Mount Washington demise

[pooga13]

Hey everyone! Can anyone help me with the simplest of training methods/programs with less than 75 days to train for the Mt. Washington Hill Climb? I just returned from distant lands and literally just started training again. I live in RI and the hills are scarce to train on. I know I need at least some time just to get the legs started, but I am running out of time. I will be suffering through Whiteface, Ascutney, and even the practice ride, but I do not want to completely crash on the pile-of-rocks; I have yet to afford a power meter but own a nice Specialized Roubaix 27. After you all stop laughing at my demise, just know at least I have been running.

 

[RapDaddyo]

I think the biggest differences between riding on the flats and climbing are (1) gearing, (2) the constancy of resistance and (3) the need to ride out of the saddle from time to time to give your back muscles some relief. I would recommend that you find the windiest stretch of road you can find and ride into a headwind as much as possible. This comes as close as anything to simulating the constancy of resistance of a prolonged climb. As to gearing, you should be able to calculate your speeds from a topo profile of the Mt. Washington climb. Based on an estimate of your power, you can come pretty close to estimating your speeds. Be sure your drivetrain configuration allows you to ride in your preferred cadence range. If you overlook this aspect, you are almost assured of having a miserable ride crunching too much gear. I ride with both a compact crank and a 13-29 cassette for long hillclimbs such as Mt. Charleston. The third thing you can practice is getting out of the saddle for a minute or two at a time every 15 minutes or so. You will almost certainly want to do this on the Mt. Washington climb because the climbing bike position puts a lot of strain on your back muscles.

 

[mmerchant]

Hey everyone! Can anyone help me with the simplest of training methods/programs with less than 75 days to train for the Mt. Washington Hill Climb? I just returned from distant lands and literally just started training again. I live in RI and the hills are scarce to train on. I know I need at least some time just to get the legs started, but I am running out of time. I will be suffering through Whiteface, Ascutney, and even the practice ride, but I do not want to completely crash on the pile-of-rocks; I have yet to afford a power meter but own a nice Specialized Roubaix 27. After you all stop laughing at my demise, just know at least I have been running.

Believe it or not, use your indoor trainer ( or purchase one, their inexpensive ) set the front end at 12 percent, ( this will help prepare the body for the climbing position) figure out your rpm's that you plan to climb at and where your "sweet spot"/LT zone (effort level at which you plan to climb), and once a week start doing intervals at that level - start with 3x15' build to 4x20', progress evenly over the coming weeks, another day should be tempo/sweet spot training but a sustained effort starting at 60' and building to 120' over the coming weeks. the rest of the rides should be endurance/recovery (whatever time permitting). taper seven days out to have fresh legs.

basic outline but you can play with it, know that on this type of work load, after mt. washington, recover for two to four weeks, the legs will be tired.

plan on doing whiteface, but my buddies and i are riding two loops of the ironman course then we are doing the race up. getting ready for a ride in france.

mmerchant