how do you climb hills?

Velotour

I know. There are so many different kinds of hills, and then you have weather conditions. A certain hill when you have a stiff following wind is a very different challenge in a side wind or a strong head wind. Then you have hills that come in fairly evenly spaced bunches and are about the same height. You just keep gearing basically the same over them all. There are hills that slope up gradually to a certain point where the up-slope suddenly increases dramatically. I did about 130 miles one day over a long series of sloping hills because there was a strong storm in back of me with straight-line winds going exactly my way. I stayed in my highest gear almost all the time and was completely unable to feel any torque through the crank arms and pedals for much of the ride. It was like riding a moped except that the engine was the wind. Those same sloping hills in a head wind would have been a completely and totally different story.

I try NOT to stand up at all going up hills. I read that if you must stand going up hills the bike may be the wrong size for you. I have stood going up hills but I have not found it to be particularly advantageous. I remain seated and concentrate on relaxed functioning and try my best to keep the leg muscles relaxed.

The Pacific Coast Bicycle Route was really fantastic. I loved it. Of course I had moments of frustration and anger too, but all in all it was great. Going from north to south puts a lot of wind at your back and you can really feel the difference on those coastal hills. The scenery is unsurpassed anywhere on the globe that I know of. The air off the pacific is fresh, clean, and loaded with oxygen. The route is very hilly. It is a good workout. I loved it.

It does go through some areas of dense populations such as San Francisco, LA, and San Diego, but that is okay. They are good places to rent a room in a hostel, rest, and see the cities. In San Frencisco I went to Fishermens' Wharf, took a trolley ride, and then crossd the bay to Berkley to visit around the campus at the UCB and Telegraph Avenue. In San Diego I took a trolley to Tiajuana in Mexico. Of course there are many towns and cities along the way. Some are very small and others are medium sized. At LA I stayed in a hostel on Venice Beach. That place was different.

If I had to recommend one route among them all as the best one to take in the USA I would recommend the PCBR, but not necessarily for everyone and not necessarily for the beginner. It is a tough route. It is not a pushover. There are hiker / biker sections in state campgrounds and they are cheap and many have showers. I say do it. If you get the chance do it. It is the best, but it is tough and it is no bed of roses.

I too have moments when I am up or down. For some odd reason during the day when I cycle the most I feel either medium or somewhat down. Then when dusk approaches I start feeling ultra energised. Some mornimgs I feel energised, then somewhat down in the afternoon, and then back up again near night fall. It may be due to my eating habits. I notice that if I eat a good breakfast and wait an hour-and-a-half or two hours before cycling I can feel the energy in the muscles, but if I just get up and eat and go right away I cannot feel the energy. I have found it helpful in the mornings when I first get going to cycle about ten or fifteen minutes and then to stop even if for only five minutes for rest. It seems to give a sort of second wind and the muscles function more efficiently after that than they would have if I had just kept going solid. My mileage also goes up dramatically after a few days of rest. The muscles need that rest. I read in a book on physical fitness that muscles get stronger not while you are exercising, but during the rest periods between the workouts. Maybe that explains why my highest mileage days came after a few days layover in a motel, with all other variables being about equal that is.

Perhaps you could give me some more information on exactly what recovery riding is and what you do to recover after a long day's ride or any kind of ride for that matter.

jsirabella

Alot of the hardcore riders believe you should almost never have a day off the bike or trainer. A recovery ride would be about 1/3 or 1/2 the number of miles you usually put in, at a low very easy spinning gear or if you want to get technical at about 70% or your max heart rate. You can keep a nice easy conversation while riding.

If you got the bucks, a nice sports massage is a great recovery from a long ride. In addition I find epsom salts baths to really do the trick after a long ride. Having your bike fitted properly by some one who knows what they are doing can save your knees and muscles hours of discomfort. Stretching, stretching makes a huge difference also.

I am 41 now so I actaully take one day off and have another recovery ride day. I also enjoy bodybuilding and use the spinners in the gym so I am definitely not as hardcore where cyclists pretty much only cycle and putting on mass or upper body muscles is forbidden. cardio, cardio, cardio...

I really can not wait for the ride now along the PCBR. What time of the year did you do it? I know alot of guys who love night rides...I am personally a morning rider myself. I like it because less people and less traffic. Night rides can be more fun because the winds are really calm.

-john sirabella

sogood

I find this very difficult to achieve with my present condition. I already have a triple chainring and some of the hills in the city just kills. It's a case where the lowest gear would give me a burning thigh while there's not enough resistance to stand on. Moving to 2-3 gear ratios higher, the distance up to the top of the hill is just a bit too much to grind all the way up.

I know one way is to improve the engine, but interested in additional advice.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

artemidorus

You need to change gears as you alternate sitting and standing. I find it's 2-3 gears difference on my 12-25 cassette.

sogood

That makes sense. I'll try to tackle that hill tomorrow with this strategy. I note that there are times when the legs are already burning so badly while in the saddle that I couldn't even stand. Under this arrangement, I guess the idea is to change position before the legs get saturated and alternate repeatedly.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Velotour

Thanks for the information on recovery riding. Maybe not doing that that is one of my problems. I know my mileage on tour goes up after a few days of rest in a motel. Then after a few days it sort of levels off again. I am getting plenty of good massages and stretching where I am now because I get it inexpensively---$3.75 for a thirty minute rub down and massage and $1.25 for thirty minutes of spinal traction. It is all good quality too. I also do my own sport stretching, especially on tour when I do that every day morning and night before sleeping.

I have spent plenty of time weight lifting before rides. I worked out six hours a week for eight months before one long distance tour. I never felt better. Massages and epsom salt baths are too costly for me on tour in the USA though something like that is feasible in China. The sports stretching is what keeps me going on tour.

If you are going to do the pacific coast, in my opinion you have made the best choice. That's the way I see it anyway. I did the coast in August and September. The weather was absolutely perfect and the scenery was great.
At 41 you should not have any big problem with the route. Just be advised that it is very very hilly. The steepest, longest, highest hill seems to be at the city of Leggett. It consists in a long series of switchbacks. By the time you get there you should be ready for it. It is more like a long wait to get to the top. After that you will have a nice long downhill spin to near sea level, but do not get too elated because soon after that you will have more hills and steep ones too. That's the PCBR for you. If you are not going up you are going down, and there are some relatively level stretches along the way.

I wish I could do it again this next time but the times I will be able to go do not match good conditions on the PC. I understand there are severe weather conditions on that coast in winter. Right now it looks like February and March are my best getaway times, and after that it is back working again. I may end up doing the southern tier again. I have done it four times all ready. It is not as though I am a stranger to the conditions there.

There is a good book on the PCBR. Google --Bicycling the pacific coast-- and see what it comes up with. There may be one by Donna Ikenberry and another by Kirkendahl (spelling?).

jsirabella

I know where you are coming from as I was never really a hardcore spinner. Meaning I do not like going into a low gear and just burn through the hill. This strategy is not always the best depending on the hill and the rider. If you do weight lifting and have larger legs, you may find staying in a higher gear works better for you.

You may not get the cadence but because of your strength you can still get a good speed. (Also one hell of a work out!) The drawback I have found with this strategy is once you get over the hill, the spinners will usually speed up and zoom bye you since there heart rate has been maintained during the spinning in a lower gear but I also notice they sometimes switch into too low a spinning gear on the approach of a hill and can get blown out of the water by the style I use. Also lets not forget the punishment on the knees!!

In the end, find your own style!! While Lance may have made spinning famous, that is for his body and age. Everyone is different and should use a style that suits them best which can only be found through trial and error.

-john sirabella

artemidorus

Mashing puts much higher loading through the joint surfaces of the knee than does spinning. If you want to look after your knees, get the cadence over 90.

Velotour

Many people may think that if pedaling up hill is strained or painful they need to go to a lower gear, but that is not necessarily what they actually need to do. Sometimes, instead of just going to a lower gear the right thing to do is find the "correct" ear. The correct gear, the comfortable gear may be a higher gear. Try it some time for those of you who do not know, and see how it works. I have often found that I needed a higher gear for pedaling comfort.

artemidorus

The literature, based admittedly on athletes, shows clearly that efficiency and muscle fatigue resistance are highest with cadence 90-110.
Anecdotally, and certainly in my own instance, many suffer once the cadence starts to drop much below 90, but of course this can be got around by alternating sitting and standing. If you are trained for mashing, then spinning won't feel better unless you retrain.
For any given power output requirement, lower cadence results in higher joint loading.

jsirabella

Exactly what I meant, mashing does put more strain on the knees but some may prefer that over the burn. But honestly unless I go in a super low gear so does the spin but that may be a personal issue for me.

While I do feel strain after a good ride through my kness I prefer that sometimes over the burn since I am not a very flexible person.

It comes down to personal style and taste...

-john sirabella

jsirabella

Exactly my case...

jsirabella

We always talk about the muscles...doesn't the heart play a big role in it also. I find that when I am always trying to maintain a 100rpm or more, it is really not my muscles that are giving out but just my ability for my cardio system to keeo up with it. So to compensate for the loss in spinning, I up the gears where I feel comfortable but can maintain a higher speed.

I once did an experiment in my annual ride of NYC to Boston. I decided let me see what it would feel like to do th entire ride in the granny gear. I really was in no rush and everyone said I will get there as fast or faster than years prior.

Admittedly they were right I used my granny gear and never lost cadence and at points really could not spin the gear any faster through the downhills. I was amazed that in the granny gear combined with the highest back gear I could maintain speeds of 18 and sometimes pass 20 depnding on the terrain. So there is something to spinning...I can admit it. I just like the speed and lower heart pushing of the higher gears...

I though find it very annoying to be always switching gears. Here in NYC at Central Park, people are constantly shifting. I wonder always should I get better at that or should I stay with my style of stay in a gear until my body tell me to shift?

-john sirabella

sogood

I thought the idea of staying at a highish cadence and lower gear was to also avoid depletion of glycogen store and permit better endurance. In your situation, did you find that you were able to go ride longer each day? Or did you manage to do the Boston-NYC in one day?

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac