaking her face. “It’s just too hard for me,” she said, her voice shaking.

Lily grew visibly frustrated, reading Lucy’s struggle as a lack of effort. I saw it differently. I believed Lucy’s challenge was not in her legs, but in her mind — a barrier built by comparison and early discouragement. To test this, I suggested a new approach for the next climb, an even steeper ascent.

We would ride it individually, timing ourselves. Lily went first, I followed, and Lucy would go last, with one rule: no one would start until the rider ahead had finished. This eliminated any direct comparison during the effort.

Lily posted the fastest time, as expected. But Lucy, to her own surprise, rode the entire hill without stopping. She reached the top puzzled, asking, “How did I just do that?”

I explained that our initial group pace had created a false narrative. Lily and I had used explosive power at the start, opening an early gap that made Lucy feel she was failing before the real climb had begun. Once she believed she couldn’t keep up, she stopped believing she could finish at all. Riding alone, freed from the shadow of comparison, she found and held her own sustainable rhythm.

The takeaway was clear: we often fall short not because we are incapable, but because we internalize defeat too soon. When we measure our progress against others instead of our own potential, self-doubt can become a more formidable obstacle than any mountain. What holds us back is seldom a lack of ability, but a crisis of confidence.