Going Uppity-Up-Up!
 

I'm looking for some hill advice. As a group of a certain stature, I figure some of you have shared that wonderful experience of finding that going up hills can hurt! I have a suspicion that some of that pain has to do with the fact that I'm pushing a bunch of weight up that hill (around 265). Since I started riding on the road again this June-July (previously I was mostly on flat trails), I'm looking for advice, training recommendations, strategies that will help me conquer the hills around here. And in Mid-Missouri, we've got some pretty decent hills!

Any advice gladly received.

Mobiker50

It may seem too simple to be true, but the answer is easy; " Just ride em". The more you ride hills the quicker your body acclimates to the new stress. As a side benefit the hill training will dramatically improve your overall cycling efficiency. As the Nike slogan says "Just Do It."

Ride them again and again and again.

Focus on using smaller gears at easier cadence. Stay in the saddle as much as possible. Try doing some lower body focused weight lifting, particularly using low weights at high reps. Work on improving your pedaling form by doing form drill on flat land (in simple terms work at spinning a very high cadence 90-100 rpm) as this will improve you power efficiency at all cadence and effort levels.

Oh. and Do it again and again and again and again and again.

+2^65536:D

Be glad you're pushing "only" 265 :D . 290 is a bee-otch.

Yeah I started at 320... much easier at 240 ;)

Another thought, I've recently built up a fixed gear and that's helped allot as well with pedaling efficiency.

I'm working on the 'doing it again and again and again' part. As for the cadence, I've actually done the math and I'm usually at 90-95 rpm on the road or trail, and I've tried to keep a high cadence on the hills. But they still hurt (major waaahhhhh!! statement).

Yeah, when I started it was "Flat City" for me, but I was about 330 at the time. I would have really popped a blood vessel if I'd have tried hills then :D

Shoulda tried it when I resumed cycling at 450! :eek: Hills were.........well, impossible!

450? Pounds???? And how many wheels did YOUR bicycle have, my friend?

2, it was a mountain bike, converted to a street ride, and it gets better, I had to use Oxygen to ride :eek:

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...Bicycle001.jpg
when this bike broke, it was replaced with this one
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...kesride013.jpg
and today
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...NewBike001.jpg

I'll never tire seeing those shots Tom!

A caveat to the 'again and again and again' Stagger your training. Let's say you do some hill repeats on day 1 (get to that biggest, baddest, dauntest hill, get yer arse up it, ride down, do it again, repeat for an hour). Next day do an easy ride - try to find flat and keep an easy pace. Third day rest. Repeat.

There's lots of formulas and methods - above is a suggestion and not a hardened rule but part of training will be a recovery ride of sorts to clear your muscles of built up lactic acid and a day to let your body repair. Without those you will probably do damage at some point and notice a decrease in performance (which could lead you to being discouraged and a dusty bike in the garage) - it IS possible to train too hard.

But first step is doing it :D

I was going to send some pics to reply, but 1) can't figure out how to post them, and 2) couldn't come close to matching those! Tom, you are definitely da man! I've dreamt of getting some oxygen at times (usually on the hills I'm talking about here), but never actually had to strap any on (oh, except for the week after the heart attack in 2001). I promise to get the picture thing figured out sooner than later; I think we can all do with some comparisons.


Mike

This is a practice thing, not a theory thing. Just get out there and ride the toughest hill you can manage for three weeks. Then add more hill the next three weeks, and then more, then more...

If you're aerobically fit, it doesn't mean that you're anareobically fit. Building up anaerobic fitness takes time too. Work on clmbing and recovering (while you ride) over short rollers too!

Pics posting: Easiest way: Photobucket Account----->Paste in the forum code------>Publish ;) Insta-pic!

Well, I'm also about 265 (up from about 250 due to this spate of business travel I'm doing - to much restaurant food and too little exercise) and started riding in May of this past spring. It's very hilly where I live, and I started riding a 4 - 1/2 mile loop on the roads around my house. At first I couldn't make it without pushing the bike up the hills. It was a great victory when I made it the first time around withoug having to put of foot down! I kept increasing my distance, and now ride about 15 miles - still very hilly - on each ride. I'm at the point now where I'm looking to bump the distance up some more.

Ditto what was said about using lower gears and spinning up the hills. My first bike was a Trek 820 mountain bike, and in late June I took delivery of a Surly Long Haul Trucker with equally-low gearing. Spinning is good, but now I'm strong enough and stable enough (the Surly helps here with it's long wheelbase and inherent stability) to attack some of the hills by standing and pedaling in a higher gear.

Who was it that said "Don't ride upgrades - ride up grades"?

Fixed that for ya ;)

We have a Flickr community where you can add your pics to a pool - all free and nice way to consolidate.

Here's a thread on posting.

Also, not to derail but here's the thread for weight loss pics or just posting pics :)

Oh, and this inspired me to create a 'Community' section in my sig too if anyone's interested.

I actually use both Flicker and Photobucket. PB has the codes right there though to paste direct ;)

Tom, everytime I see those photos, I'm floored! Absolutely fantastic. I have a young friend who is about 462 who I'm trying to get to work on it so he will see age 30. I have showed him those photos and they are an inspiration to him also. Sorry 'bout the thread hijack.;)

I think I've got some pictures up. Did the Flickr thing and posted a pre-bicycle and a post-bicycle picture, not the best but it gives you an idea.

Pre-bicycle is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1591225...n/pool-clydes/
Post bicycle is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1591225...n/pool-clydes/

Mike

OH, and did I mention (per the post-bicycle picture) that I am something of a Luddite and have trouble adapting to new technology (like the fancy cord holder I was given for a gag birthday gift in the picture)?:crash:

You guys are my heros! I am trying to lose 20 or so pounds and dont feel like its coming off quick enough. Matter of fact, since its been raining the last few days and because the sun is departing sooner, I am feeling like I have stopped losing and have started gaining. You guys rock!

I ride a lot of hills, and at 240, it's still pretty difficult. I have found that most riders tend to downshift too soon when approching a hill. Let your already established momentum carry you up part of the hill by staying in the same gear. Don't try to mash the gear to maintain cadence or a blowup is inevitable. Let the hill bring down your cadence while exerting nearly the same effort as you would while spinning on the flats. Once you get near normal climbing speed, start gravitating toward your climbing gears.

Hope this helps.

RK

Well...I'm just a tad under your weight. I just make sure I'm spinning a high cadence up hills.

But then again, minus bridges and overpasses...there really aren't that many "hills" in my area. ;)

One technique with climbing depends on what comes before the hill, if you have rollers, where you go down one hill then up the next, you use a different technique then if you have a long flat stretch or the hill that goes on for a long distance, then gets steeper.

If you go down then up, you want a full head of steam in a high gear going down, and let momentum carry you up the other side, you may actually go up in a fairly high gear. A flat stretch you can use a similar technique, build up a full head of steam going along, and then start gearing down as you start to get pedal pressure building up.

If your going up a small hill that gets steeper, it depends on how big the hill is, if it's short you may be able to stand and mash over it, if it's a long steep hill, you just need to decide at what speed you give up and walk it, for me it's 5km/h because I can usually walk faster....

Yeah man just keep at it and you'll naturally find something that works for you. Today I just had a nice little hill breakthrough. Just keep the faith and try to use the bicycle for as many errends as you can and it will come.

Unfortunately, one thing Missouri has in good quantity is hills. Not enormous hills (see "Rockies") but big enough when you're trying to make those wheels go 'round and 'round. And not walk.

I believe you're right, MFPTMUS (lost the o's), I've been trying to ride more hills in the last couple of weeks (instead of so much flat ground, which frankly is harder to find around here) and have come to the realization that there are only a very few that'll make me walk. Or stop. Now I might be spinning up those suckers at 3 mph, but I'm still spinnin'.

It does help. I've been trying to get the hang of letting my shifting match my speed and effort, but I tend to run out of effort and speed before I can find low enough gears. But that's happening less, and I find that many 'rollers' that I used to have to gear down for I can just power over, or the ones I had to spin up on my smallest ring and the biggest cog I can now do with a few gears left over. As for mashing, I try not to do that (that is, if I want to walk the next day).

Tom, if this works correctly, you'll have a picture of my new lovely, Juanita. Of course she's been a little better equipped since this photo, but I'm just trying to get the photo posting thing down. More later.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/DCP_1364.jpg