slone130

Same here man...6'3" 230. Last year I couldn't keep up with anyone on hills. I lost a few pounds and got in the gym. Now I'm lighter and my legs are stronger. Result...I can keep up and sometimes pass guys that I couldn't even see after a mile or so last year. You'll be fine...us fat boys gotta stick together.

Sincitycycler

The weird thing about Las Vegas is that it's a basin -evidently it was under water a million years ago, so you're ALWAYS going up or down some sort of hilll - nothing steep, but if I want to, I can head downtown and coast for 15 miles!, get there, play some craps or blackjack at the reknowned Binion's Horshoe (just kidding!!) and attempt to pedal up a 5%-8% hill back to my house.

I'm just about ready to try this!

Steelrider

I'm about the same size, but 6'1", and have learned to love hills. You'll never climb like the smaller guys who are strong cyclists, but it's all in your attitude and if you keep at it, you'll see vast improvement. You just have to approach it like any other challenge and not expect to be climbing like a goat after getting up it once. You've gotta do it multiple times/week if time allows and helps if you have a heart rate monitor, but even if you don't, pick certain landmarks and time yourself to those on the climb. You'll notice over time that even if your time doesn't markedly improve after a certain point, you will just feel stronger all the way up and not be gasping for air - that's when the rhythm kicks in and you know you can get over just about any hill of similar grade easily if you just watch your pace and technique.

EricT

I'm starting to like them too. I've been riding for about 6 weeks. Most of my rides are to and from my driveway, and my neighborhood has a lot of hills. I used to be gasping and struggling to maintain 8mph in my lowest gear. Now I go over some of those hills with the big chainring The fun of it for me is working hard to get up, and seeing each time I go out, how I can go up in a higher gear or higher cadence or lower HR or steadier spin, etc.

You do have to be careful not to overdo it, though. The tendons/ligaments below my kneecaps are hurting today, because I did a "slow" ride with my wife last night and decided to give my legs a workout by using higher gears and powering up the hills. Bad decision.

SSP

A couple of years ago, while on a weeklong tour in Colorado, we saw quite a few Hell's Angels out on the road (they were having a convention in nearby Gunnison). I love going downhill fast, and ended up passing quite a few of them on downhills. As it turns out, those big Harley's can't corner for sh*t (unlike my Trek 5200 ).

On a couple of occasions, they even pulled over and waved me around when it became obvious that I was going to be faster.

ggg300

hill are ok now in my book and I go out and look for them. I'd rather do down the hill to tell you the truth. I like to go fast and a hill gets in my way. I just want to get it out of the way. Train and use the right cog set or front ring set and they go from suck ass to more like a pesty fly.

telenick

If a hill is short and not too steep you can "run" up it with a high cadence ...90+.

Tip for hills:

Keep you butt back over the tip of the saddle so that you have a better position for engaging the hams. Lots of folks are too quad dominant on hills. IOW, keep the spin even on the up and down stroke as much as possible.

You'll rock the flats like 53-11 said with a solid even spin.

Rich_W

Of course its necessary in some situations... but always avoided until you've absolutely got nothing left... my point is to illustrate proper climbing techinque.

If you're riding the 20% climbs in the 23 @ 60, you're a pro... otherwise, tourists should be riding it with a 27 casette.

PhattTyre

I love hills. I seek them out. They're just as much fun on a singlespeed or fixed gear too. Wind, however, sucks. It just tosses me around (I'm small, 5'9", 135lbs). Wind is about the only thing that will make me cut a ride short. I'll take pouring rain and a nice hill over a sunny but windy flat road any day.

SteveE

Terry really doesn't like hills. Please substitute the word "mountains" for "hills" in Terry's posts.

Thanks.

terrymorse 

Terminology clarification: if it's short enough to blast over, it's a roller. If it's too long to blast over, it's a hill. If it takes over 30 minutes to get to the top, it's a mountain. If it's more than a vertical mile, it's the stuff that dreams are made of.