Originally Posted by
wxduff
What your doing is essentially intervals. They are a good way to improve your fitness and recovery time.
Some tips I've found helpful:
1. Spend as much of your energy as possible on the uphill, don't waste it going down at all. Coast to the bottom of the hill, control your breathing, and stretch your legs if possible.
2. Pedal over the top. Don't stop pedaling until gravity starts to speed you up. This will keep you from loosing unnecessary momentum.
3. Drink water (hills make me sweat like a beast)
4. Try to control your breathing on the way up. Good breathing techniques help keep your HR down. I found this out once I got a HR monitor. Concentrating on my breathing kept my HR down an average 5 bpm.
5. Have fun. You'll get quicker with time and weight loss, I promise.
Yeah. This type of riding will really help with recovery times. That is one of the things I've really noticed about my riding. The amount of time I need to recover after climbing a big hill has really dropped - and I no longer 'need' a day off after a 40+ mile ride. When I first start riding earlier this year if I did 20 miles I was completely done for 2 days.
But interval training is only one type of riding. You should mix that up with some long and steady rides.