Struggled with "The Struggle"

LeighM

Rode "The Struggle" on Saturday and whilst I managed to ride the entire length of it without walking, I did have to stop and catch my breath a few times.

How do you effectively train for a hill like that? Surely hill reps allow a recovery period so unless you're training on a hill of similar length and gradient, it's not that representative?

We rode the Helvellyn Triathlon bike route, starting in Patterdale, so I was approx 55km into the ride before we hit "The Struggle". I'm not sure the gel, piece of cake and 1 liter of SiS had me fueled for such a climb, so that probably affected my performance.

NeXXus

Fitness, lack thereof :roll:

Only thing you didn't do was blame the bike

dinyull

LeighM wrote:

I'm not sure the gel, piece of cake and 1 liter of SiS had me fueled for such a climb, so that probably affected my performance.

I wouldn't eat/drink that much on a rolling 60 mile ride, never mind 30 miles into a ride so fuelling shouldn't be a problem.

diy

ditto. i would say fuelling was fine. could be any number of things from set up to fitness.

LeighM

I don't doubt fitness was the issue, my question was how does one get fit "enough" for such a climb?

LeighM wrote:

How do you effectively train for a hill like that? Surely hill reps allow a recovery period so unless you're training on a hill of similar length and gradient, it's not that representative?

Put another way, I can't ride the Struggle week in week out until I nail it, so how should my training be focused for such a climb? Short and steep, long and steady...?

imposter2.0

Climbing is like riding on the flat, except you work harder and go slower. Train for the intensity and for the duration - on a turbo if needs be. You don't have to ride up hills to get good at riding up hills - you just need a better aerobic capacity. Less weight is also useful, depending on how heavy you are currently.

meanredspider

I have n idea what The Struggle looks like as a hill but, unless it's stupidly steep (20% range) you should be able to ride up anything given the right speed and vaguely sensible gearing. After that, it's just getting quicker. As Imposter has said, you just need to train at that level of effort. Hills are slightly different but not different enough.

LeighM

meanredspider wrote:

I have n idea what The Struggle looks like as a hill but, unless it's stupidly steep (20% range)...

That's what the sign at the bottom says! I don't know if that's an average, the max or what, but it was the steepest hill I'd ever tried to ride up, approx 4km from end to end too.

Imposter wrote:

Less weight is also useful, depending on how heavy you are currently.

I'm 77kg at the mo, but trying to lose a few kg, hopefully without losing power.

iPete

What is your smallest gear?

LeighM

iPete wrote:

What is your smallest gear?

34/28 - spent the whole climb in it, seated and standing.

bobmcstuff

Could probably go to a 30 or 32 tooth at the back without changing the derailleur (maybe not for the 32), and that would help. Cassettes aren't very expensive so it's an easy fix. I run a 32 at the back on both my bikes and I try not to use it much but it's nice to know it's there for those 20% sections

Obviously fitness too

daveski12

This is The Struggle - http://www.strava.com/segments/3765820?filter=overall

I rode up it earlier in the year, found it quite tough. I had a 30t cassette on my bike for that trip.

meanredspider

daveski12 wrote:

This is The Struggle - http://www.strava.com/segments/3765820?filter=overall

I rode up it earlier in the year, found it quite tough. I had a 30t cassette on my bike for that trip.

Ah cool - thanks - now have some perspective of what it is - I'd imagine the final kick is challenging if you're tired. It's about 1/3 of an Alpine HC climb

thegibdog

meanredspider wrote:

I'd imagine the final kick is challenging if you're tired. It's about 1/3 of an Alpine HC climb

It's also twice as steep as a typical 'Alpine HC climb'. Not that the Alps have any relevance here.

meanredspider

thegibdog wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I'd imagine the final kick is challenging if you're tired. It's about 1/3 of an Alpine HC climb

It's also twice as steep as a typical 'Alpine HC climb'. Not that the Alps have any relevance here.

According to the Strava link, it averages 8% - in the same ballpark as D'Huez or, elsewhere, Ventoux - are you saying it's 16-18%?

thegibdog

meanredspider wrote:

thegibdog wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I'd imagine the final kick is challenging if you're tired. It's about 1/3 of an Alpine HC climb

It's also twice as steep as a typical 'Alpine HC climb'. Not that the Alps have any relevance here.

According to the Strava link, it averages 8% - in the same ballpark as D'Huez or, elsewhere, Ventoux - are you saying it's 16-18%?

Yep, as mentioned, it gets up to 20%, whereas most Alpine climbs rarely get above 10%. There's more to a climb than average gradient.

meanredspider

thegibdog wrote:

Yep, as mentioned, it gets up to 20%, whereas most Alpine climbs rarely get above 10%. There's more to a climb than average gradient.

Of course there is (I've spent the last 10 years living in the Highlands and often ride in the Ardennes) - but if it averages 8% and peaks at 20% there must be plenty of much lower gradient too. As I said, looking at the profile, what looks to make it hard is that the steepest part is near the top.

thegibdog

meanredspider wrote:

thegibdog wrote:

Yep, as mentioned, it gets up to 20%, whereas most Alpine climbs rarely get above 10%. There's more to a climb than average gradient.

Of course there is (I've spent the last 10 years living in the Highlands and often ride in the Ardennes) - but if it averages 8% and peaks at 20% there must be plenty of much lower gradient too. As I said, looking at the profile, what looks to make it hard is that the steepest part is near the top.

Indeed, I was just pointing out that comparing it to an 'Alpine HC climb' wasn't really of much relevance. Most cyclists could quite happily sit in 34/28 for a long time on a gradient under 10% but 20% is a completely different matter.

Guanajuato

daveski12 wrote:

This is The Struggle - http://www.strava.com/segments/3765820?filter=overall

I rode up it earlier in the year, found it quite tough. I had a 30t cassette on my bike for that trip.

What's missing i the bit from the roundabout in Ambleside. That's about the steepest bit of the climb other than the last bit up to the Kirkstone Inn (rubbish pub by the way).
Its on my to-do list. The only issue is the cars on the road between Kendal & Ambleside, particularly the stretch between troutbeck bridge & Ambleside.

styxd

THe struggle is basically two climbs, there's a flat section with a small downhill in the middle! Probably why the average gradient is only 8%. Completely different sort of climb to the Alpe.

meanredspider

Harrogate Velo50

The struggle is quite a tough climb, so don't be to hard on yourself,although I thought the bends at the end were easier than at the start.

Think yourself lucky, it's one of the easier climbs in the lakes

davidof

thegibdog wrote:

Yep, as mentioned, it gets up to 20%, whereas most Alpine climbs rarely get above 10%. There's more to a climb than average gradient.

Those are the climbs we keep for tourists. There are plenty that go over 20% and the rest. Plus you may be 2000 meters above sea level at the time with 4000 vertical meters in your legs.

homers_double

Woo, I'm 2010/2151.

Not good!