Hills

Graham K

Probably been covered many times before,

I feel I can ride all day, but put a hill infront of me and i struggle, the legs are there but the lungs aint, is it just a case of keep on keeping on and practice hills or is there a technique.

keef66

it has. Try a search for hills or climbing technique. You should find all the stuff various people typed last week. I've got my mid year appraisal in 5 minutes; hope they haven't been monitoring my internet use!

will3

There's something, someone in Newmarket giving advice to someone in Lancashire about hills

Rouge Penguin

Ride them, ride them, ride them again. They get easier.

bearfraser

Cadence and right gear a the start usually works for me and yes they do get easier

leehellcat

bearfraser wrote:

Cadence and right gear a the start usually works for me and yes they do get easier

+1

keef66

Nobody said anything about BIG hills.

Anyway, internet abuse didn't come up in my appraisal so I'm back with more time to spare.

I have a triple cos I'm old and have knackered knees, and tend to stay seated, spinning away at a pace I know I can sustain for the whole hill.

I only go up a gear and get out of the saddle

i) to give my legs a change of scenery
ii) if I'm in my lowest gear and still struggling seated
iii) if I'm blasting up a short incline
iv) if I'm passing someone I think should have a better view of my @rse.

Graham K

Update.
I am improving, where I would dodge a hill I am now taking it on, did read somewhere about not looking up as that can defeat you, so head down and nice and steady, not spinning but not struggling either, its getting there, room for improvement

alihisgreat

Technique and power-to-weight ratio are important..

mick1355

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Technique and power-to-weight ratio are important..

+1
As said, stay as relaxed as possible, spin at a cadence thats comfortable and over 50rpm, and build your leg strength up, I'n not a naturally fast spinner, so a bit of a grinder, but I worked on this and do well on the climbs now, plenty of strength pyramids on the bike and weekly stomps.
The best thing i ever did on advise was "Dont fear the hills, look forward to them"

twotyred

Ride them, ride them, ride them again. They get easier.

It never gets easier you just get faster

Herbsman

Have you tried pedaling?

TakeTurns

Hills reps, lots of it. Don't bang out a load of hills in one day. Do a few decent efforts a couple times a week. Its the best way to increase your VO2max. This will improve your climbing. If you can ride all day, you are not training your VO2max.

schleckster

Maybe pick a few routes with different kinds of hills, one route with a very steep one, another route with less steep but longer ones, another mixed etc and repeat ride the routes, one day you will be getting to the top and thinking that wasn't nearly as bad as it used to be.

This doesn't mean it hurts any less or they are getting easier, your conditioning is just getting better, muscle strength building and your aerobic/anaerobic fitness improving (the longer hills will help improve the former and the shorter ones, where you might want to try being a bit more explosive on the pedals, the latter). Sometimes it's best just to look down, other times to appreciate the view on the way up.

Reane_Machine

Someone on this forum gave me some great advice (sorry I don't recall whom) to start at the bottom of the hill in spinning mode and gradually increase gears as you feel more comfortable.

Tried it the day after on my local molehill and it worked a treat. Tried it on a bigger hill a few days later and it is a grat way to climb. All i'd say is don't go too far out of your comfort zone; spending a few minutes in a big gear to really push yourself is alright and it's something I do towards the crest of the hill to really boost the sense of achievement.

I used to be a grinder but now I've switched to this it works so much better for me (not to mention my Strava profile).