Hills=Lungs hurt Flats=Legs hurt Why?

Richie G
Richie G Posts: 283
edited March 2008 in Road beginners
I've been meaning to ask this for a while. I decided to ride the route of a forthcoming hilly TT at the weekend, which brought this question to mind. On long hills i find the limiting factor seems to the amount of oxygen i can get in, rather than the pain in my legs (not that they don't hurt!). Yet when i try and ride flat out on the flat it's always seems to be my legs that give up first (I'll be breathing very heavily but not in the same painful, lung burning way as i would on a climb). Any reason for this? Is it just me?

Rich

Comments

  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    Perhaps you are pushing too high a gear on the flat and spinning too fast uphills?
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  • geoff_ss
    geoff_ss Posts: 1,201
    I don't know.

    I used to race a bit - mostly evening 10s - and when I did, I was usually on the edge of oxygen debt after about a mile and for the remaining 9. I didn't tear up any trees with my usual time of around 25 minutes (pb 24m 47s) but I tried hard.

    When I got back to cycling after a bad accident which limited my movement and resulted in a loss of effective muscle, I found it impossible to get out of breath on the flat no matter how hard I tried. I guess my cardio-vascular system was fitter than my muscles. At the same time I still found hill climbing to be limited by oxygen intake. Hill climbing still is oxygen limited. I can cope with a short steep climb in quite a high a gear (so I have the strength) but after a while my breathing insists that I change down and take it easy.

    I think different muscle groups may be used for climbing. Fast twitch v slow twitch perhaps. Hopefully someone who really understands physiology will enlighten us all.

    Geoff
    Old cyclists never die; they just fit smaller chainrings ... and pedal faster
  • sloboy
    sloboy Posts: 1,139
    I think it may be due to the effort level. On the hills you go anaerobic immediately, while using short term energy systems - so its more like say a hard interval of a couple of minutes.

    On the flat, you go just over threshold for an extended time, so it's lactic acid and what not that gets you.
  • Richie G
    Richie G Posts: 283
    Perhaps you are pushing too high a gear on the flat and spinning too fast uphills?

    Think you might be right about too high a gear on the flat - i'm quite new to TTing so have been trying get my speed up. I've got quite a high natural cadence and thinking about it i have been trying to stay in high gears as long as possible. Something to work on i guess. Cheers for the replies.

    Rich

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