hollowmen

So this coming summer I'm riding across the country. Thanks to a glacier that came steamrolling through northern Indiana tens of thousands of years ago, I'm a little short on mountains or even hills larger than highway overpasses. Obviously I'm going to have to tackle some climbs on my trip, so I'm looking for training advice.

Without being able to follow the advice of "climbing makes you better at climbing", does anyone have any training advice that might help me out? I'm going to be making some trips in early spring to southern Indiana to do at least a little bit of climbing, but I want to try and improve my abilities before then.

Is it just a matter of riding more and raising base fitness, or are there certain types of exercises I can do to improve my climbing without actually climbing.

Seattle Forrest

As boring and horrible as it sounds, if the best hill you have is a freeway overpass, spend an hour going up and over it, down the other side, and back up again.

That won't help with altitude, but you can choose a route that goes over lower passes, eg a few thousand feet instead of 10,000+ in parts of Colorado. Otherwise, though, when you go cross country, you're going to be climbing for hours. So practice doing just that.

jrobe

You don't need to reinvent the wheel. There is a ton of research on the best and most effective training regimens for developing fitness. It clearly isn't just a matter of riding more or finding the biggest hills in your area. I think you need to educate yourself on some of this research.

Here might be a good place to start. https://www.amazon.com/Training-Racin.../dp/1934030554

Even if you have no interest in ever buying a powermeter, this book will teach you about the zone system of training and how to set up a training system to raise your aerobic fitness, threshold power, lactate threshold, etc. etc.. Hill climbing is basically developing power at your higher training zones. A $60 Polar HR monitor would be a great second choice of a measuring system to help with your training. Lots of this can be even done on an indoor trainer in northern Indiana so you could get a head start this winter. There is lots of information available to answer your question that will require a little learning. You won't learn most of this from responces here (like finding freeway overpasses).

big john

You can train for hills by going hard on the flats. If you are touring cross-country your body will adapt as you ride.

sideshow_bob

Stationary trainer, low cadence, high wattage efforts. Stick a couple of phone books under your front wheel.

I don't know how fast you expect to climb, but figure it out - and match the length of your efforts to that.

3kmi

I rode across the country a few years back with a minimal amount of climbing training, so to speak. We took an East to West route, so by the time we reached the rockies, we had already had a few climbs and were in pretty good shape by the time the big climbs came around. Plus its not like its flat and then immediately 14,000 foot climbs, you work your way into it. I wouldn't over think it.

freighttraininguphill

Since the only decent climbs are 25 miles away by car, I take a big old heavy 3-speed internally-geared hub adult trike up bridges and overpasses. This kind of redneck climbing training kept me from losing fitness last winter. It may not be what the "cool kids" do, but hey, it works!

revchuck 

There are DVDs which address this, but you'll need a heart rate monitor as a minimum to follow them. Two I'm using this winter are Climbing and Climbing Strength, both by Carmichael Training Systems. I'm sure there are other good ones out there as well. They emphasize the low cadence, high output drills like Bob recommends, and also lactate threshold intervals. They're not easy - trust me on this.

big john

I don't think he's trying to train to climb fast, he just wants to tour without undue suffering.
Having toured 90-100 mile days for 6 weeks I can tell you if you are in decent shape you will ride into a touring monster. The third day is always the hardest.

Oh, yeah, I thought the Ozarks were harder than the Rockies, partly because of the heat and humidity.

caloso

I trained for a hill climb by training almost exclusively on flat roads. Big gears, low cadence, into the wind, at threshold. If you have a powermeter, great: do lots of near threshold power work. If you don't have a PM, but have a HRM: do lots of work at your LTHR. If you have neither: point your bike into the wind and ride as hard as you can for 30 minutes. It should be at least 7.5/10 rate of perceived effort (RPE). You need to find the spot where you have to push hard, but you can maintain it for extended periods. (It takes practice, but you can do it.)

svtmike

This.

kimconyc

Assuming you have a huge base already...

Riding at or just below FTP (helps to have a power meter but a HRM will work as well); tons of threads on this topic.

Big-gear riding on flats (practice riding in the 53-11) to simulate climbing out of the saddle. You need a base before doing this.

surgeonstone

Intervals. whether outdoors or in mix up your rides. I ride one day going 85 rpm and with a steady HR of 135. I increase my cadence 5 rmp with each elevation of HR by 5 bpm. I do this untilI can no longer do it and repeat until exhausted.
The next day I do the same thing but rather than change the cadence I change the gear, going down one gear at a time. I start at a gear that spinning at 85-90 takes me to 135 bpm. When steady at this rate I shift down one sprocket and pedal, keeping the cadence at 85-90 until my heart rate rises by 5 bpm, then continue shifting down one gear at a time with each hr elevation of five until I can no longer do it. The third day I relax and go easy, then repeat the cycle. This will improve fitness and will help on hills.
I also mix in some leg presses on a weight machine during winter.

Juan Foote

Just tie off a couple of cinder blocks to your frame.

RChung

Climbing well is about watts/kg for the duration of the climbs you expect to see. You can both train your power and lose weight without hills. Don't bother with propping up your front wheel on phone books -- that's bogus. Raise your power and lower your weight. That's all.

surgeonstone

Really, the only thing phone books do is perhaps get you use to the slight position change. As far as difficulty, clearly the work load is not affected by elevating the front while on a trainer.

hollowmen

Thanks for the advice guys. Most of it has been great, but clearly, punkncat wins.

laserfj

This. Your body doesn't know how fast it's going, or if it is going up a hill. It knows how much power you are putting out, and your cadence.

If you are on flats and you have the same power output and cadence as on a hill, it's the same thing.

merlinextraligh

My take on training to climb without hills:

https://www.everestchallengex2.blogsp...t-landers.html

Juan Foote

No problem, it's what I am here for.

carpediemracing 

Before I go do my 2004-2011 annual Jan/Feb SoCal training camps (with a lot of climbing in SoCal) I just ride the trainer, usually not going outside once October rolls around. I don't elevate front tire or anything.

I have problems on the climbs when I'm not fit, otherwise I just have my normal climbing problems (as I climb pretty poorly, even when fit).

Ultraslide

+1 - add some planks and crunches. Pace yourself. Enjoy the descent!

MikeyBoyAz

I think it would be interesting to try getting a beater mtb or something with relatively large tire cross-section and fill the tires with water then just top them off with a pump... I'm thinking schraeder valves, not presta. that would put at least a few lbs on the end of the wheel and give you a training program with fluid resistance I suspect many of us would remember for a long time.

^This is not tested... it might just be SOL out the door. I will try it out and let everyone know.

FactVord

Tires filled with water? This sounds like trouble. Good idea but probably wrong execution I have thought about carrying a backpack filled with rocks for power development rides.

Seattle Forrest