Climbing

McTiger

OUCH!

Feeling inspired by the Alpine stages of the tour I thought I'd head out on one of the hillier roads in the area, 1300 ft climb over 30 miles, according to run keeper, and boy do my legs know about it. I'm a hefty lad on a hefty bike which brought my speed down to around 5mph on the steeper parts, but I didn't have to stop to put my lungs back in at any point so I'm chuffed with myself for not giving in and dropping to the granny ring or bailing and pushing it up. Didn't help when on 3 separate climbs I was plodding along when another cyclist on a carbon road bike simply breezed passed with what looked like supreme ease. looking forward to the days when I can be strong/fit enough to do that! Learned some lessons though..
1/ 5 miles in the hills is like 20 on the flat
2/ There's always a little more in the tank
3/ I'm nowhere near fit enough for a club run
4/ I need a carbon road bike ;-)

MountainMonster

I'd say maybe 2 miles flat is about a mile of climbing, not 1/5. It all depends on your fitness though, and if you ride hills alot.

And yes, you do NEED a carbon bike! I love your attitude

Bobbinogs

I think you would find that if you swapped bikes with the bloke who scalped you...he would still scalp you.

Just keep training and you will get there but bear in mind that hills never get easy, you just get quicker. I would recommend joining a club now and don't be too disparaging on yourself, most clubs have different groups for different levels and will let you hop between the groups as you improve. They can also be a great source of info and an inspiration to get you out on a miserable Sat/Sun in mid-winter.

suzyb

Where about were you riding McTiger, I notice we're around the same area.

And I find your list applies to me as well

McTiger

Monster - I suspect you are more accurate with the 2 miles flat but for me it feels way longer!

Bobbinogs said "I think you would find that if you swapped bikes with the bloke who scalped you...he would still scalp you"
Particularly the guy on the Carbon Ribble on one of the steepest sections - you could have given him a skateboard and told him to go backwards & he would still have scalped me! Still, it given me another target to strive for - a century next summer & to climb like the bloke on the carbon ribble.

suzyb - i'm up in Bellshill and I went through Hamilton & up the hill to Strathaven where my folks live, raided their teapot & fruit bowl before heading back home

MountainMonster

McTiger wrote:

Monster - I suspect you are more accurate with the 2 miles flat but for me it feels way longer!

Bobbinogs said "I think you would find that if you swapped bikes with the bloke who scalped you...he would still scalp you"
Particularly the guy on the Carbon Ribble on one of the steepest sections - you could have given him a skateboard and told him to go backwards & he would still have scalped me! Still, it given me another target to strive for - a century next summer & to climb like the bloke on the carbon ribble.

suzyb - i'm up in Bellshill and I went through Hamilton & up the hill to Strathaven where my folks live, raided their teapot & fruit bowl before heading back home

I know what you mean about feel. When I first started out riding, 600m climbed in a 40km trip was hell. The hills seemed to dragged on forever. But with fitness you come to enjoy the workout, as well as getting up quicker!

screebs

Doing the Bealach Na Ba in September with a crowd from work - 2000ft of climb in just 6 miles! The closest you'll get to an Alpine climb in the Uk - cannae wait!

Oh and booked my summer holiday for 2012 and will climb Mont Ventoux when there. 2 years down the line from taking up cycling I will get to climb Ventoux again - think I should do better this time!

Stopped hating hills after I climbed Ventoux within 6 months of taking up cycling - as someone on here told me "they don't get easier, they just get slightly faster!"

rc856

Definitely join a club. I'm in Johnstone Wheelers are we have runs for different abilities.
No-one is left on the 'easy riders' run. Re-group after hills, coffee stop etc.
Makes a big difference being in a group.

Do it!!!

........and buy a carbon!

niblue

If you were down to 5mph why wouldn't you drop to the granny ring? You'd probably have ended up going faster!

My bike is fairly low geared ( 50:34 and 11:28 ) and in the granny ring at and with a normal climbing cadence I'm be doing 8.5mph. My granny ring gets used quite a bit.

jame58rown

Did a 30 mile loop today with two massive climbs. ones about 4 miles, the others about 3 miles long, at gradient of around 7%. Mix this in with a few short but steep climbs of 16 - 20% and 0, zero, zilch, zip flats and it equates to one hard ride. I also did it on a 1990's steel bike with a 53 tooth chainset, lol. My cannondale is in the lbs getting fixed

danowat

Hills are over rated, did a 25 mile TT today with 828ft of climbing, prefer the flat TBH

G.Zero

Did a 30 mile loop today with 1946ft of climb and I really don't do well at climbing yet! really need to work on that.. But it was an amazing ride with some great scenery so that made up for it

dreamlx10

I really don't do well at climbing yet!

some great scenery

That'll be the reason you're not good at climbing, you can see the scenery ! You should be blinded by sweat and not be able to see the scenery.

SLX01

niblue wrote:

If you were down to 5mph why wouldn't you drop to the granny ring? You'd probably have ended up going faster!

My bike is fairly low geared ( 50:34 and 11:28 ) and in the granny ring at and with a normal climbing cadence I'm be doing 8.5mph. My granny ring gets used quite a bit.

Agree totally, spinning up a hill on a granny ring will get you fitter faster than trying to slog it out in a high gear. As you get fitter you will find the need to use the lower gears diminishes.

suzyb

SLX01 wrote:

niblue wrote:

If you were down to 5mph why wouldn't you drop to the granny ring? You'd probably have ended up going faster!

My bike is fairly low geared ( 50:34 and 11:28 ) and in the granny ring at and with a normal climbing cadence I'm be doing 8.5mph. My granny ring gets used quite a bit.

Agree totally, spinning up a hill on a granny ring will get you fitter faster than trying to slog it out in a high gear. As you get fitter you will find the need to use the lower gears diminishes.

I always thought it was the opposite.

unixnerd

Climbing takes practice, it's a great way to get fit. We have an annual ten mile time trial from Aviemore to the top car park on Cairngorm and it's murder for the last three miles.

Biggest secret to climbing is lightweight wheels, that and more training!

geoff_ss

danowat wrote:

Hills are over rated, did a 25 mile TT today with 828ft of climbing, prefer the flat TBH

In Norfolk? (though I know, despite Noel Coward's claim, Norfolk isn't completely flat)

Climbing at 5mph is still quicker and easier than walking. I think, even when I was fit and young, I used to climb the big cols at about 5/6 mph with full camping gear and had time to enjoy the scenery.

Chris James

McTiger wrote:

OUCH!

Feeling inspired by the Alpine stages of the tour I thought I'd head out on one of the hillier roads in the area, 1300 ft climb over 30 miles,

Think yourself lucky! 30 hilly miles around here is about 1000 metres of climbing.

I've lived in the Pennines for the best part of ten years but still climb like a dog.

danowat

Geoff_SS wrote:

danowat wrote:

Hills are over rated, did a 25 mile TT today with 828ft of climbing, prefer the flat TBH

In Norfolk? (though I know, despite Noel Coward's claim, Norfolk isn't completely flat)

Yup, its not flat, far from it in many places, if you want proper flat, you have to go out west to the fens, now thats flat.

suzyb

unixnerd wrote:

Climbing takes practice, it's a great way to get fit. We have an annual ten mile time trial from Aviemore to the top car park on Cairngorm and it's murder for the last three miles.

Biggest secret to climbing is lightweight wheels, that and more training!

I was in a van that barely made it up that hill, can't imagine how hard it would be to cycle it :?

SLX01

suzyb wrote:

SLX01 wrote:

niblue wrote:

If you were down to 5mph why wouldn't you drop to the granny ring? You'd probably have ended up going faster!

My bike is fairly low geared ( 50:34 and 11:28 ) and in the granny ring at and with a normal climbing cadence I'm be doing 8.5mph. My granny ring gets used quite a bit.

Agree totally, spinning up a hill on a granny ring will get you fitter faster than trying to slog it out in a high gear. As you get fitter you will find the need to use the lower gears diminishes.

I always thought it was the opposite.

Most beginners suffer on hills due to cardio fitness not tired legs so high cadence spinning uphill increases fitness in my opinion better than wobbling up in a bigger ring than you can comfortably peddle in.