Hill Training

Crispybug

First time posting although I've been stooging around for a while.

First the facts, 46 y/o, 6'1", 17 stone, ex rugby player (too many dislocated shoulders to carry on playing) bought a s/h Orbea road bike and added some new Mavic wheels on reccommondation. Have been cycling 6 months and have lost two stone since starting.

My son has been cycling seriously for a year and I've agreed to for a ride with him in May, for the purposes of clarity I should explain that he lives in the Limousin region of France and we are cycling from Aubusson to Clermont - Ferrand, a distance of fifty miles or so. The distance doesn't worry me, what worries me (deeply) is the bloody big climb out of Clermont. I drove up it last week and it's bloody terrifying.

Now my problem, apart from the obvious of shifting my huge carcass uphill, is that I live in Southend in Essex and there are really no hills of any magnitude to practice on, the biggest locally is a 14/15% hill of about 3/4 of mile or so, so how on earth do I prepare to ride up a hill that is about 10 kilometres long?


All advice gratefully recieved.

tony620

i dont live in a very hilly place what i do is tend to find a place with frequent climbs and quick descents so my heart rate does not drop then continue to climb the next hill doing it in rotation.

this was the only way i could keep my heart rate at a good level and the pressure of climbing a big hill without actually having 1. seemed to help me on the big fire road climbs in wales as i had no problems with them.

Bronzie

Continuous efforts at or around threshold (the sort of effort you'd ride a 1 hour time trial at) either on the flat or on the turbo trainer if there are no suitable traffic light free roads near you will re-create the sort of effort you can sustain on long steady climbs.

P_Tucker

Bronzie wrote:

Continuous efforts at or around threshold (the sort of effort you'd ride a 1 hour time trial at) either on the flat or on the turbo trainer if there are no suitable traffic light free roads near you will re-create the sort of effort you can sustain on long steady climbs.

+1 - far better for this particular issue than short hills many times.

Just get used to riding hard for a long period, the fact that you'll be doing it up a hill won't make a great deal of difference.

Crispybug

Bronzie wrote:

Continuous efforts at or around threshold (the sort of effort you'd ride a 1 hour time trial at) either on the flat or on the turbo trainer if there are no suitable traffic light free roads near you will re-create the sort of effort you can sustain on long steady climbs.

Pardon my ignorance on this, I'm not paricularly au fait with a lot of the training terms used on this forum, but how do you determine threshold? I have bought a HRM to aid training, do you use this?

Or does threshold mean, in the fine words of my old sports teacher Mr Wake "Run until you puke and after you've finished puking run again!" ?

Bronzie

Bronzie wrote:

(the sort of effort you'd ride a 1 hour time trial at)

Probably around 90% of max heart rate (but only of help if you have tested for max HR rather than guessing at it)

Ron Stuart

Get yourself out to Danbury about 18 miles for you.
Try a few hills around there and especially North Hill up from Little Baddow lock on the Chelmer.
Try and shed some more weight and get some small gears (if you haven't already).
You could always take the bike in the car part way if you want to spend some more time goimg up and down.

Cannon71

To get an idea of your max HR, ride for 0.5miles at an easy pace. When you've done that, increase your speed by 1mph for the next 0.5mile interval. Keep doing this until you can't go any further. This will give you a good idea of your max HR (...for cycling. It differs depending on the sport you're doing. i.e. your 'max HR-run' may be 10bpm higher.)

90% of that max HR will be approximately your 'threshold'. So, ride at this HR for as long as you can.

I'd recommend lowering your cadence too (on big hills, you tend to be in bottom gear and still can't maintain a 'healthy' >80rpm).

So, you should try riding at ~60rpm at threshold, for as long as you can.

You probably won't manage that far the first time out, so recover for a while (~10-15% of your last 'interval') then go again. (i.e. If you managed 10mins at this pace/cadence, recover for 1min - 1m30). Next time, try to extend the intervals.

cyco2

Trying to simulate climbing on the flat is not easy because the bike is at the wrong angle. The heel drops when you are in the saddle so the power cycle on the crank increases. If you are pushing into a wind is about the only time you get this effect naturally on the flat. You'll get near it with a higher gear but the cadence is slower than climbing. I guess you have fit legs and a lot of power but for a long steep climb you'll need plenty of cadence in a low gear.
The very best way to simulate this is with a turbo trainer. Raise the front of the bike to get the angle right and experiment with the resistance and cadence. You'll then find training for hills is a doddle. Get yourself a fan as well because you'll get hot.
In the mean time try pushing a higher gear and get some pain going in your thigh muscles.

skinarelli

Crispybug

Like many, I've toured the Alps and although it was 20 years ago, the advice remains the same regardless. If you live in the UK, you cannot "train" for 10km climbs in France.

You can only ensure you have the right gears to enable you to ride them.

The majority of hills/walls in the UK can be tackled with a bottom gear of 39x23 if you're a reasonably fit clubman as UK climbs tend to be short and steep. Any climb on the continent near 10km is pretty much guaranteed to be a more forgiving gradient and tackled with a bottom gear of 39x26-28 (just in case you run into problems).

The key to long european climbs is pacing yourself. Rhythm is the key to lesser gradients. Bare in mind that it's also easy to over do it in the first few km's and cook your goose well before the top so discipline is paramount.

Just remember, no one recalls the first few km's. The memories that stick are how well you go in the last few and over the line at the top!!

Pace yourself and the memories will last a lifetime.

P_Tucker

Skinarelli wrote:

Crispybug

Like many, I've toured the Alps and although it was 20 years ago, the advice remains the same regardless. If you live in the UK, you cannot "train" for 10km climbs in France.

You can only ensure you have the right gears to enable you to ride them.

The majority of hills/walls in the UK can be tackled with a bottom gear of 39x23 if you're a reasonably fit clubman as UK climbs tend to be short and steep. Any climb on the continent near 10km is pretty much guaranteed to be a more forgiving gradient and tackled with a bottom gear of 39x26-28 (just in case you run into problems).

The key to long european climbs is pacing yourself. Rhythm is the key to lesser gradients. Bare in mind that it's also easy to over do it in the first few km's and cook your goose well before the top so discipline is paramount.

Just remember, no one recalls the first few km's. The memories that stick are how well you go in the last few and over the line at the top!!

Pace yourself and the memories will last a lifetime.

Good advice this. I'm a reasonable rider (2nd cat) and I took a 34x27 to the Pyrenees just in case - and do you know what, I bloody used it. Better to have it and not need it than the other way around.

antfly

The best way to improve at hills is to climb them so I would climb that 14 percenter as often as possible.

Crispybug

Thanks for the advice given peeps, all pretty useful. Following antfly's tip for today's training ride I did the aforementioned 14% hill twice......genuinely thought I was going to die on the second ascent, think I may have a little way to go!

P_Tucker

You've followed the wrong advice.

mz__jo

There is a reason why the vast majority of french cycle tourists, even the sporty ones with the flash carbon race bikes, fit a triple chainset to climb mountains. You would be well-advised to follow the crowd. If you have a compact double set a 34T ring with 28t on the cassette may be sufficient but the majority of my french clubmates would advise a triple with a 1:1 bottom gear (28/28 or 30/30). You may not need it but if you do the only solution may well be walking. Do not overlook this, the Brevets Montagnards each year see riders with more mountain experience than you reduced to walking, usually due to bad feeding or other little problems that can happen to anyone.
I have just checked the map and Aubusson-Clermont is 90kms -so 180round trip. The climb out of Clermont, by Orcines and the col des Goules, is the toughest part but the real difficulty is in the succession of climbs afterwards. Check the profile on an on-line route calculator (someone on this forum can probably advise one, I am a bit out of touch).
I think the best training, apart from your 14% hill, which won't do any harm, is probably trying to use your top gear into a decent headwind. You won't have the load of lifting your bodymass (that's why you need the hill) but the continual resistance will probably be close to what you will experience on the ride.
Try to check out how you perform in the extremes of temperature. May could give you hail and freezing rain or a 35° heatwave. I have suffered both in the Auvergne in may! In temperatures over 30° my performance plummets! Worth knowing and planning for in advance.

mz__jo

I should add that Michelin seem to be claiming 10% for the climb out of Clermont, on a very dangerous mainroad. I would have thought the steepest parts in the bends could be steeper. The traffic-free alternatives will be steeper.
If you have the time try to get a ride out south and west of Aubusson. The plateau of Millevaches will give you quiet roads, beautiful countryside and quite a few nice hills if you look for them.
Have a good ride!

antfly

If he doesn't have a triple and he wants lower gears then an alternative would be to get a long rear derailleur and a 32 teeth cassette instead. A lot of people do that for the alps.

unixnerd

There is a reason why the vast majority of french cycle tourists, even the sporty ones with the flash carbon race bikes, fit a triple chainset to climb mountains.

+1. My tourer and racer and both triples. I never need the granny ring on a "normal" steep climb. But if you're doing an actual mountain such as the ski road at Cairngorm or the Lecht that's where you really want the triple. Not many places in this country need it, but as the guy above said when you need it you need it. I do Cairngorm with a 30 front and 25 rear.

With a triple you run a long cage reach mech, so you could go nuts and fit a mtb rear cassette. Those can go down to 34t. That's what you often find on touring bikes, can't beat a really low gear on a heavily laden tourer.

Main downside with a triple is the chainline isn't as nice. But you get to run a 53t big ring for the downhill bits :-)

mz__jo

antfly wrote:

If he doesn't have a triple and he wants lower gears then an alternative would be to get a long rear derailleur and a 32 teeth cassette instead. A lot of people do that for the alps.

Good idea. MTB cassettes and derailleurs make a lot of sense but I wouldn't do that and keep a 52/42 chainset. Need a 38 maximum. Of course fitting a triple will almost certainly need a long cage changer. There are a number of possible ways to lower the gears; the best way depends on what's on the bike already and what's available to change it (and the price). I think I have done most of the ways at one time or another!

mz__jo

I seem to recall that Shimano do a cassette with a 38t cog for 29er mtbs. Gives ideas to my imagination!

antfly

That's got to be some big cog !

AidanR

This talk of doing 90% max HR for 1 hour is daft.

1) This is a leisure ride, not a race
2) If you start a 50 mile ride by going hard up a hill for 10km you'll blow up later on
3) Doing long stretches of high intensity cardio isn't actually very good for you - how many sportsmen live into their 90s?
4) See point 1 again

Just get appropriate gears and the hill will take care of itself. You don't want to be doing anything out of the ordinary on the hill, you'll just go slower than on the flat!

Keep riding, enjoy it, and gradually build up the mileage.

unixnerd

I find the most important thing on big hills is to find a comfortable pace and stick with it. Going for too low a gear too soon is a bad idea, as is holding a high gear for too long. Stick with a good cadence and if you can't hold it go down one gear at a time. Get into good overall shape as much as you can beforehand, but don't worry about the hills just enjoy the ride.

Cajun

CLIMBING ELEMENT 1:

Focus On Developing Your Muscular Endurance (ME)

If there is one key ingredient to becoming a better climber it is your ability to maintain increasingly higher levels of power output for extended durations otherwise known as
Muscular Endurance(ME).

The ability to maintain increasingly higher levels of power without passing too far into your lactate threshold takes practice and discipline and in my eyes is one of the most underused forms of training. Why? Because it's really *#$@# hard that's why.

Holding a steady pace of 400+ watts for 3 minutes or more can take a tremendous amount of self-discipline, physical ability, and most importantly muscular endurance and thus must be practiced repeatedly so that when we're climbing for performance we have a reserve of muscular endurance left to draw from..

Let's face it, climbing is something that any good cyclist worth his/her salt strives to improve. It's the pinnacle form of satisfaction to climb with greater confidence and fluidity. To do this you must be able to maintain a rhythmic cadence and have our muscles under constant duress
without fatiguing. You must be able to control your effort and judge your abilities as you're climbing if you are to reach the top without losing steam.

You must master various levels of your Muscular Endurance!

How can you develop this key ingredient for improved climbing?

Let's briefly discuss two tactics both on-the-bike and off-the-bike that
you can use to increase your muscular endurance.

1. ME Intervals on your indoor trainer or out on your bike with various levels of gradients on hills. The basic premise with ME Intervals is simple, repeatability! Climbing a hill or mountain once doesn't. In fact to truly increase muscular endurance we must master various levels of hills for various lengths of time to improve performance. How many times do you think Lance practiced going up Alp Duez?

I like intervals that range from 3 minutes at higher watts to as long as 15 minutes at moderate high watts. The key is to keep your cadence consistent (I prefer 80+ RPM--more on cadence in element 5) and stay at or just below your lactate threshold so that you can last the whole set.

Out on the bike my favorite ME repeats are done on a road with two different style climbs that I repeat 4-10 times each depending on my goals and training objectives. The first is short and steep and when performed well I can complete in about 90 seconds with a lower, more
powerful gearing and spin at 65-80 RPM.

The other is longer and more gradual, but still really tough and takes me about 15 minutes to complete. I use lighter gearing and spin high (85+ RPM). I use these two style hills to generate two different forms of ME. One is shorter and more explosive and the other is longer and more controlling. My objective is still the same however, control my cadence, and maintain my HR just at or below my AT.

Over time I will choose 1-3 intervals to focus on increasing cadence or lower the gearing to produce higher watts and help to condition my body to maintain higher levels of power output while maintaining my heart rate and exertion level, thus improving my ME.

During these specific intervals I will also try to keep my HR 4-10 beats above my lactate threshold to condition my body and hopefully create a new level of sustained muscular endurance at my AT.

2. One of my other tactics to increase your ME is to utilize Power Yoga. Out of all the various forms of training I use and teach to others, nothing is more challenging than Power Yoga. Don't let the pony tails and hairy chests mislead you, Power Yoga will challenge you more than your average Alp, I promise you that!

In relation to improving ME, Power Yoga is perfect because it forces you to hold and maintain poses and positions that directly effect your climbing muscles, such as your low back, your core, your hamstrings, hip flexors, and quads for extended periods just as in climbing repeats.

Power Yoga will teach control and add a new layer of strength that classic weight training and even cycling can't match. I try to use it in my training at least once every other week and sometimes I use it just before or just after a ME Interval for added difficulty and a new challenge.

Combine these two muscular endurance challenging tactics together
in as many ways as you can imagine and you will greatly improve not
only your ME, but your climbing skills and lactate threshold at the same
time. Talk about a "zen moment"!

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CLIMBING ELEMENT 2:

Improve Your Low Back Strength and Durability

The centerpiece for improved climbing begins and ends with the strength and durability of your low back. Climb any extended, steep hill or mountain and you'll know exactly what I mean. Focus on making it stronger and you will have the primary tool you need to improve your climbing--Guaranteed!

The low back represents the centerpiece from which the large muscles of the hamstrings and glutes can create leverage from which to climb with. If the low back is weak, fatigued, rigid and inflexible, the entire body during a climb will begin to crack and control.

We all know instinctively that we need to condition and work on the physical conditioning of our low backs, but because it seems so simple and innocuous, many of us never do the little things to keep it strong and conditioned. And all the while we're working another elements such as ME, Power, and Endurance, it is our lowback durability that will determine long term improvement.

The funny thing is that the power, strength, and endurance of the low back is the net result of just about every other muscle and joint that revolves around it. From the alignment of the hips and spine to the strength and flexibility of the hamstrings and abdomen. The low back is truly part of a larger network that must all be well balanced and maintained if it is to improve.

Let's discuss three issues one needs to address to develop a strong, fluid, stable low back for improved climbing skills.

1. You MUST keep the hamstrings flexible! One of the key issues for chronic low back fatigue isn't just a weak back, but tight hamstrings. Especially for the cyclist who's repeated
actions never really places the knee through a full range of motion and as a result has a tendency for tight hamstrings. Unfortunately most people do a tug here and a pull
there on these vital climbing muscles and leave it at that.

The hamstrings require deep, well organized stretches in order to truly open them and keep them strong and recovered. From using yoga positions to more classic stretching with a
stability ball, one must have a well put together hamstring stretching agenda to stay on top of the potential problem. Not only will it improve the strength of your low back, but it will help
improve your climbing position and posture both in and out of the saddle. If you can't stay aero or in the drops very long, your hamstrings are most definitely one of your limiters.

2. You must BALANCE strength and flexibility in all of the core muscles. Cyclists unfortunately have a "quad only" vantage point in relation to training. We overdue the training and focus on the quads and not enough on the hamstrings, hip flexors, glutes and low back. This imbalance can create a forward pitch in the posture of cyclists that will result in a loss of potential power on the bike while climbing.

A good low back conditioning routine is perfectly balanced with strength and flexibility exercise for both the front side as well as the back side off the body. You can't just do squats and hope to build low back and climbing strength, you must do the little things
that make the low back complete.

3. You must CONSISTENTLY train and condition your low back OFF THE BIKE, not just while you're on it. Yes, you can train the muscles of the back to improve while on the bike by doing more climbing, but to maintain improvement and add the flexibility element, you must do more and you must do it consistently.

Many of us start a low back conditioning program, but either never do it enough or get caught in the same routine and never add new elements or keep it too simple and not place enough priority on low back training.

I guarantee that if you put just 15 minutes of direct strength conditioning and 15 minutes of flexibility for the low back and hamstrings into your regular routine, YEAR ROUND you will boostyour climbing skills faster than any other training program there is.

If you know that your low back strength and hamstring flexibility is a limiter for you then you may be interested in my:

"Fix the Back, Stay in the Drops" Workout Routine included in my Cyclo-ZEN Mental Toughness and Recovery Program. It's a simple, balanced and effective way to add new layers of low back strength and durability to your training program with no equipment and you can do it anywhere.

CLIMBING ELEMENT 3:

Methodically and Diligently Boost Your Climbing Cadence

There has been a complete paradigm shift in the thinking of climbing cadence due in large part to our friend Lance Armstrong. His unique ability to spin at higher RPMs of 100+ has allowed him to climb harder and faster than his body type should allow him to do.

It has been his dedication to developing the mental and physical skills needed to maintain high RPMs up mountains that has allowed him to stay stronger and fresher than the competition and is probably the single largest contributing factor to his 6 years of climbing domination.

If you want to be a better climber, you may want to learn some lessons from the higher climbing cadence techniques. Now, that's not to say that you need to spin at 90+ RPMs for climbing, but maybe find new techniques to increase your "natural" climbing cadence
3-10 RPM for improved efficiency and increased climbing speed and power for longer periods of time.

Let's discuss some ways of helping you increase your natural climbing RPM and improve your overall cadence and efficiency on the bike.

1. Add at least one to two higher cadence ME training sessions to you bike training schedule and focus on increasing your cadence by 1-3% to start. Don't make the mistake of jumping from 75 RPM to 100 RPM overnight. It takes time and discipline for your body to make this
physiological adjustment and could result in overuse injuries and over training if you're not careful.

Start with 3-5 minute intervals spaced out over a 75-90 minute ride and pick various gradient hills to practice the increased cadence. Now to accomplish this at first you're going to have to gear down to spin higher. Once you've focused and mastered the higher spin rate work
on gradually gearing back up at the same RPM for improved power and climbing speeds.

2. Utilize Power Yoga to help you to acquire contra lateral reflexes to get more power out of your muscles and increase body control. What??

Simply put, teach your body to contract opposing muscles to create more power and stability. For instance learning to contract your right quad and your left hamstring forcefully at the same time just as you need to on the bike, especially for climbing.

This is also known as agility or the ability to contract several opposing muscles simultaneously. Power Yoga is ideal for this discipline due to it's necessity for your body to balance and oppose itself for stability. Several Power Yoga poses can not be achieved without your body and your mind contracting opposite muscles. This adds new level of muscular control that is vital to you increasing your cadence and efficiency on the bike.

3. Use high cadence hill repeats that average 5-10 RPMs over your ideal cadence that you're trying to achieve. For instance, if your natural climbing cadence is 80 RPM and you hope to increase it to 85 RPM for improved climbing speeds, then practice intervals of 3-10 minutes at 90-95 RPM at a slightly lower gearing. Repeat this 2-4 times in a workout every week to
begin to overshoot your cadence marker and lay the foundation for improved climbing speed.

************************************************

Improving your cadence takes persistence and discipline and it may
require someone to help guide you through it. I have purposely added
high cadence ME intervals and power yoga to my Cyclo-ZEN Mental
Toughness and Recovery Program to help you achieve higher
cadences and improve your climbing speeds.


CLIMBING ELEMENT 4:

Boost the Power and Lighten the Load

Climbing is all about gravity and mass. It's simple really. The more mass an object has the more work needs to be done to move that mass against the force of gravity. In our case as
aspiring climbers we need to have less mass and more potential for work or power in this case.

We call it our strength to weight ratio and it is the direct determinant of how fast we can go up a hill or mountain. If we can lighten our mass and increase our power we will move faster and with less effort needed to produce the same outcome.

This is good, because of any limitation due to genetics we can deal with this issue head on through several tactics and techniques both on and off the bike.

Let's discuss two elements needed to increase our power and lower our mass so that we may climb faster and with greater ease.

1. The first is obvious and probably the element we should focus on the most, developing more power at the same weight or mass. If you're not big on losing weight or removing those sticky buns before a ride, then this is the tactic for you.

There are two kinds of power in relation to climbing, the first is one that we've already talked about in element one, muscular endurance or the ability to sustain consistent power for extended periods of time. We can use ME Intervals, hill repeats, and power yoga to help us
develop this type of power as it I the most used power mode in climbing.

The second is explosive power or short bursts of high power for much shorter lengths of time. This type of power is actually very important as well as it addresses the issues of changes in incline on a hill or maybe an acceleration from a competitor.

This explosive power is best worked on with shorter, steeper climbs that only last 60 seconds or less. You can also work on this explosive power with short, intense cross-training exercises such as Hindu squats, Hindu push-ups, polymeric and other power provoking exercises performed off the bike.

You can also use longer duration ME intervals layered with short intense power bursts every few minutes to practice changes in power demand.

2. The second component of an improved power to weight ratio is to lose mass. Real brain trust on this one, but one that can not be undersold. If you really want to improve your climbing the most profound way to do it is to lighten the load and keep the same or slightly higher power potential.

Right away most cyclists revert to calorie deprivation or excessive training to achieve this change in mass. Let me caution you, although it is tempting to drop calories and train more it can come back to hurt you in the end with fatigue and a lack of recoverability. Not only that, but restrictive diets and over training do nothing more than lower your metabolism and catabolise muscle tissue which will ultimately reduce your power potential.

That being said we can lower calories slightly over time (no more than 250/day) and gradually increase our mileage to produce a leaner, lighter frame. The best advice is to eat high energy, low weight foods like lean meats and fish, beans, lentils, and high fiber cereals and grains. Avoid all the crap and artificial foods that rob us of our natural energy.

The best scenario is to focus on both and let them work together. Focus on improving your sustainable power and explosive power while watching what you eat and controlling your portions to lighten your mass. Put them both together and you'll be topping 3000 foot climbs before with confidence and ease before you know it!

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CLIMBING ELEMENT 5:

Bolster Your Mental Toughness and Focus Your Breath

Watch any good climber and you will see someone with a stone face and a mastery of breath and body control. No energy is wasted and no breath is underutilized. To them it's not a physical obstacle, but a mental one. A test of mettle and mental toughness
to endure extreme discomfort.

Lance is a great example of someone who inherently is not built to be a great climber, but has turned it into one of his most powerful strengths as a result of harnessing his mental toughness
and focusing on his breath and body control. he has practiced and mastered the ability to deal with the pain. Granted, overcoming cancer was probably his single greatest teacher. We can learn a lot from this lesson of mental toughness and focus.

Most of us aren't built to be great climbers, but many of us can be if we can toughen our resolve and learn how to get the maximum out of our bodies while conserving our energy. We can improve our climbing and our tolerance of pain by practicing, focusing and
developing our mental toughness both on and off the bike.

How can you toughen up and teach yourself to deal with the discomfort of climbing a challenging hill or mountain on your bike?

Let's discuss three things you can do to practice developing your mental toughness:

1. Incorporate power yoga into your training routine frequently. Yes, I already mentioned this in secret 1 as we discussed muscular endurance. I think you will recall that I described muscular endurance as a true test of mental toughness. So, by using power yoga as
a tool to teach your body to overcome discomfort and pain while maintaining breath and focus is pivotal to increasing your climbing skills and performance.

Hold a yoga chair position for 90 seconds or maybe repeat an asana (several yoga poses in a row) 4 to 5 times without break and tell me if it doesn't test your mental toughness and breath just like a hard steep climb.

2. Pick one or two workouts a week on or off the bike that you really don't enjoy. Yes, that's right, don't enjoy! Maybe it's a route with endless difficult climbs or strong headwinds or maybe continuous gradual up hills with no reprieves. Pick sections and really hammer it
out and don't stop. Teach your body to look past the physical and absolve the pain. Teach it to overcome fear and trepidation and push yourself past what you think is possible even if it's only for a few seconds.

Use this technique sparingly to avoid over-training and most importantly go into these workouts with the sole intent to push mentally. You must recognize and embrace the mental pain if you are to improve your mental toughness and resolve. Focus on your breath and teach yourself to channel your energy efficiently to the pedals.

3. Incorporate a "mantra" or "positive affirmation" along with the tactics above to get through the pain and the fear. You must align yourself with something strong and magical if you want to break barriers of physical and mental performance. Pick a word, saying,
or image or moment in time that will help propel you past your mountain of pain. It may sound corny, but it may be the single most important part of developing your mental toughness and ultimately your climbing skills.

*******************************************

Mental Toughness and Improved Breath Control is something we
all need whether we're beginners of experts on the bike. All the
physical training in the world is worthless without the mental
capacity to endure discomfort while climbing.

My Cyclo-ZEN Mental Toughness and Recovery Program was put
together with the sole intent of using ME intervals, Power Yoga, Power
Workouts, and low back training to not only develop the physical
needs of cycling, but more importantly to help you focus on
developing your mental skills as well.

My Cyclo-ZEN Mental Toughness and Recovery Program is designed to
help you boost your power as it pertains to climbing with my Secret
8 Minute Power Routine. Go through it once and you're good. Get through
it twice and your doing great. Go through it three times or more without
and you're sure to be a climbing god!

http://cyclo-zen.com/combo/ :shock:

Cajun

Optimum Body Weight
Pro;Greg LeMond
Secret
“The best climber’s build is a marathoner’s scrawny upper body with powerful, piston
legs. Pros climb well in three-week tours because their upper bodies atrophy during
the event from lack of use. It’s a fallacy that a burly upper body will help you climb
better on the road. Strength helps but bulk doesn’t. Body fat should be as low as
possible, but so should upper-body muscle volume.”

EXAMPLE! How much does weight loss help climbing? According to exercise
physiologist David Swain, PhD, if a 165-pound rider loses 10 pounds while maintaining
the same power output, he’ll save a whopping 2 minutes on a 5-mile climb.

What You Can Do
Riding more helps you lose extra pounds, of course, although you’re unlikely to amass the
20,000 to 25,000 miles per year that pros routinely log. A faster way for us mortals to get
svelte is to limit unnecessary calories from our diets. Try these ideas:
• Avoid fatty salad dressing, substituting a squeeze from a lemon wedge.
• Use skim rather than whole milk.
• Eliminate margarine and butter. Try low-fat jam or fat-free cream cheese on your
bagels.
• Limit lean meat servings to 3 ounces baked or grilled (about the size of a pack of
cards).
• Eat more vegetables, rice, and potatoes in place of high-calorie dishes.
• Order your pizza with half the cheese. Only your waistline will know the difference.
• Fill half your bowl with rice before you add the chili. You’ll get more carbo from the rice
and less fat.
• Drink water when off the bike instead of soft drinks or beer.

Climbing Tactics
Pro: Greg LeMond
5
Secret
“People tend to go out too hard early on a climb and then suffer before the top. If you
try to keep up with faster riders you’ll feel okay for a couple of minutes, but then you’ll
blow up spectacularly and ultimately you’ll go slower. The solution is to back off
earlier in the climb and keep your pace steady. You’ll lose less time to the leaders.
“The same goes for interval training. Riders tend to do the first minute of a 5-
minute interval way too hard. Wattage data shows that it’s better to start with an
intensity you can maintain all the way. It’s better to start too slowly and pick up the
effort in the last minute.”

What You Can Do
DRILL! Divide and Conquer: Find a hill that takes about 5 minutes to climb. Mentally
divide it into thirds. Ride the first third at a pace that feels “moderate.” Increase the
pace slightly during the middle third. As you approach the last section, you should be
breathing hard but in control. Now increase the pace all the way to the top.
You’ll find that your performance improves when you start the climb at a reasonable rate and
gradually up your effort. Think of yourself as a carpet unrolling, going faster as you near the
end.
Climbing Position
Pro: Bobby Julich (third overall in the ’98 Tour de France).
Secret
“I tend to sit most of the time while climbing. When the road suddenly gets steep that’s
a good time to stand. I also stand when attacking or accelerating. But otherwise I stay
seated because my heart rate remains lower.”
What You Can Do
For most riders, standing on a climb results in a heart rate increase of about 5 beats per
minute compared to sitting and going the same speed. Small, light riders usually can stand
with less pulse penalty because they’re supporting less weight than bigger riders. That’s why
125-pound riders like Marco Pantani stand more than big guys like Jan Ullrich.
TIP! To find the climbing style that’s most efficient for you, ride to a steady grade that
takes 4-10 minutes to climb. Do the whole hill seated at a brisk but not all-out pace.
Note your heart rate and the time it takes to get to the top.
Roll around for 15 minutes to recover, then ride the climb again—standing this time, at the
same heart rate. Compare your elapsed times.
6
Repeat several times over a period of a month to allow for variations in form on a given day.
By comparing times, you should have a clear picture of which climbing style is better for you.

Climbing Cadence and Style
Pro: Bobby Julich
Secret
“I tend to spin a lot more than most pro climbers. My cadence is probably 80 to 100
rpm even on the steepest grades.
“Most climbers slide forward and backward in the saddle to vary the strain on
their muscles, but I try to stay in the same place most of the time. I climb with my
hands on the brake hoods and relax my arms when I’m seated.”
What You Can Do
Julich’s predilection for a rapid climbing cadence is shared by Tour de France winner Lance
Armstrong, who amazes us with his ability to spin up steep grades while his competitors are
grinding.
The secret is to choose gearing that lets you spin on the steepest climbs in your area. If it
takes a 39x27-tooth low gear, get one. Don’t let vanity stand in the way. Lance regularly
climbs in a 23 and says he’s thinking about putting on a 25. You’ll find that you, too, climb just
as fast when you’re pedaling a lower gear more rapidly. And your knees will thank you.
TIP! While you’re spinning up climbs, think about relaxing your upper body. Muscular
tension in the arms, shoulders, and face uses energy better spent for turning the
pedals.
Look at videotapes of Julich, LeMond or Armstrong. Notice how relaxed they appear even
when the crunch is on. Compare their stylish climbing to your own posture on the local killer
hill. Now work on flowing to the top.
Sticking With the Climbers
Pro
Bobby Julich
Secret
7
“I try to start each climb in front regardless of my fitness level. It works especially well
if you aren’t the best climber in the group. You can limit your losses and catch up on
the descent.
“When people pass you and you sit on, remember to climb with your front wheel
a bit to one side of the rear wheel you’re following. If you’re directly behind and that
person stands up abruptly, you could get taken down.”
What You Can Do
DRILL! Frontal Assault: Go with a group that has several riders who are slightly
better climbers than you. Experiment with riding up hills from the front. If you ride at
your own pace, you’ll gradually slide back through the group. Your goal is to remain in
contact all the way to the top. Each time you ride, try to stick in the group longer. You’ll
see the improvement in as little as a month.

Cajun

I'm definitely NOT a climber, but one tip that I adhere to, is to NEVER look at the top of the hill [climb].... I only look at the 10 to 12 feet in front of the wheel... looking at the top of the hill just tells me that I've got more to climb.... a steady absorption of the 10ft is easy enough, and then I'm at the crest....

Another rule is to NOT try and keep up with someone who is a climber....your legs will be toast and your m8 will hardly feel the pain....

AidanR

That's a truly heroic piece of copying and pasting, and some very interesting stuff there.

It is, however, like using a cannon to kill flies.

ut_och_cykla

antfly wrote:

If he doesn't have a triple and he wants lower gears then an alternative would be to get a long rear derailleur and a 32 teeth cassette instead. A lot of people do that for the alps.

I run a 52/42730 trippel & fit a 32 MTB cassette for Alp riding - don't always use it but it means i get up anything day after day, regardless of incline etc. I can live with the big jumps!

Bronzie

AidanR wrote:

This talk of doing 90% max HR for 1 hour is daft.

Why? If the climb he's training for will see him climbing for around 30mins - 1 hour, you can bet the only way he'll be able to keep his HR in his endurance zone would be to walk up it. Therefore, why not get his body used to making the sort of effort he'll need to make for his target event?

AidanR wrote:

1) This is a leisure ride, not a race

True but the OP wants to improve his climbing - he won't do that by pootling along on the flat all the time

AidanR wrote:

2) If you start a 50 mile ride by going hard up a hill for 10km you'll blow up later on

Not if you do the right training you won't

AidanR wrote:

3) Doing long stretches of high intensity cardio isn't actually very good for you - how many sportsmen live into their 90s?

Presumably you have some evidence to back up this wild statement

AidanR

Bronzie wrote:

AidanR wrote:

This talk of doing 90% max HR for 1 hour is daft.

Why? If the climb he's training for will see him climbing for around 30mins - 1 hour, you can bet the only way he'll be able to keep his HR in his endurance zone would be to walk up it. Therefore, why not get his body used to making the sort of effort he'll need to make for his target event?

Or use an appropriate gear. Don't tell me they don't exist - I've done my fair share of touring.

Bronzie wrote:

AidanR wrote:

1) This is a leisure ride, not a race

True but the OP wants to improve his climbing - he won't do that by pootling along on the flat all the time

Depending on his current level, yes he may well do. For leisure riding there's nothing particularly different about hills so long as you have the appropriate gearing. You just ride in the same way but go a bit slower thanks to gravity.

Bronzie wrote:

AidanR wrote:

2) If you start a 50 mile ride by going hard up a hill for 10km you'll blow up later on

Not if you do the right training you won't

I'll clarify that - if you go off too hard, you'll blow up, no matter what your training. The point I'm trying to make is don't worry about the hill and treat it as something different. It's supposed to be an enjoyable ride and not an exercise in getting to the top of the hill in the best possible time. No offence to the OP, but at 17 stone and at aged 46 he's not going to be breaking any records, so why approach it in a competitive way?

Bronzie wrote:

AidanR wrote:

3) Doing long stretches of high intensity cardio isn't actually very good for you - how many sportsmen live into their 90s?

Presumably you have some evidence to back up this wild statement

Ha! This is one of the trickier ones and I knew I'd get picked up on it. Peer reviewed scientific studies? No, I don't have any of those I'm afraid. I'm really just regurgitating this:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/

I don't expect this to convince you or anyone else here, but I will say a couple of things that I believe:

1) Some exercise is almost invariably better for you than no exercise
2) This doesn't mean that more exercise is better
3) Too much medium-to-high intensity prolonged cardio has been shown to compromise the immune system (I will cite papers on this if it provokes controversy)


I'm not saying that some of the tips on hill climbing aren't good, or that you should never train for hills. I'm not saying that training at 90% max HR isn't a good way to train for this particular hill. What I'm saying is that it might be more appropriate for the OP to just enjoy riding, and enjoy the ride, and not worry about speed. I've done my fair share of intense training and competition in sport (rowing rather than cycling, admittedly) and I'm done with it. I'd far rather go on a relaxed ride on my own or with friends than kill myself training for some inconsequential event. Enjoy the journey rather than the destination. I still enjoy the odd all-out effort up a hill, or sprinting against friends, but it's never a chore or a grim task.

Bronzie

Just a couple of points in reply

- this is the Training forum, not Workshop - I therefore answered the OP with a view to "what training should I do" rather than "what gears do I need". Yes you can get up anything with low enough gears, but I got the feeling that the OP was after training advice. By all means fit lower gears, but it wouldn't do him any harm to improve his fitness at the same time.

- climbing is a hell of a lot more enjoyable when you are a bit fitter