Hill climbing help please.....

[brockie2]

Would really appreciate some advice on getting better at hills. I only ride once a week - usually between 50 & 75km.
My average speed is now 24km but i am still losing speed and cadence on hills despite changing gears back.
I also do 2 spin classes, boxercise and weights during the week. I am a 44 yr old girl and ride a Specialized Allez.
Please help - just want to get up a hill without being overtaken!
thanks

[snedden9485]

The only way to get better on hills is practice. To be a good hill climber you need to punish yourself on the hills. Being a light weight helps alot too. Its pretty logical, big riders will have to work alot harder to ride uphill than the thin riders, hence most tour de france riders being around the 70kg mark and lower.

[sogood]

Hill climbing is all about power to weight ratio. Up the power or drop your weight. Do both if you can. Otherwise it's practice and practice so that you can be accustomed to the feel of that sustained effort. The difference b/n climbing and flat riding is that there's no rest.

[JV911]

- practice, practice, practice (the bigger the better!)
- pace yourself (very easy to go too hard too soon, crack and then the rest of the climb is stuffed)
- heaps of info here and here

[tcurtbike]

This may give you some tips. Also as above, practice makes perfect.

[brockie2]

Thanks heaps to all who replied - will practise lots and keep my poker face!!!!

[Burt 'Pigeon Racer' Jones]

Get out of the saddle and stomp on those pedals!

[snedden9485]

The main things on concentrate on hill climing are:

- rythym (try and have a nice steady tempo and get into a rythym climbing the hills whether it be sitting or standing).
- Pace yourself (dont go out too hard at first, just pace yourself and dont blow yourself up early)
- get comfortable (find a hand position that suits you. I like to have my hands in the centre of the bars when sitting)
- when standing, work on rocking the bike side to side about 6 inches and concentrate on technique (i find this can take my mind off the climb and the pain).
- alternate your position if your tired. I only try and stand when its getting steep, i find it alot faster to pedal sitting down up hill on gradual climbs, rather than stand up).

But at the end of the day, the only way to be a good hill climber is to practice alot and carry as little weight as possible. As mentioned above, its all about gravity. Once you get better, you will most likely find you will be searching for more hills.

[sogood]

Or ATTACK! ... and die when your legs die.

[snedden9485]

Or ATTACK! ... and die when your legs die.

or this method is fine

[Unko]

So what do you do when you have run out of gears in the first 500m and u still have 3.5kms to go. My rpms drop right down. I have to stand up most of the way and pace myself. here is a link to the hill http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Cr ... kout-Climb

[toolonglegs]

So what do you do when you have run out of gears in the first 500m and u still have 3.5kms to go. My rpms drop right down. I have to stand up most of the way and pace myself. here is a link to the hill http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Cr ... kout-Climb

Either get lower gears / drop a lot of weight to improve power to weight ration / settle into a pace that gets you up the hill.Give up and walk is never ever an option .

[JV911]

So what do you do when you have run out of gears in the first 500m and u still have 3.5kms to go. My rpms drop right down

dont use your shortest gear until you REALLY need it that way when the going gets tough you can drop back a gear.

as TLL said lower gears (what gearing do you have?) & body weight will help but if the hill is sufficiently steep then the RPM will drop no matter who you are.

[lemmiwinks]

So what do you do when you have run out of gears in the first 500m and u still have 3.5kms to go.

You suffer. It gets better, but first you get used to suffering.

[anth73]

The 3 P's...practise, practise and more practise!

Seriously, technique is important too. I've taken up some suggestions published in training articles for the Alpine Classic and tried them out on Saturday in the Fire Relief Ride up Lake Mountain. This is a 22km climb with the first 10km at a 7.8% gradient. Needless to say the majority of riders I pedalled past were walking this section! I'm 74kg and ride a Scott CR1 with 34/50 compact crank and 12-27 cassette, so this helped no end!

1. Get into a confortable position on the bike. I like my hands on top of the handlebar, either side of the stem. I find it helps my breathing.
2. Keep your cadence up as best you can whilst pacing yourself to keep the effort predominantly aerobic. I tried to keep my cadence at about 80 but it did fall as low as 55 on the steepest grade. On my 27 cog this meant I was only doing about 8km/h...still faster than walking up the hill though!
3. Alternate between stiiting and standing to give your legs and back a break. This has helped me the most. Change up 1 or 2 cogs (i.e. slight harder gearing) and try to pedal standing up for 15 - 20 seconds at the same intensity as you were when sitting down. Sit down again and change back down 1 or 2 cogs. I did this every couple of minutes and it helped no end!
4. Find a moderate hill in your area (3% - 6% gradient). Pedal up the hill in the hardest gear you can maintain whilst seated at about a cadence of 60. Do this for between 5 and 10 minutes. Turn around, coast down the hill and do it again. I do this up the "Cul de Burgundy" (Burgundy St hill Heidelberg) and I can manage 4 repeats at 5 minutes each climb. Starting out I think I managed 2 before my legs went AWOL! This helps build strength in your legs and works really well if your legs are a little tired too.

Hope this helps and keep up the great riding!

[Unko]

OK my BMI is 24 so im not that overweight. I avg. about 10kph first time. about 7kph the second time in a row. slowly getting there. my goal is to go up the hill 3x witha avg speed of 10kph going up.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Would really appreciate some advice on getting better at hills. I only ride once a week - usually between 50 & 75km.

Ride more often.

[brettjames]

I'm also finding myself coming to a stagnant halt in my hill climbing fitness.

I hit some testing climbs every week, usually 2-3 times at least. These include Belair, O'Halloran Hill, Mt Lofty etc etc but over the shorter hills I can't seem to get any improvement on my times. Ive managed to scrape 10 minutes off Mt Lofty over the last 6-12 months, but O'Halloran hill is a 9min climb everytime!!!!
Ive seen people conquer it in 7 minutes and just can't fathom getting to that level ????

More sprint practice maybe?

[heliage]

just ride up it faster, the less amount of time your on the hill equals to the less amount of time suffering on the hill.
Just do some hill repeats on the hardest hill you have and really soon you'll find that all the other hills feel alot easier and you can get up them. Also just know your going to feel the pain, but it just means your working hard, which is good.
Riding with others on hills that are faster also helps, makes you work harder which helps you later.

I guess just increasing base fitness overall on the flats, helps you later on the hills as well, makes you just that little bit fresher when coming to the hill.

[JV911]

O'Halloran hill is a 9min climb everytime!!!

same gear and cadence every time?

[brettjames]

I have tried changing around the gearing, but my focus is usually high cadence, which can find me dropping back into faster gears.
I have done this one particular hill on a repeat of 4 reps and managed to keep around the same time each lap, BUT just can't seem to break that 9 minute mark. I love the pain, but just can't seem to get any more ompf out of my legs. Must have ridin the hill 50 times.

[snedden9485]

Cocaine...........worked for Boonen

[ni78ck]

Cocaine...........worked for Boonen

[brettjames]

righto, might have to look at changing my dealer then

[puffdaddy]

I find a heart rate monitor is good especially everywhere but especially on the hills,If my muscles give up before I vo2 max then I practice low cadence tall gear for strength training and vice versa,"65-80rpm"Standing uses more muscle introducing upper body strength and I personally find it ups my h/rate very quick,Throw on a h/rate monitor 10 min warm up on the flats then go nuts into a steep hill and see where your vo2 max is at ,"Rough guide 220bpm-your age",,You may find leg strength is not as important as cardio provided you have the correct gearing,,eg:low I run compact crank and 12/27 on the rear,computer with cadence is also very handy ,I find for 80km + rides 88-92 rpm is fine,and a friend of mine is 100+ all the time,With a cadence comp,,and h/rate monitor you should find a happy medium,just my 2 cents worth