Road Cycling - Help! The hills here have made me sluggish!

No matter how I look at it, I simply can't piss at my luck for having my house located at the top of the hill here.

The hill is about 3 km long, but it is constantly steep, with short rebound preiods. In fact, it is so high up that if I go down the hill too fast, my ears will start to hurt due to sudden change in pressure, much like on the airplane. And whenever it is raining down the hill, it is snowing up here (in winter times that is).

Anyways, I have climbed it hundreds of times, but it is really affecting everything because I have to take it to account when coming back. For example, going on a 60 km is no big of a problem, BUT I will always go 20 km less distance than I previously intended for my ride because I have to save my precious energy for this !@#$ hill. And this is not the only one, there are plenty of them on my route, this one happens to be worse of all.

But here is my main concern. I think all this hill climbing is really making me sluggish when it comes to the flat. I cannot really sustain much more than 30 KPH when it comes to flat areas.

and I just came back from a 22 km ride... yes, not a whole lot. But with the same workout and effort I could have easily gone 50 km on flatter areas...

Please share with me any suggestions you may have.

Hi Amir!

I am at the other end of your spectrum.
Living in a deep lying valley , except for a trip in one direction (West) , which i mostly aviod anyway as this is the most frequently used motorised traffic route, I have to cycle up out the valley on roads of varying degrees of steepness and height.

This can be a really exhausting start to a ride, at least it gives me an early indication of my form and well-being , enabling me at an early stage to judge the distance i can travel and still feel fit at the end of it.

And again at the end of my ride I know that i have the bonus of a fast freewheel the final couple of miles or so home

i love hills because they are constant. while climbing them you don't have to worry about a headwind, weather conditions,etc. initially i became great at climbs because i hated them so much i didn't want to be on hills any longer than necessary so i'd motor up them. now i embrace them. i'd embrace that hill. there are riders out there that don't have that test. i have gently rolling hills but nothing where i can bring my ride (of any length) to a big finish. hardcore, baby.

I would kill to have a good hill in my area. Have you ever thought about getting a bike with a triple chainring, if you do not already have one? That should make climbing a little easier. Or maybe you could just take your cell-phone along, and when you get to the bottom of the hill, call your wife and have her pick you up.

Originally posted by Amir R. Pakdel
No matter how I look at it, I simply can't piss at my luck for having my house located at the top of the hill here.

Please share with me any suggestions you may have.

Amir - I think perhaps you are making a mountain out of a molehill, so to speak.

Gosh - what a training opportunity. Turn your lemon into lemonade, look at this as an opportunity. I really doubt you are hurting your riding in any way by going up a 3 km hill. If so, get off your bike and walk up. The walk is also great exercise.

I wish I had only such "big" problems to be concerned with!!

Well, it is not like I just started climbing the hill. I have being doing it for a long time, and it's just starting to become a real pain in the ass. It may have improved my climbing, but it does not do a lot of good for my sprinting.

I just got my road bike. I want to be able to gone on long rides, but this damn hill always ristricts me because I have to save me energy for coming back home.

It's not like I mind hill climbing, but this one is non-tolerable. I would rather be on a semi-flat area where I can cruise 30+ KPH for extended periods, instead of huffin and puffin no faster than 10 KPH up this hill.

Originally posted by Amir R. Pakdel
It may have improved my climbing, but it does not do a lot of good for my sprinting.
Not true. Climbing will certainly help your sprinting. Climbing a long steep grade is one of the best forms of threshold training, which adapts your body to raising the point where it uses anaerobic energy pathways. By doing a lot of climbing, you're basically adapting your body to be able to produce more power longer with less fatigue.

The other thing is that you will almost never get to a sprint without first covering a lot of road, including climbs. Just sprinting is something that trackies do, not roadies. Even Cipollini had ro get over La Cipressa and the Poggio before he could win the bunch sprint in San remo this year.

Besides, Greg Lemond says you should train your weaknesses.


I just got my road bike. I want to be able to gone on long rides, but this damn hill always ristricts me because I have to save me energy for coming back home.
Don't worry about it. Your body recovers much more quickly than you think. Unless you're doing 200 km rides, you'll always have something left for a climb.

On one of the best rides I had last year, I did a century with two buddies. At about 75 km [about halfway], we climbed Mont Rigaud, which was about 3 km at 6 per cent average grade, kicking up to about 12 per cent at points -- nice and steady, but challenging. On the way back and at the very end, with my remaining buddy, we climbed Mount UNPleasant -- 1,800 m, with a grade that kicks up to about 20 percent at times. It was work, but we had some left, and we're old fuds.


It's not like I mind hill climbing, but this one is non-tolerable. I would rather be on a semi-flat area where I can cruise 30+ KPH for extended periods, instead of huffin and puffin no faster than 10 KPH up this hill.
Considering that your option is to move, you don't really have a lot of choices, do you... may as well make the best of it.

Do as long a ride as you want, just bring sport drink in you water bottles instead of just water. That way, you don't cramp on the way up your last hill when you try to stand.

In a few years, when I get out of school, I will have the same problem as you as the place I will be living at will be on top of a really steep, long hill. I am so glad that both of my road bikes have triples in front.

Yeah, I guess it was a foolish post.

It's not like I have much choice. Put up or shut up :beer:

It's not like I have much choice. Put up or shut up

That's the spirit, Amir. Turn your problems into opportunities and challenges. Good luck, may that hill get less and less steep until you barely notice it. Turn your mountain into a molehill!!

Greetings,
I am in the same type of situation except that I have to also have to ride on a freeway for 2 miles to get outof the housing area. I put the bike in the car, drive to the park 2 miles away, then go on the ride.

Also, I have noticed that you have to train both hills and flats. Yes, the hills alone will make you slower on the flats. Ride at least 2 hill days and 2 flat days per week.