Climbing hills

Saldawop

I am new to cycling.I am only getting out twice a week at most.The length of ride is increasing slowly.Did 30 miles yesterday in JUST under 2 hours(round Central London)
My weakness (or at least one of them) is climbing hills, and I am not talking major hills, even short ,not particularly steep hills take it out of me.
Its not my lungs, its my legs that are the problem, even in the lowest gear.
What can I do to improve?Climb more hills? But do I just incorporate them into my rides? Or do I go out with the intention of doing hill repeats?
If the former do I just ride them and not worry about how fast I complete my ride?
If the latter ,the ride would be a lot shorter)in both length and time) do I just accept that knowing that it will be helping my cycling in the long run?

Like I said I am new to cycling so maybe at this point it isnt something for me to worry about BUT I live in Camden Town. Hampstead(and beyond) is only a few minutes away, but I tend to always head in the opposite direction as I can't face the hills ,so it limits my route options :oops: .

Secteur

Where I live there are ONLY hills - makes "recovery rides" almost impossible.

I hated it at first, but now I realise that despite being overwieght still, I am a better-than-average climber with powerful legs and frequently pass "whippets" on the steep local hills.

For that reason I now love the hills - the steeper the better.

When I started out, I was weak on the hills.

So, what I'm trying to say is - hills are your friend - get on them and with time you'll get stronger. It won't magically happen overnight, but if you put in enough long hours going up them, it will pay off.

gilesjuk

Walk up and down them.

Then when you get fast at walking up them run up and down them.

Once you find running up and down them easy get on the bike, you'll fly up them

niblue

What gearing does your bike have at the moment?

Saldawop

Its a Triple.
Specialized Allez 24

KnightOfTheLongTights

just have patience, if you are riding frequently, you'll get better, simple as that

select more or less the lowest gear you think you will need for the whole climb and then you can stay in it all the way - rather than being ambitious and then having to change down a couple of times as you go up.

You will feel like you are spinning too quickly to start off with but it's better that way around.

And you should over the weeks find that you can select a less low gear.

Herbsman

Look at it this way. If you wanted to be a better, faster typist, would you type more often or less often? Would you aim to type faster or more slowly?

CrackFox

Saldawop wrote:

Its not my lungs, its my legs that are the problem,... I tend to always head in the opposite direction as I can't face the hills.

The problem is as much in your head as in your legs. You need to incorporate hills into your regular rides. Just relax and settle into a rhythm at a pace that you can (just about) maintain steadily to the end. Above all, don't let your mind dwell on the discomfort or difficulty or the distance to the top - find a way to distract your brain if necessary (e.g. recite some song lyrics in your head, or focus on something you hate even more than hills). Read some articles on climbing (and descending) techniques, and see each hill as an opportunity to try them out and see what works best for you. Don't forget that what goes up gets to go down. The flat is just the boring stuff that you have to put up with between hills.

ThatBikeGuy

Try pushing higher gears, even on the flat to build up your leg muscles.

Saldawop

OK, I would quite like to build up my leg muscles BUT I also am trying to lose weight.The two dont go together do they?
I am quite a hefty 15 stone at the moment.Could do with losing at least 1 stone ,if not more.
I do try to ride in a higher gear all the time, I am pretty much in the large chainring most of the time.
I am going to head north on my next ride.So its either East Heath Road, Highgate West Hill ,Rosslyn Hill or head over to Archway/Crouch End.Whatever way I go,I am going to suffer

Butterd2

Saldawop wrote:

OK, I would quite like to build up my leg muscles BUT I also am trying to lose weight.The two dont go together do they?
I am quite a hefty 15 stone at the moment.Could do with losing at least 1 stone ,if not more.
I do try to ride in a higher gear all the time, I am pretty much in the large chainring most of the time.
I am going to head north on my next ride.So its either East Heath Road, Highgate West Hill ,Rosslyn Hill or head over to Archway/Crouch End.Whatever way I go,I am going to suffer

Ah.
Remember that your weight has little effect when riding on the flat (the wind resistance of a fatty is not that different to a skinny) however on a hill it is all about weight. Therefore you can do what is a reasonable 15mph average around London on the flat but then don't understand why you perform relatively more poorly on hills.

I'm 16st down from 17.5 so can speak with some authority on this, losing weight will help but mostly just get out and ride and it will become easier. If you want to see what can be achieved by a fatty though, check out my collection of Cols below....

Thelittlesthobo

I think different people have different techniques to riding hills. Personally i have been in the unusual position of not being able to get out of the saddle and stand up for the last 4mths, This meant i had to spin regardless on hills. At first i found it painfull and inefficient although the fact i had 50% ability in one leg didnt help.

4months on and i am now able to get out of the saddle and even though i no longer sit and spin i know i have that in the bag.

Last nights hilly 28mls i found i was getting out of the saddle and holding the big ring for as long as possible then just winding up the rear cassette as i slowed until i had to drop into the middle ring at the front. This got me up some pretty big hills at good speed.

Find a technique that works for you. You may not be a spinner and you may, like me, find you have to carry more speed into the hill and push on from there.

I am still learning and in a few months time i will start trying some lakeland passes which i will have to work a new method out but i think you have to work out what works for you.

briantrumpet

Saldawop wrote:

OK, I would quite like to build up my leg muscles BUT I also am trying to lose weight.The two dont go together do they?

You don't need big legs to climb well:

optimisticbiker

Saldawop wrote:

OK, I would quite like to build up my leg muscles BUT I also am trying to lose weight.The two dont go together do they?
I am quite a hefty 15 stone at the moment.Could do with losing at least 1 stone ,if not more.
I do try to ride in a higher gear all the time, I am pretty much in the large chainring most of the time.
I am going to head north on my next ride.So its either East Heath Road, Highgate West Hill ,Rosslyn Hill or head over to Archway/Crouch End.Whatever way I go,I am going to suffer

Highgate West Hill is hard work... used to do that on my commute. East Heath Road isnt too bad, as is the cycle path over the Heath between Highgate Ponds and Spaniards Inn. Archway is easier than West Hill. Climbing hills in the large chainring is not the way to improve, you're more likely to do yourself an injury. You need to keep the cadence up, close to what you can do on the flat. What I found worked for me is interval training on the flat or slight uphill inclines. Move into a slightly higher gear than is comfortable and push it hard for 15 - 20seconds then drop back to a gentle recovery for 2 - 3min or longer if need be. Repeat 3 or 4 times about 2 or 3 times a week over several weeks, gradually making the effort phase longer.

Hills that I couldn't begin to climb in 34/25 on my commuter (triple) I can now get up on the middle ring and mid-to-large cassette without dying.

niblue

As others have said, the only real way to get better on the hills is to ride them more often (although losing weight will help as well). No point dodging them.

I used to avoid hills but now my short local trainings routes incorporate the worst climbs in the area. I still don't enjoy them but I can climb them all without getting off and pushing and I've gradually getting faster and able to sustain a high heart rate for longer.

With a triple already it's possibly not worth looking at lowering the gears further, however my first road bike had a 24-speed set-up and I lowered the gears on that by changing to a 28-38-48 chainset instead of the 30-40-52 and also by fitting a mountain bike rear mech and an 11:32 cassette. Ok I didn't actually use the 28:30 granny gear often, but it was nice to have it there when I needed it!

rick_chasey

Many beginners (including me once) often say 'better' when they mean 'easier' with regard to climbing.

"How can I climb better?" when you actually mean "How can I climb more easily?"

Losing weight, getting fit etc.

It never gets easier - you only go faster.

MountainMonster

While you may trying to lose weight, remember that muscle is much better to have then fat. Losing 10 pounds of fat, but gaining 10 in muscle is a good comprimise. I supplement my already routes with some gym training, mainly dead lifts to help with lower back strength, squats for the back of the thighs, and presses for the thighs themselves. Since i've incorporated this into my routine, I have noticed a drastic imrpovement in my climbing, although that could be that I have burnt almost all the fat I need to off my body, and I also ride alot of hills, so they arn't as bad anymore.

Practice makes perfect on the hills, also, if you come to a point where you feel you can't go any farther on the bike, keep going. I always leave 2-3 emergency gears for the situations when I really do feel dead. Riding really slowly up the hill is much better than walking!

thescouselander

Climbing hills is all about technique. Round here there are quite a few hills (especially on the way to work) and I see a lot of people making hard work of it. The usual mistakes I see are 1) Using much to high a gear and 2) Shooting off up the hill too fast and running out of steam half way up


If a hill is hard going you can always slow down a bit although I sometimes find its better to get to the top as quickly as possible on small hills.

neilo23

MountainMonster wrote:

... and I also ride alot of hills, so they arn't as bad anymore.
!

Where you live, can you actually ride further than about 10 km without having to ride up any hills?

P_Tucker

Saldawop wrote:

OK, I would quite like to build up my leg muscles BUT I also am trying to lose weight.The two dont go together do they?

Don't worry, nor do endurance cycling and building leg muscle - despite what the muppets on here will tell you.