globecanvas

Climbing is partly conditioning and partly mental toughness. Sometimes it feels like it is mostly mental toughness.

When climbing solo, I'll start sometimes start playing bad mind games with myself. "I don't have the legs today. Why not just bail out and turn around? Why suffer? "

I'd never bail out and turn back if riding with a group, or if I passed somebody earlier on the climb, or even if I passed somebody stopped on the side of the road. It's humiliating to fail, but it's unthinkable for someone to see you fail .

But when doing a tough climb solo, that little voice often chimes in. What do you guys do to shut it up?

surfer777

The toughest climb on my ride is at the end because its my only way back to the house. Well, there's another hill that takes me back but its just as bad. So to get the little voice to shut up I keep in mind that I can't get home unless I get to the top!

rufvelo

Experience tells you what you can do, sometimes the voice gets too loud We're talking real climbs here - several kilometers.

Seattle Forrest

S-DOT published a list of the steepest roads in Seattle. I climbed everything on the list. Now, when I'm struggling up a daunting grade at the end of a ride, I know I can climb any hill in town, and fight my way to the top.

hooligancyclist

There is no road climb I've seen that will challenge me in that I cannot make it up the road, it is the speed that could be a challenge.
My best advice is to pace well and have a positive mental attitude. If you have a positive mindset and keep your thoughts positive, the climb is not going to be a mental struggle. It might be a physical struggle, but not a mental challenge. This takes time and practice.

wi.flash

haha.. I do not like this thread today. I just went for a ride with the kids in a trailer with my road bike and I started out the climb thinking I could do a high gear. I stalled in the middle of the hill. I walked the rest of the way up clacking away with my road shoes. It was very very sad I am glad no one drove by. lol. I dont usually go up hills with kids and I wont again.

Mike F

Im still fairly new but on hills, I see them as segments. Get to that marker, ok.. get to the rock.. ok get to the spray paint, ok.... I never look at the top. So far so good.

globecanvas

It's not about worrying that I won't make it. I've never literally failed on a hill. It's about the voice trying to convince me that I don't want to make it.

gundom66

I remember when I got back into biking last year. First thing I tested was if I still had the legs I had then. Obviously, the answer was no... but because I live in the foothills, I only had 2 choices, either I chicken out and just go up and down my street or "Nike" (just do it). For 2 weeks straight, I went down the foothills and back up until my legs got used to a certain gear and cadence. Then when I started challenging myself more on both dirt trail and pavement, all I think about is "if I can do that street at this gear and cadence, there is no reason for me to not be able to tackle this one!" One of the bigger challenges was when I tackled one of the streets in my area which is, to me, a steep climb. Not a long climb... probably about 1/4 mile but it's a steep one. I wanna say, looking at a protractor - since I don't know the grade %, is about 15 to 20 degrees. Anyway, to someone like me who was starting all over after close to 20 years of no biking hauling a 30 lb mtb, it's a pretty steep one then. I used to spin myself to death using a 22 front and 28 rear. I'd get to the top, but I'm all winded-out and basically dead once up there. I can now do it with 32-22 or sometimes 32-19. And another thing I tell myself is "the goal is to get up there no matter what gear and what cadence". So now that I can do that short climb, everytime I climb something similar or a lesser grade but longer road and that "fail fairy" starts to talk in my head, I tell myself, "if I can do that road, why can't I do this?" And eventually I beat it!

Now my new challenge is to do it at a higher cadence until the heart and legs get used to it before I go up another gear, I'm shooting for 32-15 or whatever the equivalence is using a 42 crank. I'm basically preparing myself until I get my road bike. That's basically how I beat that second head voice of negativity - but sometimes, on bad days, "fail fairy" prevails... <_<

JaceK

You may want to talk to your doctor if you have voices in your head. I am not sure this is the place to get that kind of advice.

RollCNY

There is a hill at the end of our group ride that I frequently rode around last year. If the whole group did it, I would, but if anyone went around, I was on board. My little voice would start weedling a mile or two before the hill, and I would be talked out of before I got there.

I made myself a promise this spring that I would take the hill every time, regardless of what everyone else did. And I have. One time in an absolute downpour when the group was taking a short cut home and I stayed on the normal course to do the hill.

Now on the mile run up to it, I say "I can ride around this if I want to, but I'm not going to today. It may beat me yet, but not today."

WHOOOSSHHH...

Mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

riderlife

i am always am telling myself to not look at my pedals and look fowards but on climbs its a different story i look at my pedals and glance up just to look at where im going making sure to pace myself and keep cadense consistant, concentrating on pedaling 1 push/pull at a time, keep heels down,knees in, and STAY ON THE SADDLE or you will burn out faster. usually concentrating on this makes me push everything else out and and numbs that knee burn. One of the guys on the group rides still hasnt learned to pace himself and always races up the biggest hills and then gets dropped a few miles after its pretty funny watching him talk **** to everyone on his way up only to not make it t the next climb lol

contango 

Sometimes I've been figuring that I just want to turn the pedals one more time, just one more time, just one more time.

mudman22

I like to count pedal strokes and stare at the odometer on the big canyon climbs in the area. 8 crank revolutions in my lowest gear, and the odometer jumps up a whopping .01

Works for me. Pretty soon I get distracted and realize I've gone another mile.

One time I did fantasize about collapsing and being brought home in an ambulance. It would have made the painful 14-mile climb easier.

abikemechanic

I just climb harder until my breathing is louder than the voices

Pete In Az

You're just jealous because the voices won't talk to you...

zandoval 

34T in front and a 34T bailout in back and still just making it - Oh well - At least I'm still riding...

There is no shame in running to the top with your bike on your shoulder if you have to - It even looks good...

palesaint

There's a climb I can occasionally do in the 39t front x 21t rear. Yet I have those two lower rear gears to bail out on. THIS is a hard situation to handle when the legs aren't quite feeling it. Knowing that all I have to do is slightly flick a finger and -BAM- it's easier. Takes all the willpower I can muster to hold the 21, as this is a gear that almost guarantees 10mph (at the cadence my legs like to spin at). The next lower gear results in single-digit climbing speed. It's a tough mental battle - one that I often lose.

So, hmm, not much help. I guess - HTFU?

FactVord

I don't hear voices. I'm too busy hammering to the beat of White Zombie - More Human Than Human.

Daves_Not_Here

Point of order -- is it a fail if you take breaks? I've been considering my climbs to be successful if I don't walk up, but maybe I'm deluding myself.

My mental strategy on a particular climb is to recall that I've done longer steeper climbs when I weighed more, had a heavier bike and had lower overall fitness, so my attitude now is "how hard can it be?" I also know I can downshift and take it easy for a few minutes to refill my tank on the fly.

haaseg

Inevitably, I'll get distracted and my mind will wonder off into some unknown/uncharted territory. This is what my cycling habit is all about anyway. After a little while I'll suddenly realize that I'm a 1/4 mile further up the hill and pedaling a few mph faster. In some ways, a good long cat 4 makes the best meditation.

Hornbiker

Ha! This just happened to me today on a ~9 mile climb up a nearby mountain. My heart rate was about 10 beats lower than usual and I felt awful, so I just lowered my expectations (heh). Realized it wasn't gonna be a "beat your time" day, so I figured just get up it as well as I can. I find Bridges Burning by the Foo Fighters helpful. That, and thinking distracting thoughts.

Dean7

I might be alone on this but I push as hard as I can 100% of the time. I know a ton of legit roadies and I am a competitive jerk and want to be able to beat them all on long climbs. So, every day when I ride, I refuse to be weak and ride as hard as I can no matter what. It's just part of who I am.

EDIT: sometimes this has bitten me in the rear but I still keep it up. One time after climbing a hill in the snow as hard as I could I literally thought I was going to die because it felt like there were shards of glass in my lungs from pushing it too hard in the cold weather. So, your results may vary if you decide to use my training program.

sharp

I don't ride with faries....but I do wear spandex.