Observation of my climbing technique

[dm69]

For my build 1.77m & 68kg's I generally struggle a little on the hills, I am much more comfortable on the flats doing a time trial or trying to breakaway...Seeing as though my favourite discipline is time trialling and im not a huge rider my power to weight shouldn't be a problem, I am thinking it may have something to do with technique.

I find when I climb I alternate between sitting really far back in the saddle and spinning a little gear and then clicking up to a big gear lowering my cadence and getting out of the saddle. Is it correct that your hams and glutes are used more when sitting far back in the saddle? Could it be that compared to my quads these muscles are a bit weak?

I defintely feel stronger out of the saddle utilising my quads/ calves more than I do sitting down and spinning. Generally I am always out of the saddle on even the smallest of rises. Sitting down and grinding used to be my favoured position but now I simply cannot do it.

I used to do a fair bit of strength endurance work which would have helped my hams and glutes but now I don't do any SE work. This year I did a little bit of lifting more out of curiosity than actually thinking it would help my cycling at all. I found compared to normal people my quads were very strong as were my calves but when doing hamstring curls my legs were just average.

Please dont turn this into a pro/ anti lifting thread its been done before and I really havent decided or care whether SE and weights is infact a good thing.
My brief time at the Gym did result in big gains in leg strength which no doubt helped my sprinting. When I started on one machine which is like a one legged leg press machine I was doing 200 pounds x 10 reps. After 6 months I was doing 25x 350 pounds so I almost doubled my leg strength in my quads which "probably" has something to do with my climbing technique atm.

Any thoughts on what is going on with my climbing technique?

 

[Eldrack]

What sort of length hills are we talking about? I'm guessing since you said hills that they aren't that big, maybe a max length of 10 minutes? If that is the case then I'd swing a guess at your problems in the hills not really being anything to do with weight or technique but more that you don't do enough high intensity training (L5, L6).

You say that you're good at time trialling, so you probably have a good power to weight ratio for your FTP but i'm guessing your 5 and 1 minute power to weight ratios are a couple of ranks lower on the chart?

Anyway, I'd suggest doing some interval sessions on the problem hills, 5 x 5 minutes, or 5 x 3 minutes, something like that.

 

[dm69]

What sort of length hills are we talking about? I'm guessing since you said hills that they aren't that big, maybe a max length of 10 minutes? If that is the case then I'd swing a guess at your problems in the hills not really being anything to do with weight or technique but more that you don't do enough high intensity training (L5, L6).

You say that you're good at time trialling, so you probably have a good power to weight ratio for your FTP but i'm guessing your 5 and 1 minute power to weight ratios are a couple of ranks lower on the chart?

Anyway, I'd suggest doing some interval sessions on the problem hills, 5 x 5 minutes, or 5 x 3 minutes, something like that.

Nah my problem is the longer hills, just cant seem to get comfortable or find a rhythm. The shorter hills I generally just mash over.

When I say I time trial well thats usually over any distance that requires aerobic strength so pretty much over 1km pursuit. I am pretty sure my climbing worries are more to do with technique...
I dont use a power meter (too much $) at the moment so I can't really pinpoint where my specific weaknesses are.

thx 4 the reply. The simple solution would be to climb more as suggested ^ and try to sit down when pedalling at all times...Still its strange that my technique has totally changed on the hills over a fairly short space of time.

 

[dhk2]

Nah my problem is the longer hills, just cant seem to get comfortable or find a rhythm. The shorter hills I generally just mash over.

When I say I time trial well thats usually over any distance that requires aerobic strength so pretty much over 1km pursuit. I am pretty sure my climbing worries are more to do with technique...
I dont use a power meter (too much $) at the moment so I can't really pinpoint where my specific weaknesses are.

thx 4 the reply. The simple solution would be to climb more as suggested ^ and try to sit down when pedalling at all times...Still its strange that my technique has totally changed on the hills over a fairly short space of time.

What kind of cadence do you maintain when sitting? Do you have the gearing that allows you to stay at 70-80 cadence on steep climbs? If you're trying to grind at 30-40 rpm going 6 mph in say 39/23, that's not going to be easy for very long.

Don't worry about the lack of a powermeter. Our local hero just won the World Master's TT again (30-39 age group), and he doesn't use a powermeter either. He said it's a "nice-to-have" thing someday, but just not a priority at this point vs TT wheelsets and all the travel costs to his events.

 

[dm69]

What kind of cadence do you maintain when sitting? Do you have the gearing that allows you to stay at 70-80 cadence on steep climbs? If you're trying to grind at 30-40 rpm going 6 mph in say 39/23, that's not going to be easy for very long.

Don't worry about the lack of a powermeter. Our local hero just won the World Master's TT again (30-39 age group), and he doesn't use a powermeter either. He said it's a "nice-to-have" thing someday, but just not a priority at this point vs TT wheelsets and all the travel costs to his events.

Yeah I am defintely not worried about not having a PM, My plans for the immediate future dont include a power meter. However thats not to say ONE DAY I may think about buying one.

When I sit down I spin about 80-95 rpm up hills from 4%-10% that cadence is very high especially considering its uphill. It doesnt really worry me and atleast it means i can accelerate quickly uphill. The thing that annoys me is that if I dont keep my cadence high when sitting I feel very inefficient. I also much prefer to stand than sit down and spin at any cadence in the first place.

I have a 38-25 which I hardly use anyway fyi.

 

[dhk2]

Yeah I am defintely not worried about not having a PM, My plans for the immediate future dont include a power meter. However thats not to say ONE DAY I may think about buying one.

When I sit down I spin about 80-95 rpm up hills from 4%-10% that cadence is very high especially considering its uphill. It doesnt really worry me and atleast it means i can accelerate quickly uphill. The thing that annoys me is that if I dont keep my cadence high when sitting I feel very inefficient. I also much prefer to stand than sit down and spin at any cadence in the first place.

I have a 38-25 which I hardly use anyway fyi.

Sounds like you're light enough and probably young enough to be able to climb efficiently out of the saddle most of the time. Most of the skinny climber guys I know do the same thing.

Personally, I'm 1.81m, 83kg, and old, so sitting is the best option for me most of the time. I can power up short climbs in a decent gear with a lot of the younger guys, but if the climb lasts more than a minute or two, I've found it best to gear down, stay in the saddle and just get a good sustainable tempo going.

 

[oldbobcat]

Any thoughts on what is going on with my climbing technique?

Maybe it's your technique. Try practicing on long hills using a comfortable level of effort that allows you to drop your cadence and just feel and think about what you're doing. Then experiment with dropping your heels, "ankling," finding a position that optimizes your breathing, etc. Try forcing yourself to stay seated past the point where you would normally stand and stretch out, just to see what it feels like.

As cyclists we often get so obsessed with speed and power that we forget to slow down and learn class.