Does training on hills have any redeeming value on the track?

[andre nickatina]

Or is it a complete waste of time and energy? This is for points/scratch/miss and outs by the way, not sprints or kilos...

[markhr]

It didn't seem to hurt these guys in the madison.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/mar08/wtc08/wtc084/2008_03_WorldChampsDay4_D1338.jpg

[Yoshi]

I remember reading about how the Australian team would use hill training for their endurance guys. They'd ride up hills in huge gears.

I don't really know if it's that effective though.

[CrimsonKarter21]

I remember reading about how the Australian team would use hill training for their endurance guys. They'd ride up hills in huge gears.

I don't really know if it's that effective though.

It is. Grinding up some of my hills at 30rpm seated (which was the key for what you mentioned) really worked my quads.

[andre nickatina]

So it's good when you're closer to the endurance end of the spectrum, bad when you're closer to the sprinter end then?

Either way I've been riding a decent 10% grade in town at 73 gear inches lately, and my quads definitely feel it at the top. Planning on doing hill repeats up it, I just wasn't sure if I was wasting time at all.

[markhr]

...bad when you're closer to the sprinter end then?...

no - keirin riders in japan use hill (vertical wall more like :eek:) repeats as a training tool.

[mezza]

Short sharp hills are great for sprinting up.

[The Carpenter]

Don't forget about the other way..... ride down them on your track bike to improve your leg speed.

[bitingduck]

My track riding is much better when I'm doing a lot of climbing, and not necessarily even hard grinding, but long zone 2 up mountains. My weekend endurance rides tend to be about 70 miles with about 5000' of climbing. I get speed by doing intervals and motorpacing during the week, and sometimes on sundays (motorpaced madison practice).

[andre nickatina]

Don't forget about the other way..... ride down them on your track bike to improve your leg speed.

I started out riding fixed/track bikes on the street long before I ever hit the track, so this is completely natural feeling to me now. Now I'm trying to get into racing at the drome...

[kyle!]

this is good advice. i'll just say i got my so-and-so handed to me last night(my first race ever).

[andre nickatina]

So what kind of stuff should I be doing? Hill repeats? Long gradual climbs? Short steep ones? Right now I'm throwing repeats on a 10 percent grade, 0.6 mile climb @ 73". Does it even matter as long as I'm doing climbing in a decent gear?

[I saw Elvis]

Depends what you mean by hills. If you're talking TdF mountains then no, but the effort to ride a pursuit is very similar to the effort to ride over a 'hill'.
Chris Boardman apart from being a great pursuit / prolog / hour rider was also a British hill climb champion and says that there is very little difference and if you can ride one you're physically capable of riding the other just as well.

[Dubbayoo]

I think there's good benefit to powering up 4-6% grades seated in a large gear. You will often accelerate while seated on the track.

[CrimsonKarter21]

I think there's good benefit to powering up 4-6% grades seated in a large gear. You will often accelerate while seated on the track.
Doing this on hills helps a lot, because sometimes you just hurt yourself so badly that you can't stand up for a sprint. In fact, this is practically the only way that I sprint, and I can get going just as fast as a standing sprint.

[JYPC]

I know this guy who is in his late 60's and he was telling me about his training back in the late 70's and early 80's. Him and his buddies would ride give or take 98 inch ratios, around 51-14's. They would work 40 hours a week, four days a week, and three days a week train up and down mountains where they lived on the highest gears they could physically possible do. They did this for a few seasons. I believe it was in 82 or 84 they all competed in various world held competitions and won majority of their races. He's got the papers to prove.