What's your psychological technique for climbing?

Reane_Machine

Thinking that beer lies at the crest of the hill helps too!

Silly Old Hector

One, or all of the below :

- look directly at the Tarmac below my wheels, avoiding looking at the gradient ( can be risky )
- pretend to be Mr Voekler, putting on some funny facial expressions
- get off the saddle and challenge myself to get to the top without getting back in the saddle
- check the dryness of the tarmac to estimate what speed I could get on the descent.

TKF

Look at the next drain and reel it in

Rinse and repeat

Mikey41

Look at hill.

Think "feck, here we go again"

Try to keep breathing steadily.

Fail at breathing and sit gasping in the middle of a 15% for 5 mins.

GGBiker

I just tell myself that I am a Spanish pro and juiced out of my mind, dance on those pedals and next thing you know I've placed 25 out of 49 on the Strava segment.

Then I realise that the lactic acid has dropped by serum pH to 7.0 and I cruise down the other side towards the nearest A&E department just in case.

Tattooine

SHADOWMATE wrote:

I gasp "C'mon ya bastard" and console myself that even slow pedalling is still pedalling.

I'm very new to road cycling but the quote above is my initial mantra, I have a whole range, as a noob most of the local hills are unridden so I want to tick them off so there's the challenge. When I bonk/whimper/need a man up pill I have imagined my wife and daughter stood at the top cheering me, the dad engine kicks in then and gets me there most of the time, but not all the time .

But there are days when just making the clippy bits und my feet go in circles is the biggest victory

Tats

il_principe

Having someone to chase down helps. Then if you pass them, the fear of them passing you back always adds a bit of energy. This can be very disheartening when you realise that the rider you are trying to chase down is a Pro out on a gentle training ride!*

Otherwise some music and focusing on cadence helps.

*happened to me on the Tourmalet this year. Then I promptly fell over at the top tight in front of 3 FDJ-BigMat guys. Oh the shame.

GGBiker

Imaging my wife and kids at the top wouldn't work, I know they would just be thinking "you look friggin' ridiculous in that gear, and even worse hyperventilating, slobbering covered in snot".

Cycling is only dignified if all of the hard work results in victory, that's why a lot of stages result in one guy giving it up and letting the stronger rider take the victory unchallenged, no point in losing and looking like shit at the same time!

Reane_Machine

TKF wrote:

Look at the next drain and reel it in

Rinse and repeat

I like that. Depends how many drains there are though.

thejimmymethod

Lots of shouting and swearing at myself.

Best motivation I've ever had was when I caught a whiff of bacon in the air that got stronger as I went up

confused@BR

I had a go at the C2C in the Lake District this summer, it was cr*p, strong headwind and pouring rain. I gave up after Penrith. However, when I returned to more civilized surroundings, I realized that nothing in my locality was anything as bad as the stuff I had ridden over up there. Nowadays I approach climbs 'tranquilo', set myself a steady tempo and don't look up until I am at the top. For me, most of the trouble with hills was in my own mind, I would panic and beat myself up before the gradient was really biting.

nolight

I just slog it out. Rule #5

http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#5

mr_dobbo

I like hills, longer the better, I prefer going up them to going down TBH. Find the equilibrium between not blowing and taking it to easy and try to hold it.

Curious Yellow

Harry Thorpe wrote:

Just pretend I'm Marco Pantani

This one.

Used to be Lance Armstrong, but decided if I was pretending to be a cheat I should pretend to be a cheat with style!

marz

It's pretty flat around here, so whenever I see a hill I also see a chance to push myself and generally my technique is....

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH puke!

Whether a 40ft lump in the road or 2000ft climb.

nickel

My motivation on climbs is simple: I've never put a foot down since I started road cycling on a climb and don't intend to break that streak with whatever climb I happen to be riding, it was this that got me up Bwlych y Groes in August.

dynamicbrick

Down on the South Downs all our hills tend to be short sharp affairs, and we've got plenty of them - so you get a climbing groove whether you like it or not.

My mental technique involves muttering abuse to myself, and trying to concentrate on the keeping the tempo and breathing bang on. Also helps to come into the hill fast and steadily change gears as the incline steepens.

There is one particular route out of town from the seafront which is 4.5kms constant climbing - gains 121 metres, with a 100m 15% kick right at the end. Doesn't sound much (well, it seems a bit wimpy to me - is it?) but it's bloody murder as there is no respite.

The road itself is a main road and runs up the crest of the hill - has side turnings every couple of hundred metres which all run downhill. The psychological battle there becomes a case of just aiming for the next junction each time, and then resisting the urge to make it all go away by turning off.

Muscleburn

I look no further than 6 or 8 foot ahead and keep chanting to myself 'just keep spinning, just keep spinning'.......sometimes it works, but there is no substitute for a marker!

TheCornishMong

The quicker I get up this climb, the sooner I'll be on the next one

Yeah, I'm one of those nutters who actually prefers going up to down...

Reane_Machine

TheCornishMong wrote:

The quicker I get up this climb, the sooner I'll be on the next one

Yeah, I'm one of those nutters who actually prefers going up to down...

I actually completely agree. I love the hills, I like the sense of achievement you get when you get to the top.

And I also like comparing myself to Strava - which is motivation in itself.

Downhills are boring man.

joe.90

Amidst the pain, I try and find some sort of rhythm.

moscowflyer

Getting a Strava PR, pure and simple.

Mystique

I force myself to smile confidently as I approach the start of the climb. Sounds freaky, but it works for me.

sbbefc

Go at night then you cant see the climb winding up in front of you.

AchillesLeftKnee

sbbefc wrote:

Go at night then you cant see the climb winding up in front of you.

Doubly so if it's an unlit road you don't know, with a profile that changes gradually. It's an odd experience to say the least.

Guanajuato

confused@BR wrote:

I had a go at the C2C in the Lake District this summer, it was cr*p, strong headwind and pouring rain

Sounds like the lakes. Some of us poor buggers have to live with it year round. Made even more fun by the rain, ice & snow causing the roads to crack up, paritcularly steep twisty ones.

My technique is "Nearly there, Nearly there...

Oh bugger, that wasn't the top?" as yet another false summit is crested.

Mccraque

I love hill climbs - mates think I am a pervert. Some of them spin with a high cadence but I always find the best technique for me (on an averagely steep climb) is to push a bit bigger gear...and still get the legs moving at a reasonable speed. I find that I expend less energy than if I were to granny it up.

Reane_Machine

MoscowFlyer wrote:

Getting a Strava PR, pure and simple.

Ahh Strava, the big dangling carrot-on-a-stick of cycling.