Can Fat fella's climb

avababy24
avababy24 Posts: 162
edited March 2014 in Road general
Can 'fat fella's climb ?

Comments

  • aw1808
    aw1808 Posts: 91
    Yeah but slowly :-)

    I'm living proof !!
    I may be slow going up but i will pass you going down !
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    I'm not sure but if they are white I've heard they can't jump!
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  • rattyc5
    rattyc5 Posts: 84
    No. My wife destroys me up hills. I only beat on flat and downhil
  • navrig2
    navrig2 Posts: 1,851
    Depends.

    If they are an ex-rugby player of football player with strong legs then probably.

    If they have 20 years of couch potato, beer and curry experience then probably not.
  • ai_1
    ai_1 Posts: 3,060
    Navrig2 wrote:
    Depends.

    If they are an ex-rugby player of football player with strong legs then probably.

    If they have 20 years of couch potato, beer and curry experience then probably not.
    It's not about strength so much as sustainable power. The heavier you are the more power you need to climb at a given speed. While you may have proportionally more muscle than someone much lighter it's highly unlikely you have proportionally higher cardiovascular performance.

    So on climbs lighter riders do have the advantage. On tje flat this isn't the case because the impact of weight is small except when accelerating and here it's muscle more than aerobic performance that matters.
  • prb007
    prb007 Posts: 703
    Yes - but it hurts us more!
    Did a 2hr Mt.Ventoux ascent from Malaucene, last June, beat two of my slighter
    mates to the top by 10 mins!
    I'm 6'4" and 17st (192cm/108kgs), so not grossly overweight, but no racing snake, either :D
    (killed them on the descent, too!)
    If Wales was flattened out, it'd be bigger than England!
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  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    It's surprising what a difference losing the weight makes. Last year I struggled with any hills that went in to double figure percentages; slow up them and struggling from the start. I'd purposely avoid steep hills as a consequence no matter how short they were. This year I've lost a chunk of weight and steep hills no longer bother me. I'm never going to be a whippet going up them but I now enjoy the challenge of them and no longer suffer as soon as the road starts going up. So yes, fat blokes can climb, but it's far more enjoyable without the weight.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • pinarellokid
    pinarellokid Posts: 1,208
    I did 3000ft in 30 miles yesterday, it hurt, and I'm no weight weenie,
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  • ai_1
    ai_1 Posts: 3,060
    pinarellokid wrote:
    I did 3000ft in 30 miles yesterday, it hurt, and I'm no weight weenie,
    I don't think the question is really "Can Fat fella's climb" but whether they can climb as well as slimmer "fellas".
    Typically no. Having said that I'm far from slim although I wouldn't volunteer the description "fat" either and I've done lots of climbing including going up Mt Teide from El Medano twice last year (2100m in 35km continuous uphill). However if I was significantly lighter I'd have done it a lot faster with no additional cardio-vascular fitness.
  • macleod113
    macleod113 Posts: 560
    not easily no.
    i joined a club last march and we climbed Beeley Hill (Matlock/Chastworth way) and i died. i was in the easiest gear all the way up and its not even that steep. just long. i only did one more ride with the club before i realised i wasnt good enough.
    now i am nearly 4 stone lighter (still 16st) and will be trying it again tomorrow. reckon i can beat my 20 mins from last year. after losing the timber i actually seek out hills from time to time now rather than avoiding like the plague.
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  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    I am a skinny chap (59Kg), but ride with larger chaps a lot and my take on it is, depends.

    Shallow gradients or shorter, rolling terrain - yes, in general, larger riders may be able to keep up.

    Steeper, longer stuff - no - that's where we will split up.

    All generalisations - there are some really big, powerful chaps who can demolish me on pretty much all terrain, but in general, it is us lighter chaps (even one like me who's had bits of his lungs chopped out) who will be left at the top of anything longer/steeper.
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • jscl
    jscl Posts: 1,015
    Power to weight. There are 80KG+ bulkier riders that can still climb just as well, if not better sometimes, than lighter riders. That's just power horse riders though - take Stannard for example. He can climb well, considering what he weighs, then put him on the flat and he can storm away. But if your weight is clocking in at 55KG, you're considerably advantaged in comparison :)
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  • Graham K
    Graham K Posts: 329
    At 105kg I can get up a hill, in my own time, blowing out of my arse cursing all the way.

    I dont like hills, I am not built for them simple as that, will freely admit that and have taken an 8/9 mile detour to avoid a 1 mile hill :oops: but I will also tackle that hill on another day with the mindset 'If I can climb hills I can cycle anywhere',
    Will I ever enjoy a hill? No. Will I keep tackling and cursing? Yes.
  • homers_double
    homers_double Posts: 8,295
    Yes. Slowly.

    That said I beat my fitter brother in law up Blackstone Edge last weekend by a considerable margin yet he can run a 10k (at a point when I did a bit of running) around 15 minutes faster than me.

    He's only done three 45km rides with us and I've been riding bikes for about 20 years.
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  • Bozman
    Bozman Posts: 2,518
    I don't know about fat but I put 5kgs on through December and January because of this and that, my climbing went to pot but my speed on flat and undulating routes had stayed the same, as the weight came off I got quicker up the hills but no quicker on the flat.
  • andy_s_t
    andy_s_t Posts: 106
    When I started riding again i weighed 130Kgs, I wasn't unfit, but I was carrying quite a bit of 'baggage' and had plenty of power, but I hated hills. Now I'm still a heavy weight at 115Kgs (half the 'baggage' has gone but I have retained the power but I can now climb okay, on Strava I'm normally in the top half to a third, for CAT 4 climbs, which isn't too bad I don't think.

    I'm certainly not the fastest up hills and I use a girly 34-30 combination when it gets steep, but I can keep going and keep the cadence up. My aerobic performance and lactic clearance were my main issues, as I had spent years playing sport where everything was done in short bursts of power.
  • LegendLust
    LegendLust Posts: 1,022
    Tommy Bustard doesn't do too badly
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  • SlipSpace
    SlipSpace Posts: 46
    I've not ridden road for a few years but I always could, my slow twitch muscles are pretty good I guess. That said I can't sprint for toffee :lol:
  • Father Faff
    Father Faff Posts: 1,176
    The best way to get better at climbing is not to avoid climbs but go and seek them out, the steeper and longer the better - which is quite easy here in the Yorkshire Dales but maybe a problem in the flat lands of the South and East. As a by product of this strategy you will probably also loose weight...
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  • gozzy
    gozzy Posts: 640
    Who is Can Fat fella? What do you want to know about his climb?
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,317
    No they can't...
    Someone crap like myself can climb steadily at 280 Watt for a good half an hour... a 100 Kg guy who wants to climb at the same speed needs 400 Watt. I don't know any 100 Kg guy who can climb for half an hour at 400 Watt...
    left the forum March 2023
  • getnoticed
    getnoticed Posts: 82
    I'll let you know tomorrow when (or if) I finish a hilly sportive.

    I've lost 8 kg since I first tackled a local hill and now beat those times, but tomorrows lumps are bigger than what I usually ride (or avoid)
  • vertigo16
    vertigo16 Posts: 91
    Gozzy wrote:
    Who is Can Fat fella? What do you want to know about his climb?

    As a bloke born and bread in the village of Can Fat I'd like to ask you to stop intentionally misunderstanding internet posts simply to make a point about punctuation, and intead read about my mate's recent climb...
  • ai_1
    ai_1 Posts: 3,060
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    No they can't...
    Someone crap like myself can climb steadily at 280 Watt for a good half an hour... a 100 Kg guy who wants to climb at the same speed needs 400 Watt. I don't know any 100 Kg guy who can climb for half an hour at 400 Watt...
    This is the correct answer.
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