SlowSpinner

What is the best way to ride rolling terrain? I am talking about roads with 5 to 20 degree slopes where you go down one and then immediately start to climb the next hill. The hills have elevation changes of 100 to 500 feet. What is the best way to ride miles of road like this?

I_bRAD

By bicycle, of course!

merlinextraligh

For me as a heavier rider, I always try to bomb the descent, particularly the bottom part of it to carry maximum momentum into the start of the hill. If I'm with a group, or a race, I'll try to let a little space develop in front of me so I can roll into that at the bottom of the hill and up the start of the next to take advantage of the momentum. Then climb out of the saddle in a fairly big gear, until the momentum is gone. If you can, carry it over the top, and recover on the start of the next descent. If it's too long, once the momentum is spent, sit down and spin.

San Rensho 

Yep, momentum is everything. I would just add, don't kill yourself on the climb, but really push yourself on the descent.

ImprezaDrvr

Pushing on the descent is often wasting energy. Use the descent to recover a bit and hit the next climb harder. Very few races are ever won on the downhill, regardless of the size of the hill.

waterrockets 

+1

Fighting the wind is inefficient since the power required goes up with the cube of your speed. Power required to go up a hill is more efficient since gravity fights us linearly, and the wind speeds are so much lower.

To pace up a short hill, pick out two landmarks, 1/3 of the way up, and 2/3 of the way up. Ride VERY conservatively at the bottom of the hill (carry your momentum as much as you can, but don't pedal so hard). Just keep an easy pressure on the pedals.

When you get to the first landmark, at the 1/3 point, pick up your effort so that you're actually working. Don't go all out, but keep it steady.

When you get to the 2/3 point, ramp up your effort to a pace that you wouldn't be able to hold for the entire hill. Don't kill yourself, but go much harder than the other two sections of the hill. You'll probably be standing for much of this section.

When you get to the top, keep that effort level going until you get back over your average speed again. Then sit and recover for the next hill.

msheron

On two wheels and pedal! Seriously, everyone has their own way and you need to experiment with what works for you. I usually stay on the saddle for rolling hills but with climbs I use a combo of both.

merlinextraligh

To clarify, When I say bomb the descent, I'm not advocating putting out a ton of watts. But on rolling type hills, I can often descend faster than the group without even pedaling, and spining fast at the bottom can help carry momentum into the hill with little energy cost. But I'd agree I wouldn't pedal hard on the descent just to get a tiny speed advantage. The physics of it dictate that you're spending a lot of energy for little return due to the squared function of wind resistance.

PhatRoadie

Go hard when its hard and go easy when its easy. Save a little gas on the upslopes though so you can crest strong and still mark your buddies if they make a move at the crest of the hill.

Dubbayoo

True, although there was that one year when Sean Kelly caught Italian Moreno Argentin during the descent of the Poggio to win Milan San Remo.

I almost always climb seated but if the grades are 150 meters or less I'll just stand and power over them; spin/coast down the other side to recover. I would probably try to stay in the same gear as much as possible; likely a good gear for spinning on the flats.

JoeOxfordCT

+1

I stand & climb most stuff that isn't too long......then tuck & coast the downhills....

CanyonChaser

This is an awesome thread... But what is the concensus on "dancing on the pedals"? I find that I want to stand up to climb quite frequently to A) ensure circulation to "the boys" and B) becasue I feel like my body weight is helping move me forward.

dp

waterrockets 

20% of climbing time spent standing seems to work for most people. Maybe stay seated until the steepest portion, then stand instead of downshifting.

feethanddooth

i tend to ride the descent as if there is no climb coming up, then spin up the hill in the saddle. for me, its all about keeping the same cadence.

EventServices

scoot forward on the saddle, slightly smaller gear, and spin.

twahl

I tend to get my big butt are aero as possible going down, and stroke it out the last 1/3 of the hill or so, and carry as much speed as I can up the hill. Pedal through the top until I'm rolling down again, rinse and repeat.

I'm a recovering clyde (currently 192), and I'm riding DA-16s, so standing becomes a problem. the wheels deflect enough that my magnet starts banging the sensor, which turns it on the spoke, then when I drop back into the saddle and take the pressure off, the computed won't read until I move the sensor. Then of course I straighten everything out later, and it happens again next time I stand to climb. I can stand for a mild sprint if I really think about not throwing the bike side to side, but meh, it's not worth the hassle.

Velo Vol 

From a speed/efficiency standpoint, is it better to "push yourself" as you go over the top of the hill (thus generating a faster decent) or at the base of the hill (so you carry more momentum into the next climb)?

ImprezaDrvr

You're always going to have the Salvodellis of the world that can descend and make up time. But on rollers this ability isn't used.

Keith99

I'm also big. Here in L.A. decending the Sepulveda pass on the south side there is a small uphill bump in hte lower parts. If I hit it at speed I can maintain at least 25 going up it. That can leave me 1/4 to 1/2 half mile ahead of riders who did not carry speed and pop the hill.

hockeyteeth

I have similar type hills here in Gainesville and I'm trying to build my leg strength, so I try to climb fairly hard up the hill and conserve energy on the descent for the next uphill battle. I don't know what's best for speed, but I should imagine climbing hard would build more endurance. And with more endurance will come faster overall speeds! Does anyone think I am I wrong in this assumption?

DannoXYZ 

Do both and rest up on the downhill.

On short hills, you can power up them out of the saddle to keep the speed & momentum up. But it's definitely not as efficient as sitting and spinning a lower gear. Which is the strategy for the longer ones. What a lot of people don't realize with the "body weight pushing on pedals" idea is that once your body weight descends on one pedal stroke, you have to pull that body back up against gravity to push it down on the other side. Higher peak muscle-forces with lower degrees of applied force on the crank causes inefficiency when out of the saddle. So you want to balance quick power with oxygen-consumption efficiency with speed on the hills.

gotgenes

If you pedal hard and go anearobic, doesn't it become more like strength training and less like (aerobic-based) endurance training? I always associate burst-based excercise with strength training and continuous exercise with endurance. Burning up a hill and then dropping activity to recover sounds more like burst-based.

DannoXYZ 

It's actually the other way around. Doing anaerobic intervals on the hills will build strength and muscle-efficiency. You'll be able to generate more power for the oxygen-consumed at LT than before. That's how you'll get faster.

Endurance is a byproduct or side-effect of increased muscle-efficiency. The same long ride at the same speed will be easier because you'll be pushing your muscles less relative to their max. You'll have less fatigue and feel more comfortable on that same long ride with stronger muscles. Or you can also do that same ride faster. But true endurance-training requires longer rides as the other part of endurance is energy-delivery. Being able to digest food and convert it quickly to glucose for energy and pumping it to your muscles.

merlinextraligh

Danno,
I thought your posts were much more insightful when your icon was the picture of the hot chick on the front of the car.

munkyv22

I generally pedal.