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Climbing Improvement for Flatlanders

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Climbing Improvement for Flatlanders

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Old 02-09-06 | 10:16 AM
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Climbing Improvement for Flatlanders

Dick Friel has posted an article on how to train for climbing if you don't have any hills:

https://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12755

He describes two workouts. The first one builds leg strength, the second one builds leg endurance.

I suggest one modification to the workouts: if you're doing them on a trainer, raise the front wheel by 3-4 inches to simulate the bike orientation when climbing.

One further comment: the strength workout will certainly help, but standing start sprints are more effective at building leg strength.
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Old 02-09-06 | 10:34 AM
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Training in florida to do rides with lots of climbing is difficult. What worked for me was a lot of LT threshold intervals. Essentially power is power, whether it's 23mph into a headwin or 8mph up an 8% grade. Worked out pretty well. (10th place Brasston Bald century, Silver Medal L'Etape de Tour). Biggest thing I found training on the flats didn't train was my back, so I added some core exercises which helped that.

As for raising the wheel on the trainer, my first coach reccomended it, my new coach sort of scoffed at it, so I don't bother with it anymore.
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Old 02-09-06 | 12:13 PM
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I've found the Chris Carmichael climbing interval DVD works pretty well.
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