Training & Nutrition - Climbing Strategies

I have been cycling for about a year now. I started by doing a couple of triathlons last year. I've discovered that the bike portion of the race is my strongest part of the race, partially because I enjoy it so much.

Last year I rode an old Peugeot steel frame horse that took me faithfully through two triathlons. This year I have ended up with a new aluminum frame bike with a carbon fork and seat post, Mavic wheels and Shimano 105 components. It is a very fast bike.

Yesterday I went out to the site of the original race I was in and rode the 16 mile course. It was cold and windy, but my time (00:45:11) was still 2 minutes faster than last years time. Although this time was nothing to be ashamed of, I still would like to shave several minutes from it.

I noticed that my averages mph would drop like a rock during the long uphill climbs on the course, even when the uphills were short. In my short 'career' as a cyclist my strategy on the climbs has been to stay in the saddle and hammer my way uphill.

Last weekend I rode with a group from my LBS and notiiced that the two fastest riders way up front would both stand up on the cranks during an uphil climb, and again when they wanted to sprint. I was able to stay with them when they did this, but I think it was at great expense to my legs, since I stayed in my seat and hammered my usuall strategy.

I notice that during the Toure de France, Lance and other riders would stand up on their pedals during uphill climbs and sprints as well.

Q (finally!): can I shave the minutes off of my time that I desire by standing during the climb, and what other benefits will I discover by learning this technique?

Thanks!

Aerow

Spin up hills. Try to make sure your speed at the top is at least the same as your speed at the bottom.

Thanks!

But, do you mean my cadence or mph?

If I start to shift down, my cadence would have to rise significantly to maintain the same speed. What would this do to my efficiency?

Thanks again!

Originally posted by Aerow
But, do you mean my cadence or mph?
Both, but it depends on the climb --

1. Short hills [say 200m]: Come into the base of the hill spinning at speed and maintain speed until the top. The trick, I find, is to shift UP at about 2/3-3/4 of the way up and grind out of the saddle for the last 50m. Timing is everything, and if you can time it right, you can get a great accel right at the end. Think of it as an uphill sprint, and use sprint tactics accordingly. I have trouble on this one because, though I can sprint, I have lousy uphill timing.

2. Long climbs [say 1000m +]: Maintain as steady a spinning cadence as you can. The trick here is rhythm rather than timing; get out of the saddle to keep your cadence high when the grade kicks up and recover when it eases. Ride to your own rhythm, but try to keep the cadence high.

Three good reasons (there may be more) to get out of the saddle on climbs:

1) To change muscle groups. Standing relieves the sitting muscles - to an extent. Frequently your sit-and-spin muscles will feel somewhat recovered (though your heart rate will be elevated) after a stint out of the saddle.

2) To attack.

3) When you're out of gears and the grade just hit 20%.

Keep in mind that out-of-saddle climbing uses more energy, and may put you severely anerobic, from which you may have trouble recovering.

Even so, out-of-saddle is a necessary part of climbing and sprinting and it should be part of your cycling repertoir.

I concur with v'pedio and Woody, although there is no single right answer for everyone. You can learn alot by watching the Tour de France.

Does Blockbuster have copies of the Tour de France for rent? I'd like to watch the entire thing... I don't have cable and I've only seen shots from what the main networks put out.

Originally posted by Aerow
Does Blockbuster have copies of the Tour de France for rent? I'd like to watch the entire thing... I don't have cable and I've only seen shots from what the main networks put out.

Don't know about BB, but if they don't, but a lot of cycling clubs maintain a video library, it's worth a check. In my opinion, Lance has raised the bar and sets the standard on out-of-saddle riding. If you can get a video, observe him well. He's smooth, doesn't waste energy thrashing his bike around, keeps a good spin... and the results speak for themselves.

Out of saddle riding, like anything else in cycling, is a skill that can be improved with practice, and is worth developing. And, as has already been mentioned, is a good capability to have in your "bag of tricks" to deal with climbs, quick accelerations, sore b*tts, and tired legs!

Originally posted by Aerow
Does Blockbuster have copies of the Tour de France for rent? I'd like to watch the entire thing... I don't have cable and I've only seen shots from what the main networks put out.

If you can't rent them, check amazon.com to buy. . .

Another sources is http://www.worldcycling.com/

Remember riding for triathalons is different than riding on club rides. Triathalons are time trials and the important thing is go fast without burning yourself out. In club rides, dropping people is what it is about (at least in competitive rides) and not getting dropped is essential.

So triathaletes tend to find a heart rate and keep it there. They should gear down on a hill and maintain pretty much a constant power output. Most triathaletes I see tend to not downshift on hills and go up at what appears to me 5 rpm (just kidding) but watching these people is painful.

I did a century last year with some triathaletes. For some reason about 90% of the fast riders were triathaletes and virtually none were road riders. That made the pace line a little strange - people on their aerobars in the paceline which is a faux paus in road circles. They were pushing the pace at the 70 mile point - cruising at 24-26 mph and I was just hanging on. I rotated to the front just as we hit an overpass (here in FL that is a major climb to most people, you can find hills but you have to know where to look). I just hammered anticipating the surge on the climb that would be "normal" in a group of road cyclists. I glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone was passing and the whole bunch was way, way back. It took them about 3 miles to catch me. You see road cyclists need to have a "jump" in their legs for those surges when the peleton hammers to drop people. Triathaletes train for constant power output and they don't have the "jump" unless they are naturally blessed with quick twitch muscles but if this was the case, they wouldn't be triathaletes no would they?

Now if you have power to burn on your triathalon, well by all means hammer the hills - and that could mean standing on the climbs. But if you need to get the most out of your energy, try to maintain a constant power output.

These are excellent observations. Triathlons have been excellent to get my level of fitness up, but I really enjoy cycling. I wan't to learn some of these cycling strategies, and even enter some road races, to see how all this works.

I never thought I would get into something like this, but I'm hooked!

Anyone recommend any good books for learning group riding and road racing strategies?

Thanks!

I don't think there is much out there on racing strategy. It takes experience to get a "feel" for the pack. I recall watching the Tour de France years back. A group of cyclists had gotten away on a break away early in the tour and had a "big lead". They had gotten whittled down but the tour was hitting the pyranees and this was going to see if any of these guys was the real deal. I watched some of it and I noticed that in the front group everyone was watching this new guy. He was riding easy and they were all going when he pushed and recovering when he recovered. He was dictating the pace. I figured then that the new guy was going to win. His name was Miguel Indurain and he did OK.

I would suggest that you train with some good cyclists, do some club rides, learn pace line skills and etiquette. Riding in a pace line at high speed is dangerous for rookies so learn the skills before you get in a race. Most areas have racing clubs to get involved with. And if you are not up for that right away, most non racing clubs have fast riders who can get you up to speed.

i think almost all of the advice here is really good...

in general standing uses more energy so for a time trail (triathlon)you should try to stay seated and spin, but every person is different... there has been a bunch of research that shows that spinning is more efficient (standing generates more power, but you also have to use energy to support your own body weight, so it's less efficient) --- as has been stated here, if you need a boost to drop other riders or not get dropped then standing makes sense, but not so much for a TT

also, depending on your gearing and the grade of the hill, sometimes you may HAVE to stand b/c you run out of gears... although most triathlon courses i've seen don't usually have super-steep climbs...

on a longer climb as someone said, standing is also a way to switch slightly to other muscles and give a slight break/stretch to your legs...

in general, i would recommend using a heart-rate monitor and trying to shift down and spin on the hills and depending on the length of the climb either push really hard if it's short, or back off if it's longer b/c your heart-rate will rise on the climb and you don't want to burn yourself out... pacing is very important in time-trials and in order to maintain roughly the same effort (hills will naturally be more) you will have to go slower on the hills - this is OK - but of course any extra effort should be put into a climb because you will get the most benefit for your energy expenditure b/c your speed is slower so a minor improvement equals more time saved

The first time I read that climbing should be done in a "harder" gear, standing and hammering on the pedals, I thought it was a misprint in the book. I simply couldn't believe it because it is so counterintuitive to select a more difficult gear to do something that is in itself more difficult.

I have tried it. And, counterintuitive or not, I am simply amazed at how far up the hill I have climbed before I must ease back into the saddle and gear down to keep spinning. It is incredible how much more speed I have at the crest than I used to when doing it "intuitively." It certainly has taken the constant burn out of my quads too.

Thank goodness for books, magazines and the Internet.

Carl