Hills!

darrena8

This may sound like a silly question but how much difference does some ones weight make whe climbing the big hills? Iam 5'8 and currently 99kg! I used to do alot of weight training so Iam quite chunky for my height but when I go out with a couple of mates who are more or less the same level of fitness they murder me on the hills, they are both 12 stone!
Iam loosing more andorra weight through cycling!

Any one fill me in cheers

Herbsman

It makes a lot of difference.

Not sure what andorra weight is though

turnerjohn

darrena8 wrote:

This may sound like a silly question but how much difference does some ones weight make whe climbing the big hills? Iam 5'8 and currently 99kg! I used to do alot of weight training so Iam quite chunky for my height but when I go out with a couple of mates who are more or less the same level of fitness they murder me on the hills, they are both 12 stone!
Iam loosing more andorra weight through cycling!

Any one fill me in cheers

if there more or less the same fitness there shouldn't be any difference ?!

Eich

If you go to http://www.analyticcycling.com/ you can do some simple comparisons.
I found that on a local climb of 9% gradient for 2.3km a kilogram is worth 8 seconds.

Herbsman

turnerjohn wrote:

darrena8 wrote:

This may sound like a silly question but how much difference does some ones weight make whe climbing the big hills? Iam 5'8 and currently 99kg! I used to do alot of weight training so Iam quite chunky for my height but when I go out with a couple of mates who are more or less the same level of fitness they murder me on the hills, they are both 12 stone!
Iam loosing more andorra weight through cycling!

Any one fill me in cheers

if there more or less the same fitness there shouldn't be any difference ?!

Of course there should - he has already said they're lighter than him.

Frank the tank

It's about your fitness.

I've always said, it's easier to peddle 11 fit stone up a hill, than 13 unfit stone.

However, if you're unhappy with your climbing performance the only way 'round it is............. ride lots of hills and have a good diet etc.

sungod

going up hills is a matter of physics, taking 100kg up a hill requires 25% more energy than taking 80kg up a hill, so right away, you know you are going to have to burn more energy than the lighter riders, but your power makes a difference too

the speed at which you can take your weight up a hill depends on your power to weight ratio...

if it's 6w/kg, you'll be a climbing god

if it's 2w/kg, you'll be a climbing worm

...this is based on a long climb, for shorter climbs, sustainable p/w will be much higher for both

chances are that you've got a fair bit of muscle/weight in upper body and arms, this hurts your p/w badly compared to a skinny cyclist, it's why your chums can thrash you on climbs

on the bright side, your peak power is probably pretty high, so with training you may be able to get revenge in sprints

Frank the tank

Perhaps an over-simplification but I can "bench press" 60lb easier than 100lb and it equates to the same in effect.

Secteur

Lose weight and find some cardiovascular fitness (gym muscle doesn't equal fitness) and you'll climb better.

Upper body weight (indeed any excess weight) is your enemy.

Cycling up hills is hard++ for ALL cyclists, but the lighter fitter ones can just do it quicker (it still hurts them).

Google power-to-weight ratio with respect to cycling,

Frank the tank

TBH as a cyclist you're never fit enough.

If it takes you 5mins to ride up a hill today, if, in two months time it takes you 4.45min you'll still want to be quicker. Hence, you're never fit enough.

ALaPlage

Frank the tank wrote:

TBH as a cyclist you're never fit enough.

If it takes you 5mins to ride up a hill today, if, in two months time it takes you 4.45min you'll still want to be quicker. Hence, you're never fit enough.

ALaPlage

Frank the tank wrote:

TBH as a cyclist you're never fit enough.

If it takes you 5mins to ride up a hill today, if, in two months time it takes you 4.45min you'll still want to be quicker. Hence, you're never fit enough.

Very true. It never gets easier you just do it quicker.

darrena8

I see quite interesting! I've never been light always been around the 90kg mark the weird thing is when we cruise down hills Iam always taking the lead I guess the heavier kid goes down hills easier as a matter of physics! I'll just keep plugging away Iam new to road cycling and really enjoying it. Thanks for the replys

rolf_f

ALaPlage wrote:

Frank the tank wrote:

TBH as a cyclist you're never fit enough.

If it takes you 5mins to ride up a hill today, if, in two months time it takes you 4.45min you'll still want to be quicker. Hence, you're never fit enough.

Very true. It never gets easier you just do it quicker.

People say this all the time but it isn't true. The hell I used to suffer on the little hill up to mine from the canal doesn't compare at all to my experience on hills now. Once you've achieved a certain level of fitness, hill climbs do roughly end up quicker for the same pain (IME) but before you get to that point, the pain is much worse.

Ringo 68

Grow to love the challenge of the hills. I used to avoid them like the plague but after losing weight and getting fitter I now make sure I include at least one good hill on my rides.

I hurts like hell still but I am not throwing my bike into a hedge at the top or looking for somewhere to get off half way up any more.

captain_kelly

I hate hills, but have found the only way to get through them is to go out once a week and purely focus on getting up lots of them.

Keeping the pace high in between so that thee is no false economy of me having more energy than I would at the end of 30/40 miles.

Generally though, the quicker you get up it, the quicker it will be over........until the next one.

nickel

As a small light rider I love hills as they're the only time my lack of weight makes up for my lack of power

ianbar

main thing to do is hit the hills more, regardless of your weight you will improve, i am a big fella and yes i have got a little quicker but in the main practicing hills made them just easier which meant i had more energy for the flats. i would have thought that you would have a good amount of power so on the flat you could be faster than your mates there. if you do hit the hills you will naturally get stronger but also burn more weight off! so it becomes a positive circle

darrena8

Thanks for the replys I will just keep slogging them out

Blancmange

Climbing hills is like making love to a beautiful woman.

AndyTuck

As others have said on here, I used to hate hills. Now I look forward to them! Weight, fitness and muscle strength obviously all play a part but a lot has to do with your mind and a positive attitude.

I recently went riding in Mallorca and decided to do Sa Callobra with a few mates - a beast of a climb not least because you have to climb over a long distance to get to the summit. Then the fun starts: a 2,300 ft descent with switch-backs over 7 miles to sea level. Once at the bottom, the only way out is back up again! That's 2,300 ft of climbing at an average of 7% over 7 miles. Took me 1:15 hrs to grind my way out (I think the fastest recorded is 30 mins!) excluding the couple of quick breaks to rest my head on my handle bars...

The point is, after that, all the climbs I encounter on my local rides are nothing by comparison. Just knowing that has made a huge difference to my climbing ability.

Mikey23

Blancmange wrote:

Climbing hills is like making love to a beautiful woman.

how does that work then? i must be doing it wrong!

i was until recently a little reluctant to tackle hills. which is a pity really as i live in launceston where the only way in or out is by hill. have tackled some of my bogies recently and lived to tell the tale. and then there is the joy of checking it out on strava later and finding that i'm not last ...

bisoner

Someone on this site said 'hills don't get easier, you just get faster at them'. That's pretty much it.

I get to a hill, I attack it. Do that on your solo rides, eat sensibly and you will lose the weight and the hills get much easier when in solo and group rides.

It might also be worth using something like Strava too - great for solo training and comparing your performance over time against yourself and others (especially on hills). I've just started using it myself and it's brilliant.

Blancmange

Mikey23 wrote:

Blancmange wrote:

Climbing hills is like making love to a beautiful woman.

how does that work then? i must be doing it wrong!

Lots of moaning and sweating. And the more you often you do it, the better you get at.

rdt

bisoner wrote:

Someone on this site said 'hills don't get easier, you just get faster at them'. That's pretty much it.

My experience is you get faster and it gets easier.

It seems to me that as you get fitter it "feels" easier to ride close to your maximum than when you're not so fit. Whether this is just perception as a result of becoming desensitised to the feel of very hard efforts, or whether there's more to it due to physical adaptations, I don't know. What I know is that riding up a steep hill within a few % of my max HR when fit feels quite a bit easier than climbing the same hill, at the same HR (albeit a slower speed ) when I've been much less fit.

jonomc4

The best way to do hills with ease - go around them

buzzwold

jonomc4 wrote:

The best way to do hills with ease - go around them

Used to think that but now wanting to man up. There's something in climbing a hill not dissimilar in posting a good time or doing a distance. It's the challenge. I did a ride recently which was all bloody hills for the first 40 miles. Two of the 16% gradients beat me I intend to get fitter and take them on again.

Simple physics means that I'll never race up them cos if I ever get that light I'll be emaciated.

adm1

Hills are great - at first they are awful, then they become a challenge and then you look forward to them. Right now, I go out looking for new ones that I haven't been up yet!

When I started road biking two years ago, I had to walk up 5 of the hills on my first sportive. This year, I aced them all - so you can get a real feeling of achievement from conquering them. Then when you know you can get up them, it becomes a challenge to see how fast you can get up them.

As others have said - Strava is great as it challenges you to do better every time.

Just keep at it - they do get easier, and then they get to be fun!