Originally Posted by
Smaug1
No we can't agree. I do forget that a lot of you take yourselves WAY too seriously; lost track of the big picture.
Obviously, the OP doesn't train hard enough to improve his climbing speed. The real question is whether it's worth the effort to him.
I'm not a serious cyclist. In fact I'm not really serious about much of anything. I have a unicycle and a recumbent in my garage for crying out loud; no serious person would own such abominations much less ride them in public.
Though I'm not serious, I'm an enthusiast. I ride brevets, up to and including 1500 km. I've finished Paris-Brest-Paris four times, managed 400 miles in a 24-hour road race, and finished a 6 mile desert MTB race on my unicycle. The 24-hour race winner covered 500 miles BTW; he was perhaps serious. My last PBP finish was in Charlie Miller time (88:55+), and I can't wait for the tie-die Charlie Miller kit to come in.
Despite my absolute lack of seriousness, I do understand distance over time equals speed, and speed requires power, and those things matter when you're trying to finish before dark, or before a time cutoff, or before a storm rolls in, or before dinner is ready.