Equinox

My club has a couple of rides coming up that it icludes really steep hills. For me, on these hills, its either turn the pedal or fall down. They are the type where the fron wheel lifts slightly off the ground. It is pretty much 50-50 whether I can make it or not. It is my maximum effort. I've done them before, but frankly, I don't see the point. I don't feel I gain much from the ride. The effort really doesn't make other hills feel any easier. I stress out in anticipation of the ride, and when its over I don't feel any satisfaction, because I think if I make it, it's just luck. Do I need an attitude adjustment? Should I HTFU and do it and stop being a baby? What would you do?

FrankBattle 

Suck it up. Anything about 16% is just an obstacle. It stops being fun past this point.

Doing the Highlander Century again this year. There are 2 climbs at >20%. Just get them over with and enjoy the rest of the ride is my philosophy. I agree with you on not getting much out of them ..

ericm979

If you don't like them, don't do them.

But if you don't do them, you won't get any better at them. You'll develop a complex about steep hills and start stressing out over them. Oh wait, too late.

BTW, standing up helps. So does lower gears. And if you make it, it's not luck, it's because you stuck with it and didn't give up. Every hill you summit is a small victory over those inner voices that tell you that you're weak and you should just give in.

When I started riding, before I found out I was a decent climber, and before clipless pedals, I vowed that I would not give up on climbs. I've never walked one since. Deciding that I would not give up and walk a climb showed me that I could make it up much harder climbs than I thought.

AEO

34x27, have fun.

standing just makes you burn out faster. it's ok for humps, but if it goes on for a while, then you'll want to sit.

fauxto nick

Fixed.

big john

You're right, hills around 20% aren't fun for me, either. Never have been, never will be.
I also don't get anything out of them, and they don't happen often enough for me to improve on them, even if I could. Just grind over and get the stupid thing out of your way...or do a different ride.

ericm979

Not true for everyone. I can stand for miles if I want to, but it took quite a bit of doing it before I got used to it.

CyLowe97

20% quickly separates the wheat from the chafe.

Beaker

If you're standing for a super steep stretch leaning over your bars will help stop front wheel lifts.

I'm with ericm on this one; there's a loop near me with a 2.5-3mile climb that averages just over 9% but with prolonged sections in excess of 15%. I've come to relish doing that one as I always get a sense of accomplishment simply completing the climb, and it's a good benchmark for fitness and stamina. Two weeks ago I rode it and was glad to make it to the top without exploding, yesterday I did it feeling stronger and was able to get more power down more evenly through the stroke. There's always some challenge, or something I'm trying to learn when I'm riding it.

FrankBattle 

right, but if done right, standing can actually be used to "recover" on longer climbs. You can also stand and accelerate to get a separation (if racing your buddies up a climb).

Standing effectively and not blowing up is largely about technique ..

FrankBattle 

Right. >20% starts to become silly. Getting over them = sense of accomplishment, but I'd take a mile or 2 of 15% over 1 of >20% as a measure of fitness.

DataJunkie

Why does one ride if not for the challenges? Once a year I ride up a pass that has a brief grade of 32% and sustained grades in the 20s. I love finishing at the top and looking back at what I just climbed.

rm -rf

None of the over 18% grades sections around here are more than about 150 feet high and .15 miles long. I climb these by standing, slowing to about 3 mph, and doing one pedal stroke a second. That's 30 rpm. It's all about balancing at the slow speed. I'm using a 34-25 gear.

Usually there's a much shallower grade after, so I can sit and spin to recover.

I haven't found any grades much steeper than 20%. I'd probably stall if it was over 25%, I think.

dstrong 

It's true...you rarely hear about "Epic Flats", mostly "Epic Climbs".

SteelCan

I would add that when standing up, you should really be leaning well forward with your hands on hoods. I find it leans me further forward than on the tops.
(When doing this hill ride, our course has this very short 40yard stretch that goes to 24% grade (from 10-12%). I have a triple and found that trying to muscle the pedals (in an non-smooth pedal stroke) in the 42x25 was causing me to "pop/jump" the front wheel.
I'm sure you learn after the first attempt, you require and must maintain balance (fore and aft). I approached it again in the 30x25 (still friggen hard) but my pedal stroke was smoother.

Yeah what he said :-) Oh, if you can complete it, the familiarity will apply to other steep stretches you ride into. (of course you didn't mention the length of this 20%)

couleeman

I have a 19% grade in one of my routes that is a serious obstacle for me as well. In all honesty, I dont always make it but when I do, it is usually due to beating the mental game. If I plan a longer route, the hill seems a small blip that needs to be handled along the way. If the route is shorter, I have much greater difficulty as the hill BECOMES the whole route to me.

In a deep dig, I have found that making the hill symbolic helps (like doing it to honor someone or something, like a fallen soldier or...whatever works for you). This works wonders for me.

Hope this helps in some way.

surfengine

are you saying 20% average over the climb? or 20% is the steepest point of a climb that averages 10%?
seems to me that those are 2 very different things.

merlinextraligh

And where is this?

DataJunkie

A little known road outside Evergreen Colorado. My club does a 120 mile ride with 12K feet of climbing and I believe that is the 5th climb.

There is also Flagstaff west of Boulder that has some nice sustained grades. Not sure what the average is but I believe it hits the low 20s for a while.

psuaero

Any chance you can pin it down further? I'd love to see the profile for a 32% section using Topo maps or Mapmyride.com. I can make it up 18% and I could probably do 20-22% but I'd probably wuss out if I ran up against a 32% wall!

valygrl

Are you keeping it a secret? Please name the road!!!

Flagstaff has a quarter-mile of 14-16% according to my Garmin / SportTracks graph - but it sure feels harder than that sounds!

mr handy

Why do I always got the feeling that many of these stories are part of a hill climb pissing contest.

I once caught a fish...

How do you know the grade of these roads? Does everyone have a garmen accept me? the online mapping sites are not accurate for anything more than a general idea.

stu842

I can't imagine a >20% climb. Kudos to people who make it to the top. I'd love to see pictures of such a climb if anyone has some.

merlinextraligh

The "Wall" on Brasstown is 20% plus. Difficult to portray steepness in pics though.

DataJunkie

Sporttracks seems to level things out a bit IMHO. I stick with the number garmin spits out. Every elevation calculation seems to be a bit different.

It is brook forest \ black mountain. Honestly, I don't know if the numbers garmin reports on it are accurate but it is painful.