Down in the drops
 

Well, I finally managed to get down in the drops and ride for a while. To be honest my size has prevented me from being able to drop down and ride comfortably. I was climbing the hill I live on the other night, and for some reason decided to try it, and boy did it feel good, for a number of reasons. I still have a lot of weight to lose, but for some reason pedalling up hill was much more pleasing (for lack of a better word) being able to get in that position.

Does riding uphill ever get any better though? I really want to know that 80lbs from now, I can glide uphill, but fear that's not the case.

actually, you might. Look at it this way: with the 80lbs, you're effectively weight training. As you lose the weight your legs will be mongo strong. You'll fly. Keep that in the back of your head as you climb :)

Anatomically speaking, in the drops, you bring your abdominal muscles into play and it makes you ride stronger. It's also like doing crunches, kinda! It tends to flatten those ab out.:D

Yeah, climbing gets better. Keep with it! It's one of the fastest ways to drop that weight.

A bike coach aquaintance of mine told me to stay off the hills to lose weight.

Basically, hills makes my hear rate climb above the prime aerobic zone and tires me out faster, hence ride less time.

As opposed to riding flat and for a long time keeping the HR at max aero, burns alot more calories theorically.


Maybe I hate hills so much I heard what I wanted to hear :P

Not sure Glide would be a term I would use but it does get better. Hills are just harder for bigger guys. When you watch bike racing on TV...the sprinters are suffering on the climbs...and these guys are 180 pounds....

But do them because the above post is right....you will get better at them and loosing weight too will even make it better....but I would not cut them out completely...you will probably be in a HR zone to not loose the max amount of weight it will still do you good in learning to ride them....

Sorry, you're "bike coach" is wrong. Increasing the intensity of your work will never result in burning less calories as long as the time spent is the same. True... you probably can't climb hills for an hour straight without getting tired but if you could.. you would burn significantly more calories climbing than flat.

I find that climbing hills requires you to increase your intensity. If you slow down too much.. you'll fall over, or you'll have to get off and walk. I've been tempted many times to get off and walk... but I was already going so slow up the hill I thought that if I use the energy to clip out of my pedals that I would slow down so much that I'd just fall over (and maybe never get my shoes unclipped) so I just made the decision to just keep spinning to the top.

If you have expended as much energy as you possibly can on hills or flats, you've had a great workout and you're going to drop the pounds. Hills just don't give you the option of dropping the intensity... and I find that to be a good thing. I've heard the excuse "I burn just as many calories walking for 3 hours as you do riding your bike for an hour. And the walking calories are burning more fat." Well, yeah, I tend to agree. It's just that these "excuse givers" don't, and never will, walk 3 hours each and every day. But, I'll ride my bike for at least an hour a day, each and every day. And, I'll burn the same number of calories because of the higher intensity.

Hey, there is no easy way to lose weight. You either spend the time, or you increase the intensity. Because 95% of us can't find the time to walk for three hours each day, or ride for 3 hours on the flats at an easy or moderat pace, we chose to increase the intensity. The hills don't let you cheat.

Hmmmm... I've never climbed while in the drops.

I tend to sit up a bit straighter and ride the flats of the bars on extended climbs. I seem to get incrementally more lung capacity that way as my lungs aren't all scrunched up, and that in turn gives my muscles more oxygen and they seem to last longer. Also, I try to breathe a little slower, and as deeply as I can with as full an exhale as I can manage. Seems to help me last longer. On short climbs, I just hammer them as fast as I can, while (ideally) keeping to a smooth predetermined cadence. Sometimes I stand and climb short runs without shifting down as well, as long as I can keep my desired cadence up. But always on the bar flats - never in the drops.

Conversely, I like to hit the drops on long flats when I'm spinning along, and also on descents.

See: Hills/Climbing Tips

It's been a long few days on the bike. I started getting down in the drops for the hill I ride, and I also bought another seat and took a couple of rides to get the position set. I have to say that last nights climb was one of the more exhilirating. I alternated between the drops, and sitting up, and I have also been practicing going uphill pulling up on the pedals for a couple of strokes. Maybe last night was just a combo of mixing up the different techniques, but it was definitely a much better ride uphill.

As far as giving up hills, in my case it can't be done as I live at the top. If I want to get home, I ride up the hill. I have been known to take my truck keys with me so that I have to ride. No chance of rescue.

OK, disagreed.

I think there's two points:
1-I can't keep climbing for 2 hours, but I can ride flat for 2 hours easily
2-my HR gets above 175+ on climbs, way above my prime aerobic range

I don't think you can compare climb vs flat on equal number of hours.
Obviously climbing will tire me out much faster so I can't do it as long as riding flat.

So climbing for 30 minutes at HR maxed out vs riding at aero HR for 2 hours should be a more apt comparison. In which case I think you'll lose more weight doing the latter.

IMHO one would lose more weight spending a longer time at prime aero HR than a short time at high HR

Ofcourse climing is great exercise and you'd obviously lose weight, I think in this context what the coach said makes sense to me.

BTW he is a real bike coach, very well regarded in SoCal...not some random "bike coach" with quotation marks...
;-)

Every day for about 6 years I would take a hill on my "going home" route that is 500 feet up in 1.2 miles. My cycle friends call it "The Speed Bump."

I started with an avg of about 10mph (at 255 lbs). After six years I could do about 16mph (195 lbs). Still, it never seemed easier.

After 10 years of avoiding hills I now have bike that is way comfortable so I just started pounding big hills again. Now I'm doing about 700 feet in 1.2 miles. Dang it's hard. I know I'll get faster but It will always seem hard.