Mastering the Hills

A_Sober_Paddy

Hey all,

I'm just wondering does anyone have any advice for tackling the hills, i'm very inconsistent with regards to my times and recovery times after a session with some climbing.

At times, i find my gearing all over the place, like some times i go with very high cadence on a low gear, and other times go mid level gear with medium cadence and some days they work others they don't...

If anyone could direct me somewhere to learn how to tackles the hills, i'd like to race next year and been told hills will be the best way for me to get power in my legs and build up endurance for the tougher spins...

I'd pretty confident on the flats, being able to do 90-100km spins with a average of 29.5-30.1km/hr on long flat spins with minimal climbing...

Cheers in advance for your help and advice

Inquitus

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Hey all,

I'm just wondering does anyone have any advice for tackling the hills, i'm very inconsistent with regards to my times and recovery times after a session with some climbing.

At times, i find my gearing all over the place, like some times i go with very high cadence on a low gear, and other times go mid level gear with medium cadence and some days they work others they don't...

If anyone could direct me somewhere to learn how to tackles the hills, i'd like to race next year and been told hills will be the best way for me to get power in my legs and build up endurance for the tougher spins...

I'd pretty confident on the flats, being able to do 90-100km spins with a average of 29.5-30.1km/hr on long flat spins with minimal climbing...

Cheers in advance for your help and advice

Riding hills makes you better at riding hills, spinning a high cadence helps build aerobic fitness, spinning a lower cadence helps build muscular stength. No harm in mixing it up in training, generally on a sportive or in a race higher cadence takes less out of you.

fat bloke

If you have weight to lose. Lose it.

Makes a massive difference when the road points up.

A_Sober_Paddy

fat bloke wrote: »

If you have weight to lose. Lose it.

Makes a massive difference when the road points up.

Yeah i have a few kgs to lose, maybe about 3-4kg i could lose, which would bring the bf% to circa 10-11%

Koobcam

I reckon gearing is important; I think a compact (either 34/50 or 36/52) on the front paired with the highest-tooth-count sprocket you can accommodate at the back-something like an 11-28 would be the way to go. I find a high cadence works well for me, especially up steeper climbs, though you need a decent level of fitness to sustain this, so becoming fitter will (obviously) help.

.ak

I find the best way to master hill climbing is to do it in the mountain bike sense - that is to say to sit on your sit-bone on the front of the saddle, keep your weight slightly forward, arms straight, and get into a gear where your cadence is a solid one rev per second. If you can build on that you will get a good rhythm and that will be your base gear. I've been doing that for the past couple of months and now climbs that were tough for me are no sweat.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Get into the gear you want before you start straining in the gear you approach the hill in and spin up the hill. Having to change from a low gear to a high gear mid way up is a sure fired way of losing rythmn and struggling. I hated hills but actually dont mind them now, I can get up the majority of them on the 34/19 or 21 and leaving the 24 and 28 for the steepest/hardest climbs. I may not be super fast but I'm consistent and not exhausted when I reach the top.

Koobcam

CJC999 wrote: »

Get into the gear you want before you start straining in the gear you approach the hill in and spin up the hill. Having to change from a low gear to a high gear mid way up is a sure fired way of losing rythmn and struggling. I hated hills but actually dont mind them now, I can get up the majority of them on the 34/19 or 21 and leaving the 24 and 28 for the steepest/hardest climbs. I may not be super fast but I'm consistent and not exhausted when I reach the top.

Good point about the lower gears-it's always good to have a couple of sprockets in reserve in case you really blow. I have a 28 but rarely use it unless the climb is an absolute wall or unless I completely run out of energy.

murph226

Stupid question but are the hills good for losing weight compared to cycling on the flat?

smurphy29

murph226 wrote: »

Stupid question but are the hills good for losing weight compared to cycling on the flat?

Not really, because it's hard to keep your heart rate down on climbs, I find anyway. Read up on heart rate zones; the fat-burning zone is a relatively low heart-rate, best achieved by going for long endurance rides at steady heart rate.

killalanerr

This one comes up quite often,Climbing up hills is hard that never changes,as you get lighter and fitter you will go a bit faster but it will always be hard if not your doing it wrong!!
How to improve ? As with a lot of bike stuff its all about the base get out and ride your bike, get a decent level of fitness that matches your goals,without the base any meaningful improvement will be difficult,
If your really serious about it the next step is power to weight, the best way to improve your ability to ride up hill is to shed some kgs whether your looking to hang on in the sportive or dish out the hurt in an A1 race the prep remains the same good nutrition is the key
Another way to improve your power is the much loved hill repeats,30/40sec bursts with a short recovery done on a good hill to get the best out of theses beauties they should be done when your fresh,try theses at different cadence and you will soon get to know which suits you don't over do it as soon as the quality goes stop, don't push it 2/3 may be all you can manage when you start them
And remember it never gets easier you just go faster

flatface

practice is the key. I have spent years spinning (or trying to) up hills and have just found a new love for out-of-the-saddle mashing so I would suggest practising each of the following:

1. soft spinning.
This is when you find your gear and you go one easier. Don't worry about speed do a high cadence spin where you can go up-hill forever. Relax your shoulders and arms, try moving around position of your hands, I favour hands close to stem. Try moving around position of your ass on your saddle. Concentrate on a high cadence. Only problem with this is when you run out of gears...

2. hard spinning.
When the hill gets steeper you can move to hard spinning where you don't drop down gears but instead bend your elbows, get low and push harder on the legs to try and maintain the same-ish cadence. Some of my fastest ascents have been hard spinning climbs all the way to the top. Again move around position of hands, slide ass backwards in saddle and try and get really low and see if that helps.

3. soft mashing.
When your legs are burning from the above try standing up out of the saddle and go up 2 gears. Don't mash hard or fast on the pedals, slow your cadence down until you are at a pace you could maintain for nearly ever. Again move your hands around, try the hoods. Try not to be pulling to much out of your hands, if you are drop a gear, this is soft mashing. Move your centre of gravity forwards and backwards until you feel comfortable over the pedals and have a nice dancing movement up the hill. This is slower for me than spinning but it takes way less out of me and I have more power left for the top.

4. hard mashing.
Here you go up a gear and move your weight forward more so you are going harder on your legs, you should be pulling with your arms and feel like you are dragging with your clipless pedals to pull yourself faster up the hill. This is great for sprinting up over short hills but completely wrecks me after a few hundred metres.

One suggestion is to tackle a hill by building up some speed before it, soft spinning as you start it, move to hard spinning as it gets steeper, then soft mashing to rest your legs. Alternate spinning and mashing depending on the length of the hill and then try and finish with mashing so that you can start to up the pace as the hill flattens out and the pain is all over.

For training try spinning up a hill without standing and then try another or the same hill where you mash all the way from bottom to top.

I find if you concentrate on all the little things while you are climbing and experiment with your position it distracts you hopefully enough that you end up at the top.