Hills DESTROY me!!

gaved

Hello all,

Having a bit of a newbie drama. 3 times a week I cycle to work, 13 miles each way in the Rutland countryside. Along the way there are a couple of hills which still, knacker me out. :oops:

What is the best way of tacklin these bloody hills..? Is go flat out.... take it steady.. Whaterver I do I find that I'm goosed then for the rest of the ride!!
They don't seem to be getting any easier..!

Any advice greatfully recieved....

kanto

I think it is all really down to preference, and that differs between different physiology/makeup and fitness. When I started cycling I tried climbing on a small gear, and high cadence, and although it made climbing easier I wasn't going at good speeds. I remember the first time I tried going up a 10% climb, and it killed me. Going with smaller effort or high effort still knackered me, and I have only got better through practice. I experimented with big gears, and actually found my average speed increased, even on 10-12% sections, and pushing a big gear made me feel less tired. Of course, it is wasn't until after a while I had started cycling that I attempted to climb some steeper hills in the big ring, as I wouldn't have had the strength when I first started.

danowat

I've been experimenting with this, I have a few fair sized (for norfolk) inclines on my 17 mile commute, and I am alternating between sitting in, low gear / high cadence, and standing, high gear / low cadence.

Its clear, that for speed, standing is the way to go, however, this makes my HR go through the roof pretty quickly, so I have decided to sit in and pedal on the way in, and stand on the way home!!!.

I don't think it gets easier TBH, I just think you get faster for a given effort level, but the effort level stays the same (i.e. hard!).

gethmetal

How long have you been commuting by bike? Once the first couple of weeks are out of the way I'd guess you should start seeing some improvement in your climbing.

How would you describe your problem? ie. limited breathing or strength?

keef66

stay seated, get into a low enough gear so you can spin the cranks, go at a pace you can comfortably maintain till you're over the top.

With practice and increasing fitness you'll get quicker.

Only stand on the pedals if you're in your lowest gear and it's too hard to pedal seated, you need to give your legs a break, or if you're powering over a relatively small hill.

paul64

I'll throw a spanner in the works. Weight/relative age abracket nd fitness remaining constant, I have found progress best measured by months or years rather than days or weeks. It takes miles and longer periods to build the muscle memory, recovery, shaking off lactic acid and gaining power and stamina.

That aside, you can have good rides and bad rides and you can also find that a week deliberately spent at lower speed and heart rate can help i.e. maybe 1 week in 4.

baloo_the_bear

I found that staying seated as much as possible and spinning the cranks steadily works best for me.

I started cycling again about a year ago and I really struggled with the hills but over time it has become quicker and easier. A combination of improved technique, improved muscle strength, improved fitness and loss of weight have all played their part.

If you persevere your body will get used to it.

Keep up the good work

Lightning

Stay seated if possible, in a relaxed position, and try to find a cadence where your legs aren't dying but your BPM isn't too high either. It will still hurt, but you can make it hurt less. This will be different for every climb, but it becomes second nature eventually. Also, some roads are really steep on the inside of the curves and you can't really avoid them with cars around, so feel free to stand during those.

Hals1967

Hills always hurt, fact of life !

Half the battle is mental, I always try to stay positive, relax as much as I can, hands on the tops, breath out steadily and stay in a cadence where if I have to I can push a little harder when needed.

mattward1979

Echoing the advice above, relax, spin, take it easy and just get over the hill....

In time you will improve!

As a sidenote, if you do feel you need to get out of the seat dont pick a gear thats too high so that your cadence drops away.. your upper body should be pretty relaxed, lean forward a bit and try throwing your knees forward after the downstroke to get more muscles involved (obviously you need to be clipped in for this to work =P )

I found a good sitting technique is to flatten your foot angle slightly as your foot is coming over the top of a stroke, so that when you are approx 1/4 into your next stroke, your calf muscles add more power... hurts like a bugger though if you arent used to it!

KevGuinness

for me my breathing goes way way before my legs do, just a case of riding more or is there something in particular I should focus on to get my lungs up to speed?

wiffachip

obviously everyone's different, but for me I find that going as slow as possible, in a really easy gear at the start of the hill works best. Even if I feel as though I could push harder, I try to resist. Make the most of any flat spots to take a breather. Seeing others really struggle is also guaranteed to give you a boost

strangely, doing more hills and losing weight help as well

paul64

If by breathing you mean your lungs can't supply enough oxygen to the muscles then perhaps the muscles are having to work hard.

However, this from Steve Hogg about tense stomach is interesting near the end of the article (apologies if linking is against forum rules)

http://www.cyclefitcentre.com/pdf%20fin ... _final.pdf

mrdoofer

I'm not great at climbing but I tend to do the following:
- Select a good gear going into the climb, usually means moving to the smaller chainring early on. Getting the right gear to late can rubbish your rhythm.
- Set targets, choose objects a couple of meters ahead when you pass them look for the next one, helps to break the climb up
- Change positions, if the going is really tough sit and count 20 pedal strokes, shift up a gear, stand count 20, sit shift down, repeat
- Relax my upper body
- Standing up on the pedals and grinding a big gear doesn't necessarily mean your going up the climb faster, you can climb just as fast and more comfortably in an easier gear spinning quickly.
-If I'm out of breath choose an easier gear and pedal slower!

Crapaud

keef66 wrote:

stay seated, get into a low enough gear so you can spin the cranks, go at a pace you can comfortably maintain till you're over the top.

With practice and increasing fitness you'll get quicker.

Only stand on the pedals if you're in your lowest gear and it's too hard to pedal seated, you need to give your legs a break, or if you're powering over a relatively small hill.

+1

My general rule of thumb is:

long climbs - stay seated and spin in a low gear Short or short steep climbs - get up on the pedals

Thinking back to my own return to cycling it's my opinion that it's important not to push too hard too soon. It'll take time for your legs to adapt. I found that the muscles that ached changed over time as the weaker muscles caught up with the stronger ones. Also it takes time for your tendons and ligaments (the bits that anchor your muscles to your bones) to strenghten.

I'd disagree with paul64; improvements are noticable within weeks and months - just don't expect them to be dramatic.

Hills can be psycologically tough. A nasty looking hill that's within you capabilities can have you beat before you start a climb. The head says that it looks too hard therefore it is too hard and becomes an excuse to fail. So, 2 tips I'd give would be:

1) Pick a marker - a piece of litter, a gate, hedge, phone box, whatever - that you can reach. As you reach it look further up and pick another marker ... and so on to the top. Break the hill up into manageable bits. 2) Don't look at the hill. Pick a spot 5-10 feet to the front and just concentrate on turning the pedals.

Philby

As above the psychology of a hill can be the most difficult bit - also I try and focus on controlling my breathing so that I take longer and deeper breaths rather than gasping for air.

Rich Hcp

All of the above is true.

More rest days, for a couple of weeks, extra cycling at weekends will affect you in the week, for a while.

Its important to give your body a rest from exercise and the musles need time to recover, you're still getting used to this fitness outbreak!.

If there hills are early in the ride you need time to warm up.

Let it come to you, its in your head and you sound defeated by hills at the moment, we all do it from time to time.

We alll find a technique that suits us, I can't pedal and stand on the pedals, so I sit there and grind it out.

StillGoing

For me it doesn't get any easier but you do get a little quicker the more time you spend in the saddle and the fitter you become. When I first started I tried maintaining the same pace on hills as the rest of the ride but found I was knackered half way up. I then tried high cadence in small gears. What has worked for me personally is keeping my heart rate in the moderate range. I've found I keep my cadence lower but in a bigger gear and that doing that I can stand on the pedals for far longer periods and all the way over the hill on short inclines.

I guess it's each to their own though, but there's no substitute for time in the saddle.

paul64

Crapaud wrote:

I'd disagree with paul64; improvements are noticable within weeks and months - just don't expect them to be dramatic.

I actually said "progress best measured by months or years rather than days or weeks" so think we are saying the same thing. I find I might struggle like hell on a hill, cope better 3/6/12 months later, have a lower heart rate or ride faster up the climb compared with a previous year etc. However, I'm heavy, no mountain rider and no expert on them so my experience may not be the norm.

kettrinboy

living nearby i know Rutland and its hills very well, they are not that big 40-100m of climb mostly but there are lots of them, it sounds like after the hills you are not recovering your breathing and HR very quickly and perhaps as a newbie havnt built up your cycle fitness enough yet, in effect you are doing six 13 mile rides a week, try and get some longer rides in at the weekend of say 2 hrs,build up some stamina which is what you need on hills, it takes time though, the hills will still hurt a bit but with stamina once you are over the tops you should recover your breathing and HR much better and be able to cope with more than just a couple of hills. if your commute includes those hills around Launde Abbey they would make most people blow hard, they did me a few days ago.

MikeWW

Keep at it
Hills don't hurt as much after a while and you get to know your limits.

Crapaud

paul64 wrote:

Crapaud wrote:

I'd disagree with paul64; improvements are noticable within weeks and months - just don't expect them to be dramatic.

I actually said "progress best measured by months or years rather than days or weeks" so think we are saying the same thing. ...

Sorry, Paul. I misread your post. :oops:

gaved

Wow thanks very much for all of your replies and advice, I will be putting your tips to practise in my next ride!!
Might even do a hill session

gaved

Wow thanks very much for all of your replies and advice, I will be putting your tips to practise in my next ride!!
Might even do a hill session

gaved

Wow thanks very much for all of your replies and advice, I will be putting your tips to practise in my next ride!!
Might even do a hill session

KevGuinness

so good he said it thrice

gaved

Dunno what I did there........!!!