Originally Posted by
rsbob
This thread is a mediocre place for a nagging question about hills. Is it better to attack the beginning incline of a hill to increase initial momentum or just find a comfortable pace you can ride the entire hill. For instance, I am thinking 5% for a mile.
I usually will take a hard run a the start of a longish hill but to me it seems like a waste of energy without any real gain. Correct?
Interesting question. As a sometime tourist and randonneur, the answer depends on the length and steepness of the climb. If by attacking I can get to the top, or nearly to the top, before I'm down into my lowest gear, that's the way to go. Hitting some rollers where I can make it over, I'll attack hard, shift down as necessary, and make it over with minimal net effort. 30 seconds of attacking vs. 2 minutes of pulling? No contest, I'll take a few seconds of slogging (or sometimes no slogging at all) to cut the time in low gear down significantly.
If, on the other hand, I'm going to be spending a long time cranking no matter what the beginning was like, no sense burning a match on this hill. Pedal at a sustainable effort at the bottom and shift down as required to maintain that effort.