Do hills count if I stop halfway up for a rest?!
Comments
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I would only ever claim to have defeated a hill if I'd climbed it non-stop.
I suppose I could argue a score draw if I stopped then started again.
But any walking - that's 1:0 to the hill.0 -
"Also, it doesnt matter how fit/unfit/fat/skinny you are...... just enjoy it(if you can), advance YOURSELF regardless of other peoples abilty and remember to look at the scenery wherever safe and possible - it makes it all the more enjoyable."
Nicely put - my view entirely.slojo wrote:I would only ever claim to have defeated a hill if I'd climbed it non-stop.
I suppose I could argue a score draw if I stopped then started again.
But any walking - that's 1:0 to the hill.
A lot of it is mind over-matter. I have stopped on a hill because I have suddenly decided "I can't make it", had a minute's rest and shot up the remainder as if it wasn't there, so I probably didn't physically need to stop at all. Similarly, in a group that are all going up the slope, I tend to keep going with them, whereas at the same point on my own, I might have stopped.
I must admit, I enjoy being in 'smug-mode' when I get to the top in one go.
Spring!
Singlespeeds in town rule.0 -
Mark Alexander wrote:Well done! now try goinup the south ascent, dropping down the West ascent.. and coming back up it. 8)
you can check the distances on the Dragon ride as before.
OK OK calm down!0 -
Stopping is fine, and it's amazing what just a 30 second rest can do. I stopped on Hautacam in this year's etape to "ahem" adjust my jacket zip. Got going again and crawled up it at 5mph. Did same on Bwlch in last year's Dragon but rode it without stopping this year.
The hills don't get any easier, you just go faster.0 -
What's the idea of not walking?
As an unfit newb I always have to stop on hills, but I continue to walk because I can make some progress on my journey and also I don't like the idea of stopping dead and letting my muscles get cold.
Not wanting an argument, just interested to know the reasons for not walking?0 -
Slob-Sister wrote:What's the idea of not walking?
As an unfit newb I always have to stop on hills, but I continue to walk because I can make some progress on my journey and also I don't like the idea of stopping dead and letting my muscles get cold.
Not wanting an argument, just interested to know the reasons for not walking?
I think the perception is 'giving up' where as if you stop for a breather, you're GOING to finish what you started.0 -
Think you are allowed stops! Think if you can actually walk faster, than you are doing - commonsense is the greater part of valour. Not being able to unwrap the chocolate bar with gloves on, etc etc. Going into work tonight on my fixed gear. Regular bike is in the lbs waiting for a new pair of forks. I had toe-overlap in a bad way before the incident with the back of the Vectra! Who decided it would be a good idea to let the car turn right, at the very last second. Expect it when the traffic is nose to tail, we had a 100 yard gap! Doh. Anyway, I digress. Not sure if I will be able to get up one of the hills on the way home. All of the "legs of steel" malarky makes it sound a bit more worthwhile...Wish I had a cadence computer for the descent - be good to see how high it gets on the descent.0
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unclemalc wrote:[i.
I must admit, I enjoy being in 'smug-mode' when I get to the top in one go.[/quote]
Too true. There's few feelings like it. Although I sometimes come a cropper if my back wheel starts slipping on wet tarmac and the hill is too damn steep to tackle it sitting down. The panic of pedalling quickly to try and find a dry piece of road is also tre amusing....untill you grind to a halt and have to unclip ungainly. :oops: :roll: or fall offffffff'How can an opinion be bullsh1t?' High Fidelity0 -
Remember the profis aren't too 'big' to sometimes walk, like in the steep climbs towards the end of the Tour of Flanders and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day races. Team domestiques occasionally find walking the best method to get up to the top, also in terms of preserving their energy for what's to come.SCOTT325SE wrote:
I think the perception is 'giving up' ...Slob-Sister wrote:What's the idea of not walking?0 -
I remember the first "real" climb I did when I started off a few years back, up the Horseshoe Pass from Llangollen, I ran into trouble on the first hundred yards past the Britannia Inn, and it only got worse from then on - I lost count of how many times I had to stop.
A few months later, I went back, and made it all the way without stopping - every time I passed one of the places (they're still etched on my mind years later!) where I stopped to slump over the bars I got more and more smug
Likewise with the Bwlch Penbarras. Took me three attempts to get all the way up without getting off and walking. Felt like my thighs were going to explode though :twisted:
Now, I don't care if I have to stop a few times on the way up, I sometimes do just to admire the view for a minute, but I do feel quite smug if I get all the way to the summit without a break.0 -
slojo wrote:I would only ever claim to have defeated a hill if I'd climbed it non-stop.
I suppose I could argue a score draw if I stopped then started again.
But any walking - that's 1:0 to the hill.
Yep I'll go along with that. I'm a bit boneheaded when it comes to this sort of thing; I've only ever been beaten by one hill, which was on my first ever big ride on my road bike, and I didn't feel good about it so vowed never to do it again. And I haven't - yet! Last time I was in the Lakes I got stuck behind a numpty who couldn't do a hillstart about 200m from the top of Wrynose and I had to stop. Like a true moron I went to the bottom and started again. Incredible thing was, my mate agreed that this was the only sensible course of action!
I would like to be able to get out of this mindset; I'm sure I'd enjoy my cycling more if I did, but I can't!
ps. it was on Wrynose West that I started again. Wrynose East might have been different!0 -
"I would like to be able to get out of this mindset" ... try a race over similar terrain or a long alpine pass.nasahapley wrote:
Yep I'll go along with that. I'm a bit boneheaded when it comes to this sort of thing; I've only ever been beaten by one hill, which was on my first ever big ride on my road bike, and I didn't feel good about it so vowed never to do it again. And I haven't - yet! Last time I was in the Lakes I got stuck behind a numpty who couldn't do a hillstart about 200m from the top of Wrynose and I had to stop. Like a true moron I went to the bottom and started again. Incredible thing was, my mate agreed that this was the only sensible course of action!slojo wrote:I would only ever claim to have defeated a hill if I'd climbed it non-stop. I suppose I could argue a score draw if I stopped then started again.
But any walking - that's 1:0 to the hill.
I would like to be able to get out of this mindset; I'm sure I'd enjoy my cycling more if I did, but I can't!
ps. it was on Wrynose West that I started again. Wrynose East might have been different!
When I rode the Wacherl in Bavaria in a race (330 m climb in less than 3 km, so steeper than Wrynose) and riders in front blocked the road by dismounting, forcing me to dismount too with still 1 km to the top, I never once thought of going back to the bottom, rather in beating those around me to the top, on my feet. Nor did I think of going back to the bottom when, a couple of km from the top of the long ascent of the GrossGlockner in Austria (ca. 1900 m climb in 20 km), the effort temporarily became too much and I walked 300 m. One learns compromises often make more sense.
Perhaps take up cyclo-cross over this Winter.0 -
Managed a few hills this week without stopping - boy did it hurt & still does calves burning almost on verge of cramp :shock:
Must admit when I have stopped for say 30secs on hill - Have managed to go on rejuvenated !
I guess as fitness increases we all develop our own ways of coping getting through.
Having a couple of days rest & hope to get out on Sunday if I can get me tyre pressures right
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