Climbing a hill
 

I was curious on how folks out there process to climb a hill.

On my commute, I have 2-3 hills that I hve to climb. As I ride on a SS, I don;t usually attack the hill the same way as if I was riding my Trek FX 7.3. Basically I don't do the mad dash and pedal like crazy before starting to climb but once I am slowly engaged, I will start pushing with all my energy for the first few meters and than cruize my way on top. I also don't stand up as I think it make it harder which I like.

So how about y'all. Howdo you usually 'attack' a hill on your commute?

I just keep shifting to a lower gear as needed and keep spinning my way up the hill. I don't do anything special before I hit it. I don't remember what gears I have on my bike but the granny low gear is very low, the front sprocket is smaller than the rear one. I need that one every day as there is a big ridge in the middle of my commute.

I gain some speed and (hopefully) before the start of the one major hill I have I am in top gear. Then, as I approach the base I begin to cycle through the lower gears and usually by the top of it I am in super-low gear. It's worked thus far, and I don't get too tired. I do still try to maintain a safe speed on approach though, it is really quite easy to reach 30+ on this area of my commute.

The big hill isn't what kills me though. I have a "pseudo-hill" half way in to the ride that just sucks. I can't get enough speed to coast up, and half way up the incline I am either one gear too high or one too low, and it kills my stamina. It's getting better/easier though.

I do hill repeats and hilly rides on my road bike in the evenings and on weekends, so the hills that used to be trouble on the way in to work have shrunk quite a bit.

When coming to a hill I do increase my cadence, and just stomp the pedals when I get into the steeper part, I don't stand though. Single speed riding kicks your butt at first, but once you get used to bombing hills it becomes much quicker up hills than geared bikes. For me that is.

Riding SS I pretty much try to get my cadence up at the bottom and once I feel like that's not getting me there any faster stand up and start kind of running on the pedals. It's not mashing so much as doing an elliptical kind of thing.

I can't really do that on my geared bike, not sure if it doesn't have the just-exactly-perfect gear, or the cranks are 10mm longer, or what*. So then it's mostly sit-and-spin. Definitely slower than my SS approach.



* I know what it is, I usually ride geared w/ a 6 yr old on a trail-a-bike behind me that totally does not lend itself to pedaling from out of the saddle

39/25 or 39/23 in the saddle with a steady cadence all the way over a 6.5% 2 mile climb.

Depending how I feel (tired or not) i'll either shift up and mash while standing to get to the top faster, or shift down and spin and take my time with less muscle energy spent.. that's on my roadie. If i'm on my fixed, i'll stand either way. It also depends on the size of the hill.. if it's a mellow hill I probably won't stand up.

All my really big hills are proceeded by smaller inclines so its difficult to build up any speed. However, once on the hill and in my low gear I pedal hard with one leg which allows my other leg to somewhat rest, and then pedal hard with the opposite leg and repeat.

Its basically push hard with right leg (which allows my left leg to just spin) and let the crank spin and then its push hard with left leg (allowing my right leg to spin), and repeat.

I approach it normally (seems to usually be in top gear about 18-20 mph) and then once I start slowing down I shift down to the highest gear I can progress uphill with a good cadence. Once I reach near the top I'll usually stop pushing like mad and just cruise over the top and on down, shifting up as I go. This gets me a nice little recovery break for the next hill.

Interesting idea, alternating legs exile. I might have to try that on some hills that seem to just wreck me for the rest of the ride.
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I wish I could climb.

on SS, you gotta get keep the cadence up as HW said... lots of ppl think im just trying race them up the hill, but i have to keep those RPMs up or i'll be doomed to crawl up the hill.

I know all about hills now. I have two massive hills I ride up at the end of every work day. I just go into them calm and collected, in a moderate hill climbing gear, not too easy but not too difficult, just so I can maintain a consistent pace up the hill. I then go into my "zone" and try not to focus on the leg burning and instead focus on the music in my headphones lol. I'm getting faster every week and find myself passing other commuters up the hill more and more.

So true. I had a few looks too when I do the same.

I ride an IG hub bike, not a single speed. , but I expect the glaciers in the past
Ice Ages, have leveled off the hills in Ottawa fairly well .

volcanism and plate tectonics has pushed the hills Up here
AW3, with the high gear ratio what you have now, or just in the middle,
same tooth count .. offers a .75 low and a 1.33 high.

when younger and lighter I climbed out of the saddle , up mountains, for sport.
derailleur bikes, 52-36 crank, 13 -28 freewheel.

I ride SS/FG, I like to attack the hills by getting as much speed and momentum as possible. I also stand up out of my seat as it gives me a lot more power.

I ride a ss. I don't have any momentum going up the hill either. I just stand up out of my seat and keep counting in my head or sing 'twinkle twinkle little star' lol.
yeah I go slow :( i just keep thinking to myself it's downhill after this then there is another hill. hah

Try not to overthink your strategy.
 

this works equally well with ascents as well as descents:

The hill I have to climb is near the end of the commute, so I'm kinda in a zone and normally just sit and pedal as normal until I slow down too much, then get out of the saddle. I'm 66, so I don't attack hills much any more. Plus on a daily commute it gets boring to attack the same hill over and over.

If I'm going along in 3rd gear and come to a hill, I start to increase the force on the pedals to maintain cadence. If it gets too steep for that and I start to lift myself out of the saddle, I'll drop into 2nd and wind my way up the hill. If it's a really steep hill the same thing happens in 2nd gear and I go to 1st gear.

I have a few hills including one at the very end of my commute which seems to channel all the wind from the coast down it. As I'm coming down another hill before starting to climb I hope to keep some of that energy to get me climbing. However I have to pass through an roundabout so sometimes I have no choice but to yield and swear at the car that made me stop. Usually I'd still be in highest gear @ >12mph and try to power up. Since it's the end of my commute I can afford to tire myself out so I push until I simply must downshift. I consider it a small personal victory when I can power up the hill in top gear. However, the wind is my biggest enemy. The main thing I can say is that no matter what gear you need to downshift to I've found you want to keep above 10mph.

This came up in a discussion a few weeks ago.

Can't find the thread but it was suggested on their to count to 10 on the right foot and then repeat with the left until you are at the top of the hill. I have tried this and have had some good results from it. Also use this technique along with keeping my heels down as I seem to get more downward force through my legs.

I converted one of my bikes to a SS a couple of years ago, and my strategy on that bike was to attack the hills. It is very hilly on my route, and if I didn't attack the hills I would be crawling at the top. Ultimately this is why I had to put gears back on that bike, because the hill-climbing in big gears was injuring my knees. My route has hills right from the start, and my legs/knees didn't have sufficient time to warm before the climbing began.

On my geared bikes, my strategy is to gain as much speed as possible on the downhills and use that momentum to carry me on much of the uphill. I am a spinner rather than a masher, so I try to maintain a fairly high cadence and downshift as needed to maintain that cadence. Spinning is also much easier on my knees.

My biggest hill is at mile 25 of my 27-mile commute. My strategy differs depending on which bike I ride. On the road bike, i tend to shift down less and may stand while pedaling. My flat bar commuter bike has a different geometry, (and I am usually riding this bike with a loaded rack) so I end up shifting down lower and sitting while pedaling. I get up the hill faster on the road bike, but I don't find one bike to be more difficult than the other.

EDIT: My post should say 27-mile round trip commute. I don't want to appear to be doing more than I actually do!

Hats off to you sir, for that distance! :thumb: What is your average speed?

Is your goal to get over the hills faster or with less effort? For speed, I attack and stand as long as I can, then sit and spin the rest of the way up. If I'm just trying to take it easy, I'll gear down at the beginning and slow and steady crank my way up. For SS, maybe you could weave a zig-zag pattern since you cant gear down.

You probably shouldn't listen to me though, I suck at hills. When I do group rides or charity rides, all the fast guys pass me on the hills and then I pass them on the descents.

I ride SS and FG. Climbing bridges and short hills, I increase pedal force and maintain cadence. I expel air from my lungs as I stand on the pedals off my seat pulling the pedals on the upstroke. On my FG at 81 gear inches, I pretty much go up pretty quick.

On a long uphill, I will go as fast as I can maintain without burning the legs to death. Standing, chanting, counting all mind games to keep myself from not stopping.

One of my favorite 80s movies of all time.


Attack hills, get that cadence up, stand when the cadence drops, and zip-zag if/when you lose momentum.

I meant to say 27 mile round trip. Sorry for the miscommunication. My distance isn't that great, as it is 13.5 miles each way. My overall average, according to dailymile.com, is ~16 mph. The trip to work is mostly downhill, and I get there in 45 minutes while riding at a relaxed pace. My trip home is mostly uphill, with two big hills near the end. I push myself on the trip home, and get there in 50-55 minutes (depending on traffic).

Now that school is out, I am getting to find new and different routes to ride through town.

Me theory is to approach at a reasonable pace and keep my cadence up (shifting as needed to do so) then just keep at it until I'm there. Lot's of hills where I live here in MD, they do get easier over time... when I started commuting 4 years ago I could barely pedal up some of em in my granny gear, now I'm able to pace them well.