Hills/Climbing-advice plz

neris

Need a bit of advice on going up hills.

Is it better staying in the saddle when climbing or standing up? Find it very hard and difficult climbing. Ive only done howth and struggle a bit, I want to start some going up the mountains in Wicklow.
.

Diarmuid

Might be more useful to start here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055835737

Leroy42

No matter what advice people give you, how many forums you read or books you buy, your line in your OP is not going to change.

Find it very hard and difficult climbing

Sitting, standing, fast revs or grinding, climbing is hard work. If it wasn't sure everybody would be doing it.

There is no magic formula, no silver bullet. Only way to get better at climbing hills is to climb hills.

Apart from all the advice about position, training, power to weight etc, a very large portion of climbing is actually mental. Do you fear climbing the hills or do you look forward to the challenge.

As Greg LeMond said, "It never gets any easier, you just get faster"

ednwireland

ha thats it i was just sayiing in my training log (actually should be called going out for a ride blog )
i am using the midlle ring instead of the granny ring on most climbs you just keep going at them i try and sit most of the time only getting out of the saddle for a change of position or really steep sections (glengesh springs to mind 2 nasty sections on that)

if i were you i go out and try sitting on longer hills (depends on your bike gearing) i always think doing the longer climbs at a steady pace is better than sprinting up short climbs, and its a different mindset

oh and dont worry about stopping (not for the sake of it i.e dont make a habit of it) but if you absolutely have to cos your going to fall off the bike then stop have a breather, but you should try and top out a hill

neris

Thanks very helpful post gave more answers to questions I didnt have . very good post and lots of good info in it.

seamus

Climbing is always easier with a friend, fact.

On your own; find a comfortable gear, make sure you have some tunes going on in your ears, lose yourself in your own thoughts and just keep pushing. I usually end being "somewhere else" in my head, and before I know it I'm at the top of the climb.

I find that initially hills are a killer; your HR goes up, you breathe heavier, you start to sweat and your legs start to ache. But after 10 minutes of solid effort, you settle into the pain and you can just keep going forever (even if you are barely moving).

blorg

Generally sitting is more sustainable. Getting out of the saddle gives you more weight on the pedals but most people will tire a LOT quicker out of the saddle. Ideally you want low enough gearing to be able to sit and spin at a high cadence. This taxes the heart but spares the leg muscles. If you don't have low enough gearing for the gradient you will have no choice but to stand; but given the choice I would sit. Racing I stand more particularly on short climbs the bunch is powering over but still primarily sit for longer ones.

ednwireland

seamus wrote: »

Climbing is always easier with a friend, fact.

yeh right depends how fast that friend is, if he zooms off its quite depressing
being a fat lump on a bike i'm ok on the flat but instantly dropped on climbs i just accept until the weight comes down i'm getting dropped

Velo Bro

Hi "Neris" a lot of good advice above. I would also add that it's a very personal thing also. What do you want to achieve? There are guy's that can sit in the saddle and ride all day in Wicklow but have no kick on a sharp short hill and there are lads that can lash up a short climb at a great rate of knots.
I always try and sit in the saddle when training as I feel it targets the muscle better but in a race I will alternate regularly. I have reasonable cardio so that works for me.
A good place to start is a circuit or route that has a climb and a couple of km's to recover. I use the Keiber road in the park and do half a dozen laps also Knockmaroon and Rugged lane on the way home after. In total about 55km's. With the circuit I can try different gearing etc so that I push myself and if it all gets too much a coffee and cake are never too far away .
As said above the more you climb the better you get!! so keep plugging away.

Cheers

Velo Bro!

Geronimo20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills

Hermy

ednwireland wrote: »

...if he zooms off...

...then he's not a real friend!:pac:

ednwireland

Hermy wrote: »

...then he's not a real friend!:pac:

dont have any friends

apart from my virtual ones as my other half insits on calling people on this forum

Liamo08

blorg wrote: »

Generally sitting is more sustainable. Getting out of the saddle gives you more weight on the pedals but most people will tire a LOT quicker out of the saddle. Ideally you want low enough gearing to be able to sit and spin at a high cadence. This taxes the heart but spares the leg muscles. If you don't have low enough gearing for the gradient you will have no choice but to stand; but given the choice I would sit. Racing I stand more particularly on short climbs the bunch is powering over but still primarily sit for longer ones.

+1 on all of this.

I'd also throw in that if you have a heart rate monitor it can help you use your energy a bit more efficiently. For example if I'm going to tackle a hill that will take 15 mins I'll generally try and keep my heart rate around 85 - 90% of my max for the duration of the climb keeping my cadance steady so the only thing I really adjust is my gears depending on the steepness. Now I've learned from painful experience that going into the red on a climb too early for me makes it much more painful and a lot slower, I also find it very hard to get my heart rate down on a hill once it's gotten too high so I find that if I control it form the start it makes things a bit easier.

blorg

Liamo08 wrote: »

I also find it very hard to get my heart rate down on a hill once it's gotten too high so I find that if I control it form the start it makes things a bit easier.

As you say a lot better not to have it go up too high to begin with but I find deep heavy breathing is effective at reducing it; works for me and I know of others who use the same trick.

Going slower at the start of long climbs is generally a good idea and get you up them faster overall.

shaungil

Geronimo20 wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills

or http://www.thehillscricketclub.com/

SubLuminal

Leroy42 wrote: »

As Greg LeMond said, "It never gets any easier, you just get faster"

Does that mean it never gets any harder, too? Please god..

Zorba

blorg wrote: »

As you say a lot better not to have it go up too high to begin with but I find deep heavy breathing is effective at reducing it; works for me and I know of others who use the same trick.

By heavy deep breathing i assume u mean while your on the climb ?

Or would them deep breathing exercises u can do off the bike be any good ?

DirkVoodoo

Zorba wrote: »

By heavy deep breathing i assume u mean while your on the climb ?

Or would them deep breathing exercises u can do off the bike be any good ?

http://www.cptips.com/respmus.htm#rhyt

Personally I have found this useful, I don't climb half as well if I start panting like a dog. It may "feel" like I'm working harder but I'm really going much, much slower.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Personally I have found this useful, I don't climb half as well if I start panting like a dog. It may "feel" like I'm working harder but I'm really going much, much slower.

I find the opposite. When I try to control my breathing whilst cycling flat out (i.e. at or over aerobic threshold) I am much more likely to go pop.

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

I find the opposite. When I try to control my breathing whilst cycling flat out (i.e. at or over aerobic threshold) I am much more likely to go pop.

For me uncontrolled breathing results in faster, shallower breathing. I've never done this on the flat actually (control it I mean) but on climbs I find it plays into that whole "rhythmic balance" of legs, lungs, body being in harmony which, again this is my own experience, makes it easier to sustain harder efforts. Maybe it's all in my head.

I'll go test it tomorrow, I've been meaning to make a trip to Howth for a while now.

Raam

I find that I climb best with a bit of drool on the left side of my mouth.

blorg

Zorba wrote: »

By heavy deep breathing i assume u mean while your on the climb ?

Yes, while on the climb. I find I can get my heart rate down. Works stopped too, I sometimes try to see how low I can get it.

on_the_nickel

Raam wrote: »

I find that I climb best with a bit of drool on the left side of my mouth.

I'm more of an on the shoulder guy. You know you're suffering when you spit and it's so weak it doesn't clear your body.

Zorba

on_the_nickel wrote: »

I'm more of an on the shoulder guy. You know you're suffering when you spit and it's so weak it doesn't clear your body.

Or when your going up a climb on the limit and u think i'll just change down to a lower gear and i'll be grand, then go to change and u realise your already in the lowest gear :eek:

mcgratheoin

on_the_nickel wrote: »

I'm more of an on the shoulder guy. You know you're suffering when you spit and it's so weak it doesn't clear your body.

Clear your body?? I'm lucky to get it out of my mouth when I'm suffering!

TBH though, I'm pretty sure that my climbing problems stem from my lack of gold chain and open jersey - may have to invest in some bling at some stage...

ednwireland

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Clear your body?? I'm lucky to get it out of my mouth when I'm suffering!

TBH though, I'm pretty sure that my climbing problems stem from my lack of gold chain and open jersey - may have to invest in some bling at some stage...

did you see lance armstrong sorry medallion man today :eek:

Ryaner

Leroy42 wrote: »

As Greg LeMond said, "It never gets any easier, you just get faster"

I used to believe this until I completed the Marmotte recently. Remembering back to say last years W200, I suffered on the climbs then. Like really suffered, more than anything else since.

However when I reviewed everything in sporttracks, it turned out that back then I was just so unfit/heavy/slow that my cadence was slow enough that it was a grind - and I had a 34/28 on the bike.

So perhaps it is a gentle hill-shaped graph. You start out and things are hard, but then they get easier to a point when all you do is start getting faster. Then you decide to start racing meaning you need to push up the hills even faster so they get hard again. Then you realise the error in your ways, stop racing and slow down. So the hills are easy again. Next you get fat from lack of training, oh look, the hills are hard again. So you start training again and they get easier. Once again you decide racing can't be all that bad until low and behold, the hills are hard again ....

Harrybelafonte

on_the_nickel wrote: »

I'm more of an on the shoulder guy. You know you're suffering when you spit and it's so weak it doesn't clear your body.

I'm usually a combo of dribble and spitting, but gobbed all over my computer and brake cables last time, reached the top with spit dripping off the cables

neris

thanks for all the advice. put some of the pointers into action last Saturday and survived. just need more practice