Kragg

I've been riding a road bike since August, and have ridden 75-100 miles a week up until the recent weather changes. I still lack technique on hills. By the end of my rides, the hills take away my punch.
My average speeds are usually 15.5 to 17.0 MPH. Is it better to stand and attack the hill or sit and spin ??? Or, will this come with miles logged??

Enthalpic

Depends on the size of the hill. In general spin up big hills and mash up small ones.

ovoleg

I think it's all in the preference. I like to sit, others like to stand, some sit/stand...

Up the short/small ones, I'll stand and power through it. On the long ones, I dont even try to stand(just a waste of energy), so I'll sit down and get into a comfortable gear to spin 90-95 rpms and pull my way to the top...

Practice makes perfect. I am no where near perfect or good but I am training hard and hopefully I'll get there someday.

I think you should create your own technique. What works for others might not work for you, so give everything a try.

jschen

Practice, practice, practice, my friend. I started in July, and I remember getting off my bike and walking up the second half of a hill on my second weekend. That hill is one block long and perhaps 5% grade. Now, I maintain double digit speeds up that hill on a good day.

Downshift to keep your cadence up, and don't push so hard at the beginning that you blow up halfway up. I still have trouble standing and mashing, but if I downshift enough, I can sit and spin up anything, at least until I run out of gears and watch my cadence bog down. On sustained climbs, I change gears to keep a cadence of 80-95 rpm, basically my cadence on flat ground. If I run out of gears, I do okay with 60-80 rpm. In the 45-60 rpm range, I'm struggling, though I can keep it up for miles. At 40-45 rpm, my legs feel like they're on fire. Once my cadence drops below 40 rpm, the end is near.

ovoleg

That reminds me, just before my crash, I was riding my Univega and I hit the downtube shifter up so it shifted to like 42/13 or 42/15 and I couldn't stop to change the gears or I would have to ride up again. I got out of the saddle and started mashing like a monkey. I could barely see when I got to the top, I looked down on my comp and I saw 20rpms and like 2-4mph... This last for about 30 seconds till I almost collapsed.

I did do about 50rpm in the granny gear up a really really steep hill near Sepulveda. I was surprised that I was going that slow in the granny but I just kept going because I knew that the way down would be ALOT of fun

dahvaio

Maintaining a good heart-rate will also help you on the hills... If you are maxing out... then you aren't generating enough power.... Try to stay in a gear that allows you to breathe heavy but not to the point where you are "huffing and puffing" and almost wheezing...

Ride, slow and steady and you will do fine...

conundrumx

Regarding standing or sitting, learn how to do both well. In light of living up to the perception of natural climbers who spin up climbs, or just because it's harder to do, most people probably don't stand enough on longer climbs. Andy Hampsten had some real good advice on training for climbs when he desribed how he would do some of his longer climbs twice...one time while seated the other standing the whole way.

ovoleg

good advice...

Im going to try standing for the sepulveda one...I doubt I can make it the whole way but it will be a challenge just to see how far I can do it.

The problem with standing is you have to control yourself as to not break into a sprint and waste all your energy.

Thanks!

jschen

This is exactly why I don't stand often enough. When seated, I can pedal as hard or as softly as I want. But I seem to have only one speed when standing and climbing. And that one speed corresponds to an all out effort. So I avoid standing. How do I learn to control my effort when standing? Are there any good tips? Or do I just have to keep practicing until I "get it"?

ovoleg

I think its more of a "get it" thing.

Anyone|?

TheKillerPenguin

Not really, you just have to be especially in tune with your body. Listen to your legs and how they feel. If they feel like they're about to start burning, back off a bit. Work in that area just below the burning. Control your breathing too. I wind up synchronizing breaths with my cadence, say one inhale/exhale lasting 3 revs. It gives you something to concentrate on mentally, and I think when you keep your breathing controlled it winds up keeping your heart more in control too (but I can't prove that).

For long climbs, if you're going to be pushing yourself up em you'd be well served by having a good mental game. You know that blank face that a lot of the pros seem to get on the climbs, where nothing seems to bug em? They're zoning out. I don't really know how to explain this one, but when you figure it out, you'll know. It really does help to syncronize your breathing and cadence, it's really almost hypnotizing.

And yeah, even though standing can suck it really does help out, especially with sudden steeper grades on a long hill. It lets you stretch, and seems to me at least to get the blood flowing again, and when you sit down again it feels like heaven in comparison.

conundrumx- I'm gonna try that tomorrow now, assuming it doesn't rain. If I die it's your fault

ovoleg

and if I die, I'll haunt you forever!

jschen

Me three. So if the three of us die tomorrow, it's all your fault.

minder357

four. . . and i got a long climb. . . 1.4 miles and at least 5-600ft gain

cmcenroe

I'm climbing tomorrow 1500 or so feet (though I am probably short on that figure) over about 3.5 miles, good stuff.

BTW, I dropped some major poseur today...

rolliepollie

Question: How important is it to spin in "circles" while out of the saddle, assuming you're not going all out on a sprint? I heard somewhere power is all that matters but I found it better to pull up and push down (not in full circles though).

EURO

There is no 'technique' to climbing. You just need to have a good power-to-weight ratio over the time required to get up the climb.

Loose weight and ride more.


Depends on your physiology, which you won't be able to determine unless you keep riding. Generally speaking - people with a higher proportion of fast twitch muscles (that's me) are more comfortable riding a bigger gear at low cadences (Ullrich seated, myself standing). People with a higher proportion of slow-twitch muscles (Armstrong is a good example) are more comfortable with a smaller gear at high candences. It's all to do with the muscles ability to clear acidity, and the amount of force the legs can put out per pedal stroke.

Having said all that, whenever I ride in a group the fastest up the hills are the skinniest, it really is that simple.

Kragg

I'm 5-9, 192, muscular legs, not skinny at all. I guess I pay on the hills for my body makeup. One of the two guys I ride with is tall & lanky, he kicks ass on the hills, drops me like a hot potatoe. From watching him I noticed he never changes his cadence, he increases his output somehow to keep a steady pace. He also rides 6500-7000 miles a year !!! I'm the newbie.

Thanks for all the comments everyone !! This board has been a great help to me.

cc_rider

I usually spin up hills, big and small. Which gear I use depends on the hill and how I feel.
Once in a while, when I'm on the last 100 yards or so on a hill, I will shift a couple of gears lower and stand up for 16 or 20 strokes. Just to stretch my legs and rest my rear.

lws

Can't be done.

bbattle

I will stand occasionally to change muscles used on a climb; it does take practice to keep a slow, steady cadence when standing up. Some people will upshift when standing, then downshift when sitting back down. Whatever works for you.

Keep your shoulders and arms relaxed; don't hold the bars in a deathgrip unless you are really "pulling" yourself up that last bit.

With clipless pedals, you can "pull" the pedals around instead of pushing them. I do this all the time on my mtb, it helps to do this on the roadie to give my other muscles a break. I can't do it for very long, though.


I had someone grab my wheel going up Monte Sano yesterday. He waited till we got past the worst part, then pulled up alongside and complimented the paintjob on my Orbea. I complimented his nice score of a Look CF frame off eBay. He then slowly but steadily pulled away from me the rest of the way up. He did have a triple to my compact but I'm not sure what ring he was using at the time. But having him there inspired me to push myself harder than I might have done. So, get some better riders out there with you and chase them.

Gurgus

That's what I do. I think of it as mind-over-matter. If you don't mind, then it don't matter. I just think about other things or -oddly- think of nothing at all. It seems to work the same for me, and before I know, the hill is vanquish-ed!

Jarery

I strip naked and throw my clothes over the handlebars fo the cyclist closest to me. Better to have them pack the weight of the clothes up the mountain than me.

PepeLeTour

Having a good mental game is close second after losing 20 pounds or so. I like to count my pedal strokes to 10 over and over and over. It seems to break down the hill into manageable chunks.

I also read recently in Men's Health that thinking about sex can keep your mind off pain. So counting to 10 with Jessica Simpson seems to do the trick for me. Maybe that's the reason for the blank faces for the pros -- they're just mesmerized by Jessica

ovoleg

I will try this today and see how it works

I dont know about making circles while standing...Is this possible?

I just mash one pedal down, and then the other pedal, and repeat...