Originally Posted by American Sensei
I'm 46-just returned to riding-enough that I splurged on a Jamis Aurora bike. I can ride hours on the flat, but uphill is killing me. I get winded, my heart rate climbs-I've been pushing my self to go a bit further uphill each time before gearing down, but it doesn't seem to get any easier. I am going further distances, but its labored.
Yet, after I come back down the hill (about 20 min of delightful coasting) my heart rate is back down, and I can ride a few more hours in the flat areas with no problem and get home, not really tired. My legs are holding up, its my breathing.
So what am I doing wrong on the hills? How can I build up my endurance? Do I just keep going a bit further up hill each time? I like the challenge of the hills
Aha you are breathing really hard. Breathing rates are caused by CO2 buildup in the blood. In people with healthy lungs the blood gets nearly 100% oxygen saturated as it goes through the lung's capillary beds so fast breathing rates are not caused by an lack of Oxygen, at least not in the blood. What is happening is you are pushing yourself up to your anaerobic threshold or even going anaerobic. This really does not have that much to do with endurance. Endurance is more about your ability to just go and go at a moderate pace and not the max power you can generate.
Well, you have several options on dealing with this. One you could go out and do this regularly and build up your maximum power but that is a pretty long term deal. Of course, if you are not in very good shape, eventually if you keep cycling regularly, it will happen. I remember the hills around my house getting flatter as I went from couch potato to fit rider.
However, the other fix is just gear down and slow down on the climb. You might need to stick some lower gears on your bike either by 1) using the low gears that you have or if you are using your lowest gears currently 2) swapping out your cassette for one with lower gears or if your current cassette already has lower gears 3) going to a triple chain ring.
Good luck.