Originally Posted by
hhnngg1
It is. Get a powermeter, train so you can crank out like 250 watts steadily for 2 hours on flats, and you'll be able to crank them out on hills so long as they're not insanely steep requiring like 300 watts just to stay up. For longer distances, you'll have to hold that wattage longer.
I agree. I train mostly on flatish roads with hills no longer than 5 min. However, I have flat loops I can ride continuously without stopping at tempo-threshold power levels. When I do ride the local climbs the power I put out for the 40-60 minutes required for the climbs is no different than what I'm capable on the flats. If anything, I find I can put out a little more power on the hills.
I would like to be closer to a hill as I find it mentally easier to grind out a 40 min interval on a hill than on the flats but at the end of the day power is power and if you can put out x watts on the flats for an hour, you shouldn't have any problem putting out x watts on the hill.
With all the on line calculators and GPS mapping tools available it's not difficult to figure out what kind of gearing you need for a particular hill. I think most guys are too macho and end up over gearing for hills.