How to get into the hills?

Danbo!

Basically I want to go into the wicklow mountains on the bike for a day, at least thats the goal. Do one of these 60-70k loops and hit a few climbs. I live in dublin 24, so am right on the doorstep. Thing is though, Im a bit of a fat bastard and not exactly a fitness freak. I've recently laid off the booze quite a bit and am losing a bit of weight, hoping hill climbing would also help.

I've been commuting by bike now for 5 years, the last 18 months on a road bike. The commute is 11.5k each way and it never troubles me at all. Some saturdays, far less than I would like, I might go out and do 35-50k on the flat, again not much of a problem. Obviously I'd break a sweat, but wouldnt be in bits afterwards. This route is usually Firhouse, Rathfarnham, Dundrum, stillorgan, dun laoighre and then back through town.

I've attempted to climb, only to viewpoint, a few times but backed down halfway. Sounds pretty pathetic, but once I hit a hill I'm done.

What is the best way to train for this? Is it just keep going for it every week, or a few evenings a week, and getting a bit further each time? Or find a hill thats easily loopable and do repeats?

Any advice appreciated.

scottreynolds

Stee wrote: »

Any advice appreciated.

IMHO, I'd just ride the hills more.. use the easiest gear you have. For stocking lane if you have to walk then walk up pushing your bike but don't turn back just walk if you have to. You;ll pretty soon get bored of walking and want to ride again. Keep trying and eventualy you will get there.

The other option is to find a slightly easier route... e.g. Dundrum --> Enniskerry --> Glen Cree --> Stocking Lane --> Home but thats not as much fun.

Thats about it ride till it hurts then some more and eventuially it get easier. It thaat fails spend 2-3k on a new bike and you;ll try harder

jag con

My advice would be just get out there and keep at it it will get easier as you do it more i know ive done it

start on easy climbs and put the bike into the easiest gear and go slow there is no point trying to pedal like mad, nice and easy
each time you do a hill the next time go a bit further it will get easy after a while

setanta159

Stee commuting 11.5kms each way for last 5 years and 30-50 at the weekend makes you a fitness freak in my book . I could only surmise that being a 'fat bastard' could only be down to a very poor diet (including massive amounts of booze) and/or is genetic and I wouldn't be too sure hill climbing would impact hugely on your weight. I have read on here a lot about how cycling is not great if you are looking to lose weight, however, my personal experience (we are all different animals) has seen me lose 2.5 stone over the past 12 months primarily through cycling a similar distance to what you describe in your post. If you are looking for a gentler hill to climb cover over the northside and do Howth head.

Muller_1

I would recommend working on distance first, having a distance foundation is very important, you should be able to build hills into your spins slowly.

victorcarrera

Stee wrote: »

... but once I hit a hill I'm done.

Change the gearing on the bike to suit your current fitness/weight and the terrain you intend to cycle. Any hill you can walk, can be cycled with appropriate gearing.
Then once you get fit enough to ride over a particular climb you will develop the confidence and technique for even greater challenges provided you keep at it. Your commute indicates you already have some base fitness so don't be afraid to hurt yourself a little on those climbs.
Keep an eye on the diet also. Any excess weight on a climb will be severely punished.

Hungrycol

Start pushing yourself harder on your commute and your weekend spins. Increase your average speed or heart rate if you have a HRM, start coming home in bits!! Your body may now be used to what to expect on your regular runs so start pushing it a bit more. Keep trying those hills again and again and again and believe me you'll be elated when you conquer them. Finally but more importantly change your diet.

Hungrycol

Stee wrote: »

Is it just keep going for it every week,

yes

Stee wrote: »

or a few evenings a week,

yes

Stee wrote: »

and getting a bit further each time?

yes

Stee wrote: »

Or find a hill thats easily loopable and do repeats?

yes

Rusty_bike

Head out along the Strawberry Beds from town and climb the hill after Chapelizod up to Mount Sackville school.

That'll learn ye....

seamus

Apparently the best way to get better at the hills is to lose weight. In reality though it's just a matter of developing the strength and stamina to do it. Just like weight lifting, you work at building up your strength, which will give you more power and you will get there in the end.

Hills require a unique form of exertion that you don't otherwise get on the road - relentless power drainage. Wind lets up, flat roads undulate, but hills are hills and if you stop pedalling, you will quickly slow down and stop. I find that the first few minutes of a hill are a bit of a killer; your breathing gets heavier, your heart rate goes up and you feel just that bit less comfortable. But if you push through this horrible part, you settle into it.

Warming up is also important. Where you are, it's very easy to jump on the bike and be at the foot of a hill in 30 seconds. But you're not warmed up yet, so the hill will feel twice as bad. Give yourself 15 or 20 minutes to work up a sweat, then go for the hills.

I'm in D24 as well and pretty much in the same category as you - fat bastard, 13k commute on a road bike, getting out for weekend spins far less often than I'd like. I can climb most hills, but only out of sheer stubbornness and not at any kind of good pace. I've found that leaving the hills till the end of the spin works best. Take yourself out to Dun Laoghaire, then come back via Lambs Cross - Mount Venus Road [here]. The hill will be tough enough, but take it as slow as necessary. If you do have to get off at any point, walk up the hill, wait for the current incline to ease off a bit, take a few minutes to breath (but not too long), then start again.

On the whole topic of pushing yourself - getting out for spins and getting up hills, it helps to not be on your own. Your desire to not look foolish will keep you on the bike up the hills and you're less likely to come up with an excuse (or go out on the piss!) if there's someone else relying on you. So on that note, drop me a PM if you want to head out any weekend. We're probably in a similar state, so you don't have to worry about being dropped.

Lumen

seamus wrote: »

Hills require a unique form of exertion that you don't otherwise get on the road - relentless power drainage.

Consider racing. It's like an hour or so of endless hill.

Danbo!

Wow, lots of replies already, thanks for the advice. Its actually great motivation, I wanna leave the office now and head up there!

setanta159 wrote: »

Stee commuting 11.5kms each way for last 5 years and 30-50 at the weekend makes you a fitness freak in my book . I could only surmise that being a 'fat bastard' could only be down to a very poor diet (including massive amounts of booze) and/or is genetic and I wouldn't be too sure hill climbing would impact hugely on your weight.

Yeah, genetic, that's the one! Nah, it is down to poor diet but i've been working on that the past while. To be honest I've just lost interest in drinking, which obviously isnt a bad thing. I get 2 days off work a week and I'd like to enjoy them.

Muller_1 wrote: »

I would recommend working on distance first, having a distance foundation is very important, you should be able to build hills into your spins slowly.

Yeah to be honest, the usual route is about 40k and I would like to extend that, but thought why add another 20-30k flat when I could start something newer and a bit more challenging. I may rotate between midweek hills and weekends flat, then try mixing the two.

Hungrycol wrote: »

Start pushing yourself harder on your commute and your weekend spins. Increase your average speed or heart rate if you have a HRM, start coming home in bits!! Your body may now be used to what to expect on your regular runs so start pushing it a bit more.

I've been timing my commutes alright. The only thing is I get home, shower and get dinner, its tough to get geared up again and go out. Moved house recently though so should be able to just drop the bag off and continue into the hills, especially with the evenings being longer.

seamus wrote: »

Warming up is also important. Where you are, it's very easy to jump on the bike and be at the foot of a hill in 30 seconds. But you're not warmed up yet, so the hill will feel twice as bad. Give yourself 15 or 20 minutes to work up a sweat, then go for the hills.

Never thought about that, cheers. The problem I have is I'm less than 30 seconds from the foot hills, I'm in them! (Hunterswood). Would doing a few short hill repeats first help? Are you familiar with this stretch of road? Im not sure what is considered steep or not steep, but that road is usually quiet and theres a climb between the two roundabouts. Would that sort of thing be good for a warmup?

seamus wrote: »

On the whole topic of pushing yourself - getting out for spins and getting up hills, it helps to not be on your own. Your desire to not look foolish will keep you on the bike up the hills and you're less likely to come up with an excuse (or go out on the piss!) if there's someone else relying on you. So on that note, drop me a PM if you want to head out any weekend. We're probably in a similar state, so you don't have to worry about being dropped.

Cheers, I had considered going on a boards saturday spin and when people say "it doesnt matter how slow your are" it sounds great. But if I went along they'd soon stop saying that! I'd like to get more confidence in the hills before I drag others back.

ED E

Nice coincidence. I'm on mid term right now and to avoid studying as much as possible I've been doing a bit of cycling. In the last 10-12 days I've climbed Stocking lane(to viewpoint) 5 times. First time I barely made it, today I got up with only one stop(bout 3/5 up) for literally 90 seconds and then off to the top.

Now I'm not near what anyone would consider calling fit. Luckily for me I'm young and no matter what I eat I put on no weight. Not really the sporty type at all and I get very little exercise but I'm trying to change this before its too late.

Today's spin(just back 20mins):
Churchtown
Stocking Lane
Viewing Point
Kilakee Road
Bohernabreena Road
Firhouse Road(Old Baun road junction)
Rathfarnham
Rathgar
Ranelagh
Miltown
Churchtown

Just fitted drops and I dont have any cable ties so I didnt have my speedo so I'll have to gmap it to get a distance but for a lazy sh1t like me it was an ok spin.

For me there are two things to consider for the climb to the viewpoint:
1. Warm-up: If you start cold you're done for. I build pace coming up Nutgrove ave and Ballyboden road so by the time I start the climb I'm rearing to go. That said, take it to fast and you'll cramp up before you pass the first chevron.
2. Pace/Cadence, this is something I knew practically nothing about(I'm a big noob:p) but as any of these lads will tell you, its key. After 5 mins your legs should be going like mad, it seems wastefull but it works. Also, shift your postion to leaning forward standing on the pedals when it gets that bit steeper and accelerate over them. This makes the slower gradients feel a lot less difficult.

Thursday will be mainly dry with a mix of cloud and bright or sunny spells. Mild with highs of 12 to 14 C in a light breeze.

If thats the case I'll be going up again tomorrow, if you want some company and drill marshalling:) I'm on a junker so we should be on a level playing field.

jwshooter

Ride your bike,ride your bike,ride your bike.

Fausto"II Campionissimo"Coppi .

seamus

Stee wrote: »

Never thought about that, cheers. The problem I have is I'm less than 30 seconds from the foot hills, I'm in them! (Hunterswood). Would doing a few short hill repeats first help? Are you familiar with this stretch of road? Im not sure what is considered steep or not steep, but that road is usually quiet and theres a climb between the two roundabouts. Would that sort of thing be good for a warmup?

Yeah, I'm in Hunterswood myself. I recently changed my route into work (city centre) specifically to go across Stocking Ave and take in that climb on the way out and the climb up Stocking Lane on the way home. As a warmup it's probably not great because warmups are supposed to slowly raise your heart rate. But it's a short enough hill. Forget about pace at the start and just focus on getting up it. I hated it the first 3 or 4 times, but now it's grand. Still takes effort, but it's not a shock to the system.

If you're on a spin, a simple enough warm up is to go down to Morton's, spin down the Firhouse rd, back up the Knocklyon rd and from there, go for Stocking Lane. It must be said though that Stocking Lane isn't tiny. If you really hate hills, take the Grange Road out past Lamb Doyle's to Dun Laoghaire and back again. That's a 30k spin with nice gradual hills with nothing gut-busting. Once you're happy with that, you can add in Mount Venus road on the way back for shorter but more severe hills. The possibilities really are endless.

Cheers, I had considered going on a boards saturday spin and when people say "it doesnt matter how slow your are" it sounds great. But if I went along they'd soon stop saying that! I'd like to get more confidence in the hills before I drag others back.

Well, the offer's there. Never been on a boards spin myself for the same reason, so I'm only going by your post reckoning there wouldn't be much between the two of us.

dave2pvd

For me, <1hr rides have little to no impact when it comes to losing weight.

Riding >2.5-3hrs is where I start to see it happen. Best not to ride solo - you won't go fast enough.

My advice: pick up a group ride at the weekend. Every weekend.

cdaly_

Stee wrote: »

I've been timing my commutes alright. The only thing is I get home, shower and get dinner, its tough to get geared up again and go out. Moved house recently though so should be able to just drop the bag off and continue into the hills, especially with the evenings being longer.

I find I rarely have time to go out for a spin after work but, when the kids are off school and I don't have to do school runs, I'll head out an hour earlier than my usual time and do about 35km instead of the usual 14km. Would something like that work for you?

JacksonHeightsOwn

stee

myself and Fran Oconnor on the forum here live in tallaght, we're heading to a stags this weekend, but we'll bring you out up to blessington next week if you want?

its not too steep, and trust me, we're no skinny lance armstrong lookalikes either

where in tallaght are you living?

Gasco

stee,
also a Hunterswood resident. Trying to get a bit of fitness back at present, usually head out for 50k + early on Saturdays, usually take in a few hills (within reason). I like to head out to J. Foxs via Lambs Cross, less intense than Stocking Lane, and on to Sally Gap if feeling good. If not, on to Enniskerry and home. Have been out for a few boards spins and can recommend, you benefit greatly from the company.

G'co

Danbo!

Just to bump this again and thank everyone for the advice. Last weekend I did a 28k route with some climbs that ill admit werent easy for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the spin. Halfway between Kilternan and Johnnie Fox's I was taking a breather (Read: dying in the ditch) and was very tempted to head back down, but happened to meet a work colleague on a spin who egged me on to the top. I decided to try not to walk any of it and just take breathers when I needed to. The climb past cruagh wood had me needing a breather halfway too, but it was great to get to the top.

Unfortunately I had yesterday morning aside to do it again but the weather put me off, which was stupid and lazy. So today at the end of my commute I decided to just drop my bag off and head to Kilternan again. Went via lambs cross, turned around at the statoil in kilternan and doubled back on myself through lambs cross again which was an extra 22k on the 11k commute. Gonna do the 28k pine valley spin a few weekends and then extend it, and replace the 'kilternan and back' spin with the 28k pine valley route hopefully 2 nights a week.

I must admit though, theres a much greater feeling of accomplishment after a few climbs. Thanks again.

DirkVoodoo

Well done and keep going, it gets easier!

You actually reminded me of one of my first spins up to Johnny Foxes with some friends, I had to stop half way up Ballybetagh road. Getting back on was tough, not least because I couldn't start a bike on a slope and had to go down and up again, but the feeling of achievement upon reaching Johnny Foxes was massive!

Meself

Fair play Stee.. i'm actually going to do this route next weekend and went for a drive around it few days ago just to figure what im in for.. the hill along stocking lane will no doubt be the killer but the views will drive me on especially after jonny foxes.

No doubt i'll be paying a few ditches a visit !