Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Question for fat people: hills

Nay. Mountain bikers do it all the time.

No one is born as a mountain biker *g*. If you don't try to get going again on an 18% grade, you'll never know if it works. But it is ok and sane to say "I've fallen enough and I should stop now before I hurt myself". The hill will still be there tomorrow, and you can try again then. It takes practice to get the skill, and no one should expect to have it instantly.

It's also ok to decide the situation isn't safe for trying. People on the internet can't tell if your scary hill is a 20% monstrosity in Pittsburgh or SF with lots of blind curves and heavy traffic, or a 2% grade with wide shoulders and almost no traffic. The right solution varies from person to person and hill to hill.

So go forth, try the scariest hill you can find, but don't be dumb :).

No one is born as a mountain biker *g*. If you don't try to get going again on an 18% grade, you'll never know if it works. But it is ok and sane to say "I've fallen enough and I should stop now before I hurt myself". The hill will still be there tomorrow, and you can try again then. It takes practice to get the skill, and no one should expect to have it instantly.

It's also ok to decide the situation isn't safe for trying. People on the internet can't tell if your scary hill is a 20% monstrosity in Pittsburgh or SF with lots of blind curves and heavy traffic, or a 2% grade with wide shoulders and almost no traffic. The right solution varies from person to person and hill to hill.

So go forth, try the scariest hill you can find, but don't be dumb :).

Mountain bikers are made. I'd suggest everyone go learn how to ride one since the skills you learn riding off-road can be applied to just about any road situation. Once you get used to what your wheels will do on bad surfaces, they will do magic on good surfaces.

Starting on a steep hill on loose surfaces is a necessary skill on a mountain bike and is fairly easy learn to do. And most of the places you have to do it on a mountain bike leave much less room for error than a road such as single track, steep drops off, in trees, etc. On a solid surface and a wide road, it's even easier.

Start in your lowest gear, of course. On loose trails, it's usually better to try and start on the saddle. On roads, traction usually isn't limited so you can probably start with your foot down. Put you dominate foot forward at about 2 o'clock and hold the front brake. You can hold the rear one too but it won't make a difference. The front brake is the key. You want to wheel to hold you still on the hill without the possibility of pitch back.

Now's the tricky bit. Push hard on the forward pedal, release the brake at about the same time (a little lag so that you are pedaling against the brake doesn't hurt) and hoist yourself into the saddle, all at the same time. Don't try to get the pedal engaged, just keep pedaling. If the front end wants to come off the ground, pull your nose down towards the stem bolt (keep a safe distance). This will push the front end down and keep you going up the hill. On a good road, you shouldn't have to adjust your position on the saddle to keep traction on the rear wheel. You may even be able to stand up to pedal. This will help to keep the front end down also.

It sounds more complicated than it is.

I will sometimes - I learned the hard way when the HR stays above 80% for too long I could be looking at either an asthma attack or my chest seizing up (happened on my first century attempt - that sucked). I look at it as a way of being able to ride the rest in comfort instead of wondering if I should flag down help.

you mean we arent supposed to walk up the hills? LOL Yes Ive done it a few times. Just yesterday, but it was due to a cramping hamstring. Almost crashed the bike when it happened too.

you mean we arent supposed to walk up the hills? LOL Yes Ive done it a few times. Just yesterday, but it was due to a cramping hamstring. Almost crashed the bike when it happened too.

Try dropping your heels more when pedaling. Stretching the muscle can relieve the cramp.

My favorite thing to do on hills that kill me, is to switch up my riding technique to target different muscle groups as I go up the hill. This is especially crucial for areas where my cadence drops below 45 rpm in my easiest gear. I alternate between sitting firmly on the back of the saddle and straight-out spinning (slams quads, but also hits hamstrings), moving and leaning forward to hit the hamstrings and up-stroke harder for a bit (hamstrings and calves take more load), standing with my butt back just above the saddle and pulling on the handlebars with my arms (helps tired hamstrings and calves), and standing more forward while I pull up a lot more with my hip-flexors (gives all of your legs a rest, but hits me harder aerobically). It looks funny, but it keeps me moving forward at a faster speed than anything else I've tried, and prevents me from stopping on those super-nasty sections.

Have fun out there!

I've never walked up a hill on a road bike. I have walked on a mountain bike, though. I'm not ashamed, and I'd do it again if I had to.

I will stay on the bike as far as I can go until I fall over. Then I'll walk.
But before I took almost a year off of any major rides or consistent hills, I was able to get over most hills I came up against. It certainly does get better as you go though.

Last September, I rode the 25k bike leg on a team triathlon. Right out of the chute, less than 1 mile into it is a long hill with over 900' of elevation change. And on that particular Sunday, we were heading right into a 35-40 mph wind! Talk about things really stinking all at once! There were several points in that climb that I thought that I was going to have to walk, but I slowly made it up and finished the rest of the course, but that climb really hurt. I am committing to doing more hills early in the season this year.

My position has been, and always will be that if my bike and I both make it to the top of a hill, it was a successful climb.

I believe that there is no requirement for those in the professional peleton to ride up all of the hills, although at their fitness level, it is the fastest way up. So, why do we impose more strict limits on ourselves as amateurs than the sanctioning organizations put on professionals?

I would love to see someone who is well ahead of the peleton in the TdF get off their bike as they approach a KoM banner and push their bike across the line just to prove to everyone that it is OK to walk a bike up a hill.

keep trying.

one day you will conquer the hill and it will be awesome:D

+1

I started cycling about 11 months ago. On my first ride I had to walk up a hill. There were other rides where I was panting like a rabid dog climbing up. I just kept doing those hills and started looking for harder hills. Plus I trained pretty hard all winter with strength and fitness intervals on the trainer as well as vitual hill climb courses. In the last week I've been able to get out again and hit some of those same hills. They were cake. My heart rate barley spiked into the aerobic zone (it was a recovery ride) and they were really quite easy. Oh and no granny gear used either...

It's funny, even my visual perspectie has changed. Hills that used to "look" steep now don't. Interesting...

Just keep at it. It will come!

Oh...PS. If you keep riding you will likely lose weight. That makes it a lot easier to get up the hills to. I'm pulling about 35 pounds less up the hills than I was 11 months ago on top of increased power and fitness.

Oh and no granny gear used either...

How low do you have to get for it to be considered a granny gear? (Just curious if the 34t chainring to 11-32t cassette I'm getting on Tuesday will qualify me, or does the cog have to be bigger than the ring to be an official granny gear?)

How low do you have to get for it to be considered a granny gear? (Just curious if the 34t chainring to 11-32t cassette I'm getting on Tuesday will qualify me, or does the cog have to be bigger than the ring to be an official granny gear?)

LOL...I have no official answer. To me it just means I didn't use my small chainring on my triple...

LOL...I have no official answer. To me it just means I didn't use my small chainring on my triple...

It's just me being a picky engineer. I need stats and numbers.:)

I run a compact double instead of a triple so I don't have a typical "granny ring" like a 26t or 28t, but the hardcore 39/53 road double riders might consider a compact double a cop-out crank.
When I bought the 11-32 cassette, it was listed under the 9spd mountain cassettes, and I know that most road derailleurs won't take anything bigger than 27t max.
I suppose I'm just feeling a bit wimpy with gearing the bike down like this for a 20 mile daily commuting route home with 2050' of climbing. It probably has something to do with not being on the bike since last Friday, but my fiancee had surgery on Monday and I need to drive this week in case she needs me home quickly. (I should stop making excuses and just be happy with riding as much as I do.)

When the hill in question is a wall of rough ice, yeah I walk! Very carefully, too. There's a particular path that never gets plowed and by this time of year it's almost impossible to cycle with a utility bike, esp. if it's loaded with groceries and such.

It's true if you keep at it it gets easier. I don't walk p too many hills, they have to be pretty steep. I know it's a hard thing to accept some times but the more we work at these things the better we will be. If it makes you feel any better this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbvQqssD_jI

Has plenty of the skinny guys walking up a hill too. I wouldn't feel bad walking up a hill with a 20 percent grade after I've already gone 30 miles.