tara1234

Hey so I have learned how to spin on the flat and downhill at a good cadence. But I find that its hard to do that at a low gear while climbing a hill, should I just go to a slightly higher gear and grind my way up hills or is spinning still more effective while climbing?

I find that when im spinning my low gear (42/32) I seam to be going at close to walking speed and still gets tiring.

MRT2

You need to find your own rhythm. That is the key. Standing and climbing works for some people, but on longer hills, you might get your heart rate too high and blow yourself up before you get to the top of the hill. Watch a few pro races. Even the fittest pros sit on long hard climbs some of the time.

ridelikeaturtle

If you know the course and the specific hill, you'll be able to determine which part(s) are hardest, where you can store up some energy by "finding your rhythm" (as already mentioned), and where you can "attack" by standing up and pushing a bit. The more you understand about the route, the better. Always be considering the gradient, where you can use momentum, and the more climbing you do, the better you'll get.

Retro Grouch 

If your legs hurt, shift into an easier gear. If you find that you're running out of breath, try a harder gear. If your legs and your lungs are both maxing out at the same time, you're doing it right.

wolfchild

If you're using a higher gear ratio , it's better and healthier for your knees to stand up on the pedals then to be sitting in a saddle and grinding your way up...If you don't feel comfortable standing and riding out of the saddle then you should sit and use lower gear ratio and spin your way up.

10 Wheels

New to riding and Hills:

Start in your lowest gear at the bottom.

Sit up Straight. Helps W Breathing.

Both hands near the center of your bars.

Do Not Look at The Top of The Hill.

See How S L O W you can go.

Once you get stronger you can try racing up the hills.

Maelochs

i t depends ..... I used to be able to spin up hills. the key was to start with a high-ish cadence and shift down before i needed to, so the power-delivery was not interrupted. Best to start as high on the smallest ring as possible (i.e. smallest cog, smallest ring and then shift up the cog.)

Now that my heart (and the rest fo me) simply won't sustain that kind of effort, I have to mix techniques. I spin until my heart protests, then grind, then stand when I need to because I cannot push the gear properly seated--and when I stand, after the first couple big pushes, I gain time to shift into a higher gear... and when I cannot stand any more, I can shift down and grind or spin ... repeat until I finally get to the top .... of my driveway.

berner

As always, spinning is more effective and much better for knee health. This video is a very good guide to climbing. I would point out how relaxed the climber looks. The only muscles holding much tension are the ones that move the bike up the mountain.
I'm asthmatic so I also pay very close attention to breathing. I'm not fast but I can climb anything in my riding area and I do work at it.

Maelochs

I STRONGLY disagree.

Do NOT start in your lowest gear. You will burn yourself out in a hurry and have no place to go. On most bikes, the lowest gear is Much too low for most hills, particularly the bottoms ... you will Want that gear when you are closer to the top.

Start in the Highest gear you can spin pretty easily at a pretty good cadence (whatever is kind of quick for you ... we all differ.) As for riding position ... whatever works. I generally shift positions many times on a longish climb.

I agree about not looking up all the time. Look far enough ahead for safety, and Breathe.

I do not see the point of going as slow as you can go. Unless and only if you want to use this technique as a painful training technique .... use other techniques.

As a training technique, this might work ... but it will beat you up, like any training technique, and like most training methods ... it won't be fun until it is over, and will hurt worse the next day. And .. the rest of your ride won't be fun, either.

What Ten Wheels suggests might be a decent training technique ... and if you want to train, also do hill repeats---ride up, coast down, ride up, coast down, ride up, cry, fall over, vomit, go home.

For Training, it might work.

If you want to Ride hills .... I would recommend other techniques.

BobbyG

I don't know what the accepted method is but here's what I do. On my old 12 speed road bike where the lowest gears are not low enough, I stand, but not in the lowest gear. The 2nd and 3rd lowest gears work for me. On my new commuter I do the same. But my old mountain bike based commuter has crazy low hearing. On that bike I will sit straight up and grab the elbow rests of the aero bars and spin in a low gear. Of course I'm not racing, and my goal is not burning out be for I get home.

ridelikeaturtle

I also disagree with a lot of this.

Starting in "your lowest gear at the bottom" will kill any momentum and slow your progress. Maintain whatever gearing keeps you in a comfortable cadence - that's gonna change as the gradient changes. I'm not sure how seeing how slow you can go is particularly helpful, though I suppose it can't hurt (except to make for a longer ride).

Put yourself in whatever position is comfortable, which might not necessarily be sitting up straight. Widening your hands across the bars will help to improve breathing, and allow you to control the bars better if/when you decide to stand.

10 Wheels

My tip was for brand new hill riders, not experienced ones.

I have 60,000 miles on my legs

gregf83 

For an overpass you might be concerned with momentum. For a real hill, the momentum you carry into the bottom of the hill is not relevant.

10 Wheels advice is reasonable for a newer rider who doesn't yet know how to pace themselves for a given duration. Ideally, you'd like to put out constant power for the hill. If it's a long hill the first part of the hill should feel relatively easy. Worst case you pick up the pace over the course of the hill.

Most riders, particularly new ones, are overgeared so starting in a low gear is not a problem. If you find your cadence going above 95RPM and it still feels easy just shift up a gear.

SquidPuppet

EnjoyinTheRide

Theres a pretty steep grade semi long hill in my area that is used by road cyclists and even recreational riders due to its location. Because I ride a single speed cruiser I basically get as much as a head start speed wise then give up at some point lol. But the road cyclist.....ohhh no, they attack that hill just like the last salmon run of their lives they do. Most of them seem to try and pace themselves up a hill and I noticed some LOVE to shift gears most the way up. I know this because im the guy walking up the hill, taking my time as they pass me.

But what I find funny is this. It really doesnt matter how one goes up a hill, your not getting further ahead than anyone else. Because every time I get passed by road cyclists pacing up the hill. By the time I get to the top, most of the time the cyclists are resting at the top lol..I get on my bike, start riding again and leave them behind resting because they consumed so much energy to get to the top.

Its up to you how you approach any hill. I dont think there is a right or wrong way actually...

ramzilla

I ride the perimeter road around Stone Mountain in Georgia. One lap is 5 miles with about about 280ft of hill climbing. I use momentum to climb hills. I get it up to around 34mph on one big hill. Pedal like mad at the bottom. Probably make it about 1/3 of the way up the next hill just on inertia. If you do three laps it's just like climbing a 90 story building.

jdw777

Psychology tip: look ahead and pick a rock or pole or something, imagine a rubber band tied to it and your bike and spin.

Breaks the hill up, you can vary technique (gear, cadence, standing, sitting, hands etc).

But always spin

Great video above btw +1

Peace o/

Machka 

It's all about trying to find a pace that will allow you to breathe fairly easily and ride fairly comfortably. Unless the hill is really steep. There's no breathing easily and riding comfortably on a steep hill.

rgconner

Just keep peddling... just keep peddling...

DeadGrandpa

My philosophy of pedaling is to always use the Goldilocks gear (which is continually changing with terrain) meaning you shift as needed to maintain a constant light pressure with a pedaling cadence that is comfortable. This means, assuming you are pedaling most or all of the time, that, going uphill but carrying momentum from the previous downhill, you would be shifting to lower gears one at a time, just before you need that lower gear. That works for me on rolling hills and mountains, and enables long rides without sore muscles. If you want to stand up and mash pedals in a higher gear, that will make you stronger but it takes repeated hill attacks and obviously, time to recover and develop that fitness. I don't want to stress my knees, so I am content with riding for endurance and stamina. My legs get tired but never sore, even after 60+ miles.

DrIsotope

Are we talking about getting up hills, or are we talking about climbing? If it's a quarter mile of who-cares-how-steep, use whatever technique you have to get to the top. Grind it, spin it, whatever-- hills of short duration can be done anaerobically, just muscle up them. To me, climbing is +4% (+200ft/mi) for miles and miles, and that relies on the mix of equipment, technique, and aerobic fitness. Don't have low enough gears, you're gonna have a bad time, no matter your fitness level. I just try to find the gear that's comfortable, and that I can sustain while keeping power output and heart rate relatively steady. Surging will wear you out much more quickly, and getting aerobic recovery while climbing is difficult. I don't love climbing as much as some folks seem to, but I do know that the best way to get better at it is to do it. Climbing more makes you a better climber.

That's called Zone 2, and endurance paced riding is fine if you never wish to get any faster, or ride longer distances. Non-injured, I average 200 miles and ~9,000ft of climbing each week, and there's at least one ride in there that leaves me with sore legs. Soreness is muscles repairing themselves, and it's completely normal. I can give myself sore legs from an hour on the trainer-- you can't do an hour at 85% intensity and not be sore the next day. If you did, then that 85% wouldn't actually be 85%. Low intensity doesn't make you sore because you're acclimated to it. Throw an LTHR/FTP test in there one day. Your legs will be sore for 2 days after 30 minutes on the bike.

canklecat

PEDs.

Or for us ordinary humans who'd rather live a bit longer...

I hate hills and avoid 'em on days when I plan to ride for hours and up to 60 miles (my longest single day rides so far). But when I choose the longer, easier routes I find my hill climbing ability suffers. I notice it mostly in group rides where we encounter only one or two hills and I lag toward the back, in part because group rides challenge me out of my comfort zone of riding my own pace at all times. The slight ebb and flow of group rides can be more demanding even on fairly easy routes.

So about once or twice a week, especially when I have only an hour to ride, I'll tackle the closest rural route with hills and often with head or cross winds, along lots of open prairie. The short version is 10 miles. The longer version without repeats is 20 miles. Usually I'll go for a 14 mile route.

They're all roller coasters. About half are chip seal, which hinders momentum -- the rough pavement demands continuous effort in pedaling to keep up momentum and to relieve some strain on my back and neck from the jolting.

Sometimes I'll climb out of the saddle for the chip seal -- easier on my neck and back -- and sit and spin on the smoother pavement.

Frankly it's not fun. I'll often avoid it for weeks, preferring the flatter 30-60 mile rides. But when I force myself to tackle the shorter hilly route I see gradual improvements when I've plateaued. Last week I set a few new PRs on Strava. I'm still a slowpoke, half the speed of the fastest riders in my area on the same segments.

But averaging 15 mph on a 10-20 mile route that I was struggling to average at 12 mph this time last year is satisfactory progress for me, especially considering I'm riding a nearly 30 lb steel mountain bike, not a featherweight carbon or even 20 lb aluminum road bike.

My next plan is to tackle a few repeats on the toughest segments of the same route. Fortunately the steepest segments (around 8%) have fairly smooth asphalt, so it's a different challenge from the longer 4% or so segments on chipseal. It's 2 miles of fairly steady climbing, then a mix of roller coaster, then back to the 2 mile climb again.

Machka 

Here's a question ... what kind of hills are you talking about? Around here, you wouldn't get up the hills if you shifted to a higher gear.

trailflow1

Is that a 42t big chainring and a 32t cassette? If so, that means your hills are not tough enough.

If that's a 42t cassette and a 32t inner chainring. Thats means you have enough low gears to climb vertical walls at a snails pace. That's a very low gear. If you want to travel faster than 4mph, choose a higher gear yes.

Chuck Naill

Something that helped me was to put in a weekly hill workout. I would choose a moderately steep hill of a 1/2 mile. This hill was 3 miles from the house which I would ride to and back at a good moderate pace.


I did 8 to 10 speed laps up the hill and just coast back to recover. I found it helped my hill climbing overall.


This was a hill training technique we used on my college's track team.