To all you climbers

SLG said:

Hi,
Recently i have been going out on rides in more hilly terrain than usual. My average speed does not decrease that much in the hills than on the flats, 2-3 km/h or so. Does this mean that i am 'naturally' suited to climbing? I dont really have the right physique - about 6 feet tall and 68 kg. On club rides i usually ride at the front on long climbs. If i am a climber (or even if i'm not) how could i increase my potential for climbing?
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

If you are 6ft and 68kg you will have very good power to weight.

Hamish
5 ft 7in and 90kg

SLG said:

Recently i have been going out on rides in more hilly terrain than usual. My average speed does not decrease that much in the hills than on the flats, 2-3 km/h or so. Does this mean that i am 'naturally' suited to climbing?

Without meaning to take anything away from any natural talent and accumulated training you may have to make you a very good climber, I think either your definition of a "climb" or a "flat" is skewed because a 2-3 km/h drop in speed is just too unrealistic a drop in speed when transitioning fron one of those regimes to the other, provided the "climb" is significant enough.

For example, if you can put out 275 W of power (putting you at around 4 W/kg), you'd be able to maintain ~39 km/h on the flats (with your hands in the drops) and ~18 km/h on a 6% grade climb (with your hands on the hoods).

You can play with the bicycle speed and power calculators at:

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm
http://www.analyticcycling.com/

to do similar calculations and try to get a rough estimate of your power output.

Berend

squidwranglr said:

Without meaning to take anything away from any natural talent and accumulated training you may have to make you a very good climber, I think either your definition of a "climb" or a "flat" is skewed because a 2-3 km/h drop in speed is just too unrealistic a drop in speed when transitioning fron one of those regimes to the other, provided the "climb" is significant enough.

My opinion is similar, except I was going to speculate that the OP possibly just doesn't ride as hard on the flats as he could. A lot of people seem to feel that it's 'easier' to generate power on climbs, and what the OP is observing might just be a case where he's simply putting more power into his hilly ride than his flat ride.

In either case, I agree that there should be a bigger speed difference if all things are being held similar.

if your speed drops by just 2 to 3 kmh , thats very good.

assuming that it was a hill.

😄
.

yer it depnds on the hill. Ride up mt baw baw 14% gradient for over 6km's. I am pretty sure your speed will drop considerably 🙄 .

Im same build 5"11 and 68kg's...I used to be much lighter, like 54kg's but as I have grown I find I lose all avantage at my current weight. I used to love hills because all my competitors were relatively hadicapped compared to me. Now at 68-69kg's hills can be a pain in the [censored] hehe 🙂 .

It seems to me that i need something to measure power, does anyone have any cheap suggestions?

In reply to a previous post, maybe i am going harder in the hills. But i still seem to outclimb my clubmates in our rides and hang onto the back on the flats and descents, most of them say that i am a climber.

Thanks for the replies!

SLG, at the beginning of last year I addressed the following to RapDaddyo.

Quoted post said:

Sorry but it still seems too cut and dried to me. I feel weight and power is 90+% of it, but I can't help feeling other things come into play on the hills. For example ones physiological makeup - perhaps shorter legs, shape of ones hip bone and lower lumbar region, that is, one's skeletal structure facilitates good climbing

To which RapDaddyo replied.

Quoted post said:

Nope, it's all about power and weight. To your bike, you're just an engine with a smile. It doesn't care how you generate power or what you look like or what sex you are or how hold you are. It says, "Show me the power, babe, and don't weigh too much cause I've got to drag your fat body up that hill."

I think that about sums it up. 😄 TYSON