Improving My Climbing

sam_m

Hi chaps, just wondering what the best sort of climbing might be to help me improve - longer hills at less of an incline, or short steep hills, or both.

I remember there being some good technique articles on here, so I'm going to give those another read, but just wondering how best to 'practice' in terms of the route I pick.

My girlfriend is moving house to a lovely countryside area, but the house is in a very hilly spot so I could do with getting my climbing together as quick as I can (the hills here tend to be long and steep).

Cheers in advance.

Monty Dog

Both - you need to work on your technique and economy for longer, seated climbs (<10%) and your threshold power and strength for steeper ones, either way their isn't a short-cut except go ride more climbs. Usually the harder you try the better you'll become. If you're planning on racing, you also need the ability to 'jump' i.e. riding at threshold and then red-lining.

mattbass789

I found that when I went to uni, where it was generally flatter than at home, my overall endurance increased. As i was riding futher over longer less steep hills. But when I came back home, it took weeks for my legs to get conditioned to the steeper sharper hills.

When i first started cycling, i knew I wasn't going to be good at hills so I went in search of them! and did them until I got bored and went home.
I started by doing hills that really pushed me, then doing them twice. The rest you get whilst you coast back to the bottom will aid your recovery fitness. Doing longer hills will increase and push your VO2 max and lactic threshold.

I also operate around the idea, to stay in the saddle as much as possible. You use broader muscle groups, and dont use as much of your upper body. That said, getting out the saddle is useful to give those groups rest, and recover before attacking again.

Just do it as much as you can, and you will notice improvement.

sungod

depends how fit you already are

if you are finding it really tough then do some hilly rides without pushing too hard, use a low enough gear that you can maintain cadence of 70+, do it for a few weeks, it'll get easier

try to keep seated, it's tempting to stand for power, but save it for short bursts

once you've got the base fitness start doing intervals up short steep hills - first warm up for 25-30 minutes, then do short, high-power*, ascents, 1-2 minutes is ok, followed by 5-6 minutes recovery, repeat a few times

make sure you keep your cadence up, you can drop a bit lower but too far will put a lot of strain on your knees if you are sitting

for these short intervals practice both standing and seated, standing you need to use a higher gear

*start easy until you find your limit, it's no use blowing up before the end of the interval, as you develop you'll be able to maintain higher power over the interval

don't do it every day, allow time for your body to recover and develop

*really* do warm up first, and make sure your bikle is set up right for you, putting out a lot of power when cold or with bad set-up risks injury

Garz

+1 Monty Dogs advice.

sirdjango

do more and more climbs...

jgsi

If you read Sept Cycling+ article , p88 there is a telling little paragraph about climbing in the wrong gearing..quote
"whatever gradient you are on, you need a constant cadence of 90-100 rpm"

Chris James

JGSI wrote:

If you read Sept Cycling+ article , p88 there is a telling little paragraph about climbing in the wrong gearing..quote
"whatever gradient you are on, you need a constant cadence of 90-100 rpm"

Yes, i read that too, but many of the hillls, in fact many of the roads, around here are in the 1 chevron (1 in 7 to 1 in 5) range and you would need to be quite a powerful rider to spin up a 1 in 5 at 100rpm - or you would need to have very low gears.

I thought the advice (by John Herety?) was a bit rubbish TBH.

jgsi

Admittedly advice probably more attuned to competition where gradients dont go too often into the ridiculous.... but a tempo is demanded in order to maintain position and not commit cardinal sin of suddenly mashing and losing momentum and assorted mayhem behind.
So advice is still useful.

sheffsimon

JGSI wrote:

If you read Sept Cycling+ article , p88 there is a telling little paragraph about climbing in the wrong gearing..quote
"whatever gradient you are on, you need a constant cadence of 90-100 rpm"

Up to Cycling+ usual standard. :shock:

Roadracer123

I agree with mattbass789, but, whilst sitting in the saddle for as long as possible can be useful, I wouldn't recommend just sticking with it, try to vary the way you ride hills. I found that by only riding up in the saddle its hard to readjust to climbing out of the saddle and the amount of time I could withstand it for decreased.

GeorgeShaw

Find a 5% hill > half a mile. Do repeats, but do them differently. Spin in a low gear sitting. Try higher gears sitting (but don't grind). Try standing for as long as you can. Try alternating between sitting and standing (using a larger gear standing). Do it every week. After a while, you'll be stronger, have more flexibility in how you climb, and know how to gauge what is comfortable or not.