I'm useless at climbing.... :(

Garthvader

Ronseal.
I'm not cycling all that long (maybe 1 year). Could definitely do with losing 2-3 stone.
And while I feel I am pretty fast on the flat, I have one speed going up hills.... Slow as feck..

Can anyone recommend any nice hills in SouthDublin/Wicklow for me to hone my climbing skills?
I think the cut off between taxing climb and nightmare for me is somewhere around 7%

Luxman

Garthvader wrote: »

Ronseal.
I'm not cycling all that long (maybe 1 year). Could definitely do with losing 2-3 stone.
And while I feel I am pretty fast on the flat, I have one speed going up hills.... Slow as feck..

Can anyone recommend any nice hills in SouthDublin/Wicklow for me to hone my climbing skills?
I think the cut off between taxing climb and nightmare for me is somewhere around 7%

b
No magic too it. Half your answer is In your post. Lose weight. Other half is to find a hill you can tackle and keep track via strava of your progress. Try to beat a time previous every time you go out. Is stocking lane close by?

martyc5674

I'm in a different corner of the country so can't recommend particular hills.
Losing weight will help.
Try find a hill that has a good steady gradient rather than a stepped one, that way you can keep your heart rate in check and not blow up...keep your cadence steady.
Do a few hill repeats once a week...you will only get better

Cookie_Monster

not sure exactly where you would start from but I used to use this loop as a short decent hilly ride

https://goo.gl/maps/kxXhnP5uHUy

brocbrocach

I think you have the right idea and attitude - find a hill and know how you feel on it.
Everytime you do it it should be a bit more doable/fast or you know why.
Everything follows from there. Unless you're racing you're there for that challenge anyway.

Blackgrape

I'm overweight and struggle on hills. I've found wearing a heart rate monitor a big help. I no longer climb at a pace set by others and stick to keeping my heart rate below 166 bpm (my magic number). Once i keep my heart rate steady, the pedals turning and a positive atitude I can climb .

smacl

Crap at climbing myself. Rather than try and get faster, I opted to get nice low gears so I can enjoy my climbs and tend to climb a lot more as a result. It is also worth taking on climbs that you find a bit harrowing every now and again, as they have the effect of making climbs you would otherwise find difficult seem comparatively easy. For me in South Dublin / Wicklow, these would include Kilmashogue lane, the Wall followed by the Old long hill, Cunard to Military road, and Kellystown road to Ticknock. In terms of gearing, I have 34/32 as my low low option, and use it on the severe ramps all the time. If the guy in the shop sells you a bike with 39/25 as your low gear and says 'sure you'll be grand', he's lying :pac:

Bloggsie

Garthvader wrote: »

Ronseal.
I'm not cycling all that long (maybe 1 year). Could definitely do with losing 2-3 stone.
And while I feel I am pretty fast on the flat, I have one speed going up hills.... Slow as feck..

Can anyone recommend any nice hills in SouthDublin/Wicklow for me to hone my climbing skills?
I think the cut off between taxing climb and nightmare for me is somewhere around 7%

slow as feck, once your not lying on the road after losing the fight with gravity from going too slow, as posted previously pick a hill & do it for a number of weeks & record your numbers dont go nuts at the start or you will be on the deck befre you finish, as confucious say, "slowly slowly catchy monkey!"

lukegjpotter

smacl wrote: »

In terms of gearing, I have 34/32 as my low low option, and use it on the severe ramps all the time. If the guy in the shop sells you a bike with 39/25 as your low gear and says 'sure you'll be grand', he's lying

The 32T with Long Cage (GS) derailleur is great advice, you're buying a bike for your enjoyment. You won't ride it if it's not fun.

Here are some of my cornerstones when I ride alone:

• Three Rock via Ticknock Road, Short and Steep very technical descent, my personal favourite,
• Enniskerry to Top of Featherbeds, Long and steady,
• Kilternan to Pine Forest, Hard start with level finish,
• Cruagh Road to Pine Forest, Easy start with hard finish,
• Stocking Lane, Steady with only one hard pitch.

Mix these into your spins, or build the spins around these, and you'll soon start seeing improvements.
You'll be close enough to home if you run out of food, or the weather changes.

Garthvader

Garthvader wrote: »

Ronseal.
I'm not cycling all that long (maybe 1 year). Could definitely do with losing 2-3 stone.
And while I feel I am pretty fast on the flat, I have one speed going up hills.... Slow as feck..

Can anyone recommend any nice hills in SouthDublin/Wicklow for me to hone my climbing skills?
I think the cut off between taxing climb and nightmare for me is somewhere around 7%

How about this one:
https://www.strava.com/segments/806595

Thargor

smacl wrote: »

Crap at climbing myself. Rather than try and get faster, I opted to get nice low gears so I can enjoy my climbs and tend to climb a lot more as a result. It is also worth taking on climbs that you find a bit harrowing every now and again, as they have the effect of making climbs you would otherwise find difficult seem comparatively easy. For me in South Dublin / Wicklow, these would include Kilmashogue lane, the Wall followed by the Old long hill, Cunard to Military road, and Kellystown road to Ticknock. In terms of gearing, I have 34/32 as my low low option, and use it on the severe ramps all the time. If the guy in the shop sells you a bike with 39/25 as your low gear and says 'sure you'll be grand', he's lying :pac:

Im the same, bought a new bike just for low gears. I can keep a bike going for a pretty much unlimited amount of time at 30 kph on the flat but I really have no business being up in the Sally Gap my climbing is so bad but with the right bike and gears its easy enough and I suppose I do improve a bit every time I do it, still absolutely loath climbing though.

Fian

Answer is: You need a new bike.

Aside from that do you really care if you are going up slowly as long as you are getting there? I think you can go to a 28 tooth rear cassette without needing a long derailleur and that is an easy fix. I could do with losing more than 3 stone, but i go up at an easy pace and enjoy it without pushing and blowing up.

Wishbone Ash

Garthvader wrote: »

...I think the cut off between taxing climb and nightmare for me is somewhere around 7%

The length would be as important if not more important than the gradient. Most people will be fine on 1km at 7%. However 5km at 7% would be tough going.

Garthvader

Thanks for all the feedback guys.
In fairness I do plug away at various routes up to Glencullen or the featherbeds but feel I have one speed on these ascents... Definitely have no uphill 'kick' in me ðŸ˜႒.

Favourite route being up Burrow Road to Fox's.... Challenging but workable. I do find it tough enough on Vixen hill.

Similarly find the route up via Bluelight a bit of a b*stard for 200m..

It struck me that maybe a 'compact' chainset would be an improvement... Until I looked into in and realised that I already had one ðŸ˜
The disappointment that day....!!

Taking the burrow road segment:
http://www.strava.com/segments/642971

That's an average of 3.3km @ 5%

If you lost the 2 or 3 stone you mentioned in your OP and you put out the same power, you could knock 3 or 4 minutes off your time.


Have a look here:
http://bikecalculator.com/


I went up that segment unfit and 4 stone heavier at 33+ mins. Now I can do it sub 15. I'm still an average climber but weight plays a big part.

Alek

I went up that segment unfit and 4 stone heavier at 33+ mins. Now I can do it sub 15. I'm still an average climber but weight plays a big part

Did you lose weight by training? If so, maybe its due to training too?

Alek

Alek wrote: »

Did you lose weight by training? If so, maybe its due to training too?

Yeah there is an element of that. Since I don't have a powermeter it's hard to say!

D3PO

as others have said just keep plugging away. I don't have a lot of basis as im only on a roadbike since August of this year, but I find that Im a far better climber now than I was when I begun.

Part of that is I've dropped about 3kg in weight, part of it is ive learnt how to ride at a tempo better whereas I used to ride hit a flatter section put it in the big ring for 100 - 200m then drop back down etc. Now I just ride a good tempo, a nice cadence and find im much faster as a result and part of it im sure is that im gaining strength from repeated climbing.

Im never going to get KOM on the big climbs but i am getting faster and enjoying the challenge of climbs more and more now. So all i can say is just keep at it and enjoy it.

G1032

Fian wrote: »

Answer is: You need a new bike.

Aside from that do you really care if you are going up slowly as long as you are getting there? I think you can go to a 28 tooth rear cassette without needing a long derailleur and that is an easy fix. I could do with losing more than 3 stone, but i go up at an easy pace and enjoy it without pushing and blowing up.

You can go to a 30 if you like. I put a Tiagra 12-30 on last year with a short cage and had no issues whatsoever.

Garthvader

ronoc wrote: »

Taking the burrow road segment:


That's an average of 3.3km @ 5%

If you lost the 2 or 3 stone you mentioned in your OP and you put out the same power, you could knock 3 or 4 minutes off your time.


Have a look here:
bikecalculator


I went up that segment unfit and 4 stone heavier at 33+ mins. Now I can do it sub 15. I'm still an average climber but weight plays a big part.

I've checked and Ive done that segment in 15m40s.... so im not a lost cause. However, at that pace I'm fairly wrecked when I reach the crest....
Anyhow bottom line is I'll speed up when I'm luggin less weight up the hill.

Unknown Soldier

Garthvader wrote: »

I've checked and Ive done that segment in 15m40s.... so im not a lost cause. However, at that pace I'm fairly wrecked when I reach the crest....
Anyhow bottom line is I'll speed up when I'm luggin less weight up the hill.

I'm terrible on hills but I seek them out these days (and avoid a few too). I find it more rewarding just to get up some of them without stopping, rather than distance/speed.

I used to be brutal at them and then two things were pointed out to me by more experienced people, things which have been mentioned already. (I'm still brutal at them but I can do them)

Do them at your own pace. Ignore everyone else. Getting up them is a quality achievement!

A Heartrate monitor is a very, very useful tool. When you start being aware of when you "blowout" you can adjust your pace to suit.

Losing wieght is a huge hill climbing gain too.

I'd add to the advice that it is also worth practising getting OOTS (out of the saddle) It's grand being able to get up a lot of hills in the saddle but there is a whole muscle group in the back of your legs that when used/trained can make some nightmare hills, not so scary. And if not used much, very, very painful post ride.

I'm still not over the TDKK. Scarred for life!

For the record, I'm a highly unfit bloke in his 40s.

Bloggsie

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

I'm terrible on hills but I seek them out these days (and avoid a few too). I find it more rewarding just to get up some of them without stopping, rather than distance/speed.

I used to be brutal at them and then two things were pointed out to me by more experienced people, things which have been mentioned already. (I'm still brutal at them but I can do them)

Do them at your own pace. Ignore everyone else. Getting up them is a quality achievement!

A Heartrate monitor is a very, very useful tool. When you start being aware of when you "blowout" you can adjust your pace to suit.

Losing wieght is a huge hill climbing gain too.

I'd add to the advice that it is also worth practising getting OOTS (out of the saddle) It's grand being able to get up a lot of hills in the saddle but there is a whole muscle group in the back of your legs that when used/trained can make some nightmare hills, not so scary. And if not used much, very, very painful post ride.

I'm still not over the TDKK. Scarred for life!

For the record, I'm a highly unfit bloke in his 40s.

I have to try the OOTS method, I was "advised" by a person who I know now was taking the P**S that it is best to stay in the saddle and find a gear to get you up and over any climb without gravity winning. I am based in Kildare with very few climbs to speak of, I did go to a family members house in Greystones & from Bray to the house was a challenge! As for getting a KOM I dont really envisage one any time soon. Havent been out since September, combination of holidays/work & a poxy chest infection. Might have to get stabilisers!

Wishbone Ash

Bloggsie wrote: »

I have to try the OOTS method, I was "advised" by a person who I know now was taking the P**S that it is best to stay in the saddle and find a gear to get you up and over any climb..

Out of the saddle requires more energy and is really only suitable for short bursts or for very steep bits. Overall, you are better to remain seated. While I'd regularly get out of the saddle climbing here I'd rarely do so on long Alpine climbs.

smacl

Bloggsie wrote: »

I have to try the OOTS method, I was "advised" by a person who I know now was taking the P**S that it is best to stay in the saddle and find a gear to get you up and over any climb without gravity winning.

I don't think the píss was being taken, it depends to an extent on the individual whether they prefer to stay in the saddle or not. Personally, on long climbs I prefer to stay in the saddle, where others like to mix it up.

dexty

Best thing you can do, by a mile, is loose weight! Last winter i lost the best part of 2 stone and it knocked 3 mins off a 5K, 1000ft (height) climb, avg 6-8%. Makes a massive difference. No amount of training or lighter better bikes etc will come even close. I went from back of the group to the front on climbs. Concentrate on the weight over the winter, get it down slowing. Go see a good nutritionist. And rem, you cannot out train a bad diet.

Everyone is different but the 1 things that worked for me was cutting out sugar, and I don't just mean in my tea. It's everywhere. I'm not jumping on the anti sugar bandwagon but I thought I had a healthy diet by eating punnets of mixed fruit with fat free Greek yogurt and honey (all natural sugar u r told!) and no added sugar Alpen. My appetite and blood sugar levels were all over the place. Once i got that under control the weight came off quite easily after trying to train it off for years. The general theory I followed is that my body is in fat burning mode when I wake up and as soon as I have any kind of sugar my body releases insulin and it stops the fat burning. So a good protein based breakfast with nuts or smoked salmon/fish that has good fats to curb your appetite really got things under control. Limit your carbs then to 1-3pm a day. There will be times wen you feel like crap due to lack of carbs and u will feel crap on the bike but so worth it in the long run.
If you love your cycling, you owe it to yourself 2 loose the weight. Good luck

dots104

Looking to improve on this myself over the winter season. Currently living on the north side of Dublin and the only training hill I really use is Howth. Could anyone recommend a few in north country Dublin to add some variety to my training.

Borderfox

dots104 wrote: »

Looking to improve on this myself over the winter season. Currently living on the north side of Dublin and the only training hill I really use is Howth. Could anyone recommend a few in north country Dublin to add some variety to my training.

Naul, nags head, black hills from skerries, all of wicklow is a quick cycle across the city

Crocked

If you check out the route map for the great Dublin bike ride last month it had two short but steep climbs on it. I'm not familiar with the area so don't know exactly where they were or their names. Think they were near a quarry, but if you go to the website you'll see a link on it for the routes and should be easy enough to locate them from there.

link to the route map http://ridewithgps.com/routes/8463599

Looking back at my strava file it looks like the climbs were around Garristown and Ardcath

Wishbone Ash

Crocked wrote: »

If you check out the route map for the great Dublin bike ride last month it had two short but steep climbs on it. I'm not familiar with the area so don't know exactly where they were or their names. Think they were near a quarry, but if you go to the website you'll see a link on it for the routes and should be easy enough to locate them from there.

link to the route map http://ridewithgps.com/routes/8463599

Looking back at my strava file it looks like the climbs were around Garristown and Ardcath

The first one would have been "Snowtown" which comes as you enter Co Meath after crossing the bridge at Naul.

Not sure where the other would be. There are a few drags around Garristown and Ardcath but no climbs as such.

Luxman

I have ventured from Meath out to Rathfarnham in recent weeks to get the proper hills in. Naul is quite close to me and for short sharp shocks its not bad, but Stocking Lane, Kilakee, Cruagh are different beasts but you can still hit those short climbs hard for intervals. I really enjoyed my last venture out to Glencree. Different mentality on longer climbs needed to the shorter ones. Much more control is needed in pacing yourself. Second the sentiment about sugar, its freaking everywhere and after reading something last night about hill climbing champs diets, I ended up snacking on raw carrots in front of the TV.

Wishbone Ash

Luxman wrote: »

I have ventured from Meath out to Rathfarnham in recent weeks to get the proper hills in. Naul is quite close to me and for short sharp shocks its not bad, but Stocking Lane, Kilakee, Cruagh are different beasts but you can still hit those short climbs hard for intervals...

Kilmashogue Lane is also a bit different!

Cee-Jay-Cee

I too was one if those that rode all hills in the saddle but this year I decided to try OOTS for shorter steeper hills/climbs and while you may expend more energy doing it, you get up quicker and recover quicker too. I now tackle all shorter hills out of the saddle.

In regards to weight loss, for me diet was 95% of the cause with cycling/exercise making up the 5%. Unless your doing huge miles daily then weight loss will be minimal but proper diet control gains the biggest losses and cycling helps keep it off.

Leroy42

dots104 wrote: »

Looking to improve on this myself over the winter season. Currently living on the north side of Dublin and the only training hill I really use is Howth. Could anyone recommend a few in north country Dublin to add some variety to my training.

Howth is a great facility to improve your climbing. Accessible at all times due to the street lights, good surfaces, and low enough that unlike Featherbeds etc you won't suddenly get caught up in major weather changes.

It has numerous routes to climb the hill, which give a good mixture of steep to steady. The issue of course is the length of the climb. Whilst one can overcome that that in some way be simply including multiple ascents there is always a big difference in doing a 10 minute climb and then repeat after a descent to doing a 20 minute climb.

But the variety of climbs gives the chance to try out standing, seated, high gear, low gear, short intense efforts or sustained constant effort.

Oh, and boredom of course!

Lumen

Leroy42 wrote: »

Howth is a great facility to improve your climbing. Accessible at all times due to the street lights, good surfaces, and low enough that unlike Featherbeds etc you won't suddenly get caught up in major weather changes.

Howth is good for winter coffee spins but by about mid-February I cannae take it any more. Despite having an amazing coastline there aren't really any views from the roads and it feels a bit claustrophobic.

I'm hoping the lower bits of Stocking Lane and Cruagh (up to the viewing point) are OK in winter. Cruagh is steepish but the ramps are short enough and there's a nice steady warm up coming up from the Yellow House.

smacl

Cruagh was fine for most of last winter, with the first bits of ice after the bridge at the junction to pine forest road. Worst of the ice was from the climb past L.Tay to the Sally gap cross roads, though the atmosphere alone up there in the Winter makes a set of studs well worth the money. Off road bit towards Kippure is a real hoot in the snow. Personally I didn't risk the very icy road sections, mountain rescue have enough on their hands. The short lumpy circuit I'm loving at the moment is up to the Miltary road via Bohernabreena and Glassamucky (wimpishly avoiding the really nasty Cunard ramp) and back down via Stocking lane. Reverse works well too, though again I'll be doing it on studs when the cold hits.

rollingscone

Also you could build a dirt cheap old steel frame bike as a 46×17 singlespeed and have fantabulous ootS and cadence training anywhere that there's any climb.

Unknown Soldier

Bloggsie wrote: »

I have to try the OOTS method, I was "advised" by a person who I know now was taking the P**S that it is best to stay in the saddle and find a gear to get you up and over any climb without gravity winning.<snip>

As others have said, you weren't being lied too! For the record, I wasn't suggesting that OOTS was the way to do hills! Again, as mentioned, it is just a handy tool to have in the toolbox when needed, for short steep bits etc. I could get up most of the hills I do without ever getting OOTS but I do it for practise reasons.

Looking back at the original OP, if it's faster that is wanted rather than being able to... then it is losing weight that would help most.

[edit] I forgot why I came here A quite useful tool/add on if you are using Strava with Chrome. Stravistix Gives quite a lot of detail about your climbing as well as whole other bunch of stats.

Wishbone Ash

Lumen wrote:

Howth is good for winter coffee spins but by about mid-February I cannae take it any more. Despite having an amazing coastline there aren't really any views from the roads and it feels a bit claustrophobic.

Some nice views on Balscadden Road and on the private road down to the Bailey Lighthouse.

rollingscone wrote: »

Also you could build a dirt cheap old steel frame bike as a 46×17 singlespeed and have fantabulous ootS and cadence training anywhere that there's any climb.

I occasionally take the fixie (48/16) up the Sutton side Howth and remain out of the saddle for the duration of the climb - easier than I initially thought it would be but I suppose there aren't any steep parts on that side.

crosstownk

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

A quite useful tool/add on if you are using Strava with Chrome. Stravistix Gives quite a lot of detail about your climbing as well as whole other bunch of stats.

Magic. Enough stats to make my head explode. I was bad enough with the regular Strava but this is a whole new level.

Nice one.

Daroxtar

crosstownk wrote: »

Magic. Enough stats to make my head explode. I was bad enough with the regular Strava but this is a whole new level.

Nice one.

Try Veloviewer.... Average gear length, torque, power, normalised power, FTP..... sort segments by average gradient, max gradient, position, attempts....3d segment views......it goes on and on.
You'll spend more time looking at it than cycling

flywheel

Garthvader wrote: »

Ronseal.
I'm not cycling all that long (maybe 1 year). Could definitely do with losing 2-3 stone.
And while I feel I am pretty fast on the flat, I have one speed going up hills.... Slow as feck...

while addressing a healthy diet it's worth looking at some off the bike training too... if you can fit in some strength and core (central body, not just abs) training it will also help you out... here's two resources that should help out...

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/the-best-strength-exercises-for-cyclists

https://www.trxtraining.com/train/trx-workout-for-cycling

or ask a training professional (who understands cycling)...

manwithaplan

I don't think there's any great trick to climbing and I'm not that convinced by the idea that the way to improve is to ride lots and lots of hills. Basically, to get better at climbing (let's assume we're talking about longish climbs here), you need to reduce weight, increase power and get comfortable with highish cadences. That's also what you need to do to become a better cyclist generally. Hills can help - not because they are good 'practice' but because the resistance they provide can help you put out a higher power for as long as it takes to climb them. Essentially you are doing intervals when you ride hilly routes.

If you haven't been riding for too long, just get out on the bike a good bit. Try to spin a decent cadence - it will feel unnatural for a while but you'll get used to it. You will lose weight and increase power naturally. This will get you up the hills and allow you to take on more challenging routes that will improve you further (the interval thing). If you're bothered about getting even better, you'll have to think about more structured training.