Lack of Power on hills

[wbkski]

This post goes out to Dave in Wyoming who's opinion I respect deeply, but certainly anyone else who's had experience with this I'd enjoy hearing from.

I have a situation, maybe it's not unique at all, that is pissing me off. I seem to be able to hang with the "A" riders in most groups I ride with until I get to any sort of a hill with a significant grade. Boom! Left off the back. Then I spend 3x the effort catching them and then the process starts all over with the next significant grade.

I have a feeling this is a training issue and would like to know if there is a specific training regiment I should focus on to help resolve some of these issues?

Thanks everyone!
Brian

 

[maydog]

You ride in groups long enough you will hear this comments of this nature many times over.

Hanging on to a fast group, the A riders, on a flat section is relatively easy due to the physics of drafting. Wind resistance is the primary source of drag on the flat. Riders in a position a few back from the lead could be doing up to 30% less work than the lead rider. Drafting is a huge advantage, it is a large part of what makes group riding fun and allows riders of disparate strengths to stay together.

The draft advantage is much less during climbs as the speed typically drops. The work performed to lift your body up the incline, becomes significant; your power to weight ratio come into play. Typically, lighter riders go up hills faster as it requires less power for them to ascend.

You improve hill climbing in 2 major ways. First, you can loose weight either off the body or bike. Loosing a few pounds around the midsection can go a long way to making hills more enjoyable. Second, you can increase your power output. FTP work, intervals or hill repeats will help.

Strategy can also help you get up a hill and stay with the group. Stay focused mentally. To avoid getting dropped, avoid doing any pulls (or make the pulls very short) before coming to the hill. Before the hill, work your way toward the front. Shift to your desired gear just before the incline. Don't mash your way up. I like to spin a bit faster than my usual cadence up gradual inclines - on steeper inclines I will stand up. On your way up, pick someone as your target. You target should be a competent climber perhaps just a little bit stronger than yourself. Try and stay on your targets wheel up the hill.

Don't run out of gas attacking the base of the hill, instead build power all the way to the top so that you still have forward momentum over the peak. Many riders let up at the top, that is where you can catch up to or even pass the "A" guys.

 

[jhuskey]

Are these long hills you are climbing or short steep hills?

 

[wbkski]

typically they're medium grade hills...the type you'd encounter in road races.

 

[doss]

Ride more hills Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by wbkski
This post goes out to Dave in Wyoming who's opinion I respect deeply, but certainly anyone else who's had experience with this I'd enjoy hearing from.

I have a situation, maybe it's not unique at all, that is pissing me off. I seem to be able to hang with the "A" riders in most groups I ride with until I get to any sort of a hill with a significant grade. Boom! Left off the back. Then I spend 3x the effort catching them and then the process starts all over with the next significant grade.

I have a feeling this is a training issue and would like to know if there is a specific training regiment I should focus on to help resolve some of these issues?

Thanks everyone!
Brian

What is your weight and if you have a powermeter, what's your FTP and best repeatable 5 minute power?

 

[dhk2]

Originally Posted by swampy1970

What is your weight and if you have a powermeter, what's your FTP and best repeatable 5 minute power?

Geez swampy, you sure know how to shut down a thread.....I'd be embarrassed to answer as well

 

[swampy1970]

Lol. It's not a case of being embarrassed but there are times when you gotta talk cold hard numbers. Unfortunately, it you're only packing 4w/kg for a 15 minute gun fight up a hill and the lads you're racing against are shooting from the hip with 5.5w/kg the conversation pretty much stops right there. Sure it doesn't make for great bench racing but last time I checked you don't race your bike on a bench. After last summer/fall and early winter off the bike and massive quantities of ace beer like Tank 7, after working too many hours and getting too little sleep, I packed on about 17kg and that's never good for the hills. It'll come off but for now I'm about 2.9w/kg at threshold power. But it is what it is... Thankfully I know what it takes to get north of 4 w/kg. Not sure I'll ever have the drive to get back to 5w/kg though.

 

[leroy1010]

Ride more hills, and you will find the way to solve

 

[wbkski]

I just saw this now... My FTP as of March (I know...) was 203. My best repeatable 5 min power is 262.

 

[baker3]

my form finder session consists of 3 sets of 10 efforts on a 25% gradient that takes about 2 minutes to complete each one. Takes about an hour to do with warm up and some rest between each set and will leave you absolutely smashed. a few sessions like that and i find i'm floating over small climbs in local club races and have no trouble covering attacks on climbs.

You need to be a bit of a head case to do them properly, I find they hurt more than any 1hr race i've competed in.

 

[swampy1970]

3 sets of 10 minute efforts that take 2 minutes is 60 minutes without warm up and rest

 

[fluro2au]

Some good tips in here. Get on the short hill repeats protocol. Find a variety of hills in the 200-500m range that are close together and > 10%. Set yourself a elevation target each week starting at 500m and just go for it. 500m will give you about 16 reoeats, each week add on 100m of elevation until you reach 1000m. Then start over but aim for a highet power target.....You can do this 2-3 times per week as you only need 24hr to recovery, due to the rest intervals you get between climbs 6 weeks of this and you'll be climbing well. I put all my riders on this protocol in the leadup up to the road series, as most races have punchy short climbsi n the 1-4min range. Like swampy said, it s all about repeatability paul

 

[swampy1970]

typically they're medium grade hills...the type you'd encounter in road races. 

Define "medium grade." Road races all over the world feature gradients from 0.1% to 33%+ in places. If you want specifics, give a specific answer. Lose weight, develop more power. It's not rocket science. If you find that after a few short hills then you need short interval training. If you just get tailed off on a long hill then it's likely a combination of everything. Too fat, too weak, too slow. Don't worry, you're not the only one in that boat.