Originally Posted by
cthenn
I'm wondering what people's technique or "strategy" is when trying to get up a climb as fast as possible. Do you come into it full gas, and try to hang on at the top? Or the complete opposite, build a steady rhythm and hit it at the top? Or steady all the way? I'm talking about climbs of a decent length. Not hour+ long beasts, or 1 minute sprint climbs. Long ones are generally done at a steady rhythm, and short ones really don't require much technique. So, something in the 10-30 minute range. Also, does it depend on the profile of the climb? Some climbs start flat, and steepen toward the top, others are the opposite, and some are fairly steady throughout. On a climb that is steep at the top, I usually try to save something for the end, whereas if it's flatter at the top, I may push it at the start and in the middle, and try to hang on at the top. I know I can just experiment for myself, but I'm curious what works best for other people.
Pacing yourself.
Endurance drops rapidly when you overdo it, with 5% over your one hour power dropping endurance to 20 minutes and 10% 10 minutes.
On longer rides, harder efforts have a disproportionate impact on fatigue (approximately equal to the square of effort), use more glycogen, and potentially shift your energy substrate utilization for the remainder of the ride. For 100-200 miles I'll aim for the same 150W I would on flat ground,.
Racing you may do better working harder on the steep sections. Slow sections make up a disproportionate fraction of total time, and you're losing less to aerodynamic drag on them. You can probably recover on the following downhill where you spend little time and pedaling has little impact on speed.
Running out of gears and being forced to walk will slow you down even more.