Hills
- Thread starter Harri_in_NS
- Start date
I just took time to do a long climb before going to work (on nights). It's pretty hard work for sure. To be honest most of my work on the bike involves climbing these days due to my working hours and the need to spend less time on the bike (with a focus on intensity).
If anyone feels like a bit of inspiration before heading for the hills, Lance Armstrong's "Every Second Counts" is quite an inspiration. Lance used to spend over an hour doing a climb and then repeat the whole thing.
The climb I just did today is more of a rolling hill ascent on high land. Only very small parts of it were really steep.
Here in the U.K. we're blessed with plenty of high terrain to practise on but cursed with lousy weather.
By the way, Armstrong remarked he did a very long climb at a gradiant of 7.5. in his book. Does anybody know how steep that would be?
If anyone feels like a bit of inspiration before heading for the hills, Lance Armstrong's "Every Second Counts" is quite an inspiration. Lance used to spend over an hour doing a climb and then repeat the whole thing.
The climb I just did today is more of a rolling hill ascent on high land. Only very small parts of it were really steep.
Here in the U.K. we're blessed with plenty of high terrain to practise on but cursed with lousy weather.
By the way, Armstrong remarked he did a very long climb at a gradiant of 7.5. in his book. Does anybody know how steep that would be?
Originally posted by Harri_in_NS
Hey thanks for the tips, I'll keep them in mind next time I'm pounding up a hillCheers!
I agree with a great deal of this but I think it is misleading to say everyone should spin little gears on a hill. I think it important to find a gear and climbing style to suit you. I disagree that using a bigger gear produces a faster lactate build up also. I would also question your 4th point, I donot believe dropping the heal is a good thing, infact when I use Full circle pedling I slightly drop the toes. There is much debate on "Full Circle" pedling but I agree it is beneficial on hills.
All of the points raised by the various posters are valid.
I just want to expand upon a point that Carrera made : try to locate a hill which has a more gradual ascent rather than a steep ascent and practice on this hill until you become more comfortable.
There is no point in trying to ascend very steep climbs - if you're not used to climbing.
You'll fail or you'll exhaust yourself.
As you become more comfortable - then progress on to some steeper climbs.
Climbing is a skill and it's skill that has to be learnt.
therefore you need to practice and practice on relatively easy hills.
You will find that you will become accustomed to climbing as your
body becomes more used to the stress of climbing. (this will happen much more quickly than you think).
If you can lose some weight - it would benefit you.
If you can't lose some weight - don't worry.
Jut practice.
I just want to expand upon a point that Carrera made : try to locate a hill which has a more gradual ascent rather than a steep ascent and practice on this hill until you become more comfortable.
There is no point in trying to ascend very steep climbs - if you're not used to climbing.
You'll fail or you'll exhaust yourself.
As you become more comfortable - then progress on to some steeper climbs.
Climbing is a skill and it's skill that has to be learnt.
therefore you need to practice and practice on relatively easy hills.
You will find that you will become accustomed to climbing as your
body becomes more used to the stress of climbing. (this will happen much more quickly than you think).
If you can lose some weight - it would benefit you.
If you can't lose some weight - don't worry.
Jut practice.
Short hill.... say to the top in three minutes... I can crush.... in a big gear at 56 cadence, out of the saddle. If long climb do it at about 80 cad in the saddle.
Using a big gear at low cadence fatigues the muscles more I think, but you get more yards and it's a pump.
12 -14 mph seems pretty good by my standards. I find my own speed fluctuates quite a bit. Sometimes I'll be climbing around 13 mph but I may well drop to only 7 mph on a moderate gradiant.
One technique I like to use on familiar hills is to stay in the seat as long as possible and then get out of it once the slope gets intense. I'll then just stay that way and push from the hip while taking deep breaths of air. The hardest part and real test of your fitness is when you can rapidly change gear at the top of a gradient and move up. To do this you need to be in a state where your breathing is still under control. If my fitness is down I find I can't change gear on reaching the summit as there's nothing left in the tank. In such cases I have to stay low till my stamina comes back.
My guess is that anyone who wants to be a good climber may consider the following basic advice:
(1) Get your body-fat down as low as is sensible. Less weight on the bike is an asset where gravity is concerned (on the way up).
(2) Be aggressive and attack the climb with determination. If it hurts like hell on the way up, remember it's doing you good and you'll get fitter through the effort.
(3) Fit a bike-computer and note your speed. Try and find the best gears for your own performance and experiment.
(4) Don't overtrain. Reward successes with a day on the flat at slower speeds or consider planning intensity levels.
(5) Seek out monster hills if you're brave and take up the challenge. If you fail, build up your level till you can finally get all the way up since it's a good feeling to prevail.
(6) Remember that being a good climber is only half the battle. You'll still need to practise speed on the flat as well and descents.
Just some thoughts that may help.
One technique I like to use on familiar hills is to stay in the seat as long as possible and then get out of it once the slope gets intense. I'll then just stay that way and push from the hip while taking deep breaths of air. The hardest part and real test of your fitness is when you can rapidly change gear at the top of a gradient and move up. To do this you need to be in a state where your breathing is still under control. If my fitness is down I find I can't change gear on reaching the summit as there's nothing left in the tank. In such cases I have to stay low till my stamina comes back.
My guess is that anyone who wants to be a good climber may consider the following basic advice:
(1) Get your body-fat down as low as is sensible. Less weight on the bike is an asset where gravity is concerned (on the way up).
(2) Be aggressive and attack the climb with determination. If it hurts like hell on the way up, remember it's doing you good and you'll get fitter through the effort.
(3) Fit a bike-computer and note your speed. Try and find the best gears for your own performance and experiment.
(4) Don't overtrain. Reward successes with a day on the flat at slower speeds or consider planning intensity levels.
(5) Seek out monster hills if you're brave and take up the challenge. If you fail, build up your level till you can finally get all the way up since it's a good feeling to prevail.
(6) Remember that being a good climber is only half the battle. You'll still need to practise speed on the flat as well and descents.
Just some thoughts that may help.
The Mt. Graham Hill Climb, 9/28/03 (http://presteza.homestead.com/MtGrahamindex.html) Located in the southeastern corner of Arizona, Mt. Graham draws riders each year to a spectacular event. The 20 mile mass-start road race starts @ mile post 115 across from the Federal prison [elev. 3,379 ft.] and winds up the "Swift Trail" (State Rt. 366) to the finish @ mile post 135 near the Snow Flat camp ground [elev. 9,068 ft.]. The 5,689 ft. climb travels through high desert grassland, oak woodland, pine forest to alpine meadow.
I understand that some of the racers continued up the paved road to the top of Heliograph Peak at 10,022' rivaling Inyo County's two awesome climbs.
Im also going to do this one it's the steepest climb in AZ for bike.
I understand that some of the racers continued up the paved road to the top of Heliograph Peak at 10,022' rivaling Inyo County's two awesome climbs.
Im also going to do this one it's the steepest climb in AZ for bike.
Actually, 7.5% grade is an incline of 4.29º
The angle of the incline is ARCTAN (GRADE/100), GRADE is 100*TAN(ANGLE)
A grade of 100% is only an angle of 45º
A grade of 15% is an angle of 8.53º
Hi there
All the advice has been excellent, from a fellow sufferer(6'3" @ 98kg or 216pds, with 9% body fat) i have accepted i will never be a Lance, though the one thing i can add is just be patient, it does get better, and the day that happens it changes your whole mindset about hills. And cycling takes on a new dimension.
Good Luck
All the advice has been excellent, from a fellow sufferer(6'3" @ 98kg or 216pds, with 9% body fat) i have accepted i will never be a Lance, though the one thing i can add is just be patient, it does get better, and the day that happens it changes your whole mindset about hills. And cycling takes on a new dimension.
Good Luck
I often wonder what people mean by big gears. I do most of my climbing in my third gear (my third lowest and easiest gear). I know of one particular climb, though, that I can barely get up in my first gear (my very lowest).
I did try climbing on the big cog once and found it fine but when I found out you should never use the smallest gear on the big cog (it ruins the crank) I stopped.
These days I'm doing a lot of climbing out of the seat but I noticed of late that my elbow and forearms ache a little from the pull on the bars as I fight my way up.
I did try climbing on the big cog once and found it fine but when I found out you should never use the smallest gear on the big cog (it ruins the crank) I stopped.
These days I'm doing a lot of climbing out of the seat but I noticed of late that my elbow and forearms ache a little from the pull on the bars as I fight my way up.
Using the extreme gears of smallest chainring/smallest sprocket or largest chainring/largest sprocket does not affect the cranks. What it can do is place excessive side loading on the chain and sprockets/chainrings as the 2 planes are so far out of alignment. This is, however, a generalisation as the misalignment is dependent upon the particular setup.
Big gears are the ones that give you the biggest wheel size if you calculate the chain ring and cassette gears, ie smallest cassette gear x your biggest chain ring is your biggest gear.
Best practice is to ride the three cassette gears closest to the spokes in your small chain ring only and the last two cassette furthest from the spokes in your big chain ring only, the middle four cassette gears in either chain ring. This makes for longer chain life.
I see lot of people jumping up and down their cassette skipping over gears to get big gearing differences when all they really need to do is sit in the middle of their cassette and change chain rings.
If you have a triple similar principle applies.
Next time I do some serious climbing, I'll take my camera and upload a pic of the summit of a climb I attempt every so often. The gradiant is extremely steep and the length of the climb extends way beyond vision. The only way you can get up to the top is out of the seat for every stroke of the pedal and it really is a tortuous ordeal.
Don't really understand your terminology
replace the words "extremely" to "very" the word "tortuous" to "fun" ( they mean the same thing really ) and "ordeal" to "experience"
So it reads:
Next time I do some serious climbing, I'll take my camera and upload a pic of the summit of a climb I attempt every so often. The gradient is very steep and the length of the climb extends way beyond vision. The only way you can get up to the top is out of the seat for every stroke of the pedal and it really is a fun experience.
Now I understand and I'm envious.
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