If you’ve had a lousy day at work (or home) then grabbing your bike and thrashing it senseless might seem a great way to burn off that anger, but it’s all too easy to have it end in tears.

For a start, one of the major causes of anger is tiredness, and you don’t want to be loading eyeball popping exertion onto an already exhausted body. Make a quick audit of how much decent sleep and rest you’ve been getting recently, compared to how much work, exercise or 24 hr clubbing frenzies you’ve been putting in. If it looks like tiredness is the cause, still go out as the fresh air and change of surroundings / pre-occupation with riding will ease your mood. Just make sure you take it easy and back off whenever you feel like it, or you’ll be even more irritable the next day.

If it is just pure and simple seething rage then get rid of it safely. Whatever the adrenaline coursing through your veins might tell you, screaming headlong into technical situations will just cause broken bones and bikes. Humans aren’t quite as badly affected by adrenaline as rhino’s but you’ll still have dangerously impaired judgement when the red mist falls. The best way to vent your spleen is to find the nearest hill, gradually warm up – stoking those mental fires of fury as you go – and then let rip. Whether you’re imagining trampling your boss underfoot with every pedal stroke or dragging that cretinous customer behind you on a rope, channeling your anger into sprint work is the best way to get rid of it. Just keep hammering the hill until you feel your shoulders loosen and frown slip away, then ride gently home, drinking in all that lovely cold oxygen, and thinking what you’re going to feast on when you get back.

For the sake of your continued good temper we recommend choosing a simple recipe or just heading for the chippy.