I did my first century this summer (actually 167k) as my first ride over 62miles (100k) in around 30C heat. 6000ft/1800m climbing with a few over 10%. in the first 50mi i felt awesome and tapped out a shortish steep hill around 15% no problem.. near the end around the 80mi mark was only like 8% but my legs were cramping up and feet were killing me and i had to stop a few times to rest ( no walking tho)
It's no match for the Cali folks but for E.Conn and W. RI this is about as big as we get.

You get to where you don't mind them, and don't dread them. Your body is going to know you're on a hill, and your heartrate is going to spike every time. If you live in a very hilly area, it becomes routine. Plus, you're putting money in your fitness bank everytime you ride one. I do hill repeats to stay sharp. It feels good after awhile. I think one trick is to get relatively fast on hills, and then it becomes more fun. On group rides, the fast guys are having more fun climbing than the rest, but they're still working hard.

Although that is one of my favorite quotes, it's being misinterpreted here. In a competitive/race/training situation where you are pushing yourself as hard as possible, that "as hard as possible" is always going to hurt. However, as your fitness rises, you can more easily climb at a lower percentage of that "as hard as possible" if you so choose. Increased fitness really gives you the option to make the hill go easier or go faster in a casual/recreational riding situation.

Nearest mountains are in Belgium, the Ardennes. Should take me about 3 hours (if lucky) to get there by car.
Will be going on vacation to a bit more hilly part of the country though, which is a joy for me Three weeks of riding the bike without anyone nagging I have to be home in time, enjoying the weather and riding a beautiful area.

+1

in the fall base period I was climbing pretty much any hill at sub-threshold. It requires some low-cadence work, but generally painless.

Like so many things with exercise and endurance, a lot of it's in yer head. A couple of weeks ago I snapped an RD cable, so my chain retreated to the 12t gear and stayed there. There's a very steep but short hill right before my house. Normally, I get into the lowest gear and spin up it. Not wanting to tear up my cleats, I decided to try to ride up it. I stood up, put the hammer down and climbed it with ease. That was a pleasant surprise. I may do it that way from now on.

Like pcad said, your favorite hill can tell you a lot about your physical condition on any given day. I have a series of increasingly difficult hills starting off my usual ride. I know how the rest of my ride is basically going to go by how I feel when I get to the top of the last (and nastiest) one. Again, it's surprising how much that can change from day to day.

That is the simple boring scientific answer.

If you're not racing or don't care about keeping up with someone else just climb the hill using less than threshold power and it should be comfortable. You may need to adjust your gearing as well as your expectations for how fast 'zipping' is.

If you want to go faster just improve your power/weight ratio.

Yes. You get to enjoy them.

Depends on the hill and the day.

Depends on the hill and the day. Mostly yes though.

No, you just go faster while they do that.

You should see a doctor.

No, you just go faster while breaking down muscles. It stops hurting and turns into a mild tired feeling.

Living in the flat lands (so we still have hills, but they're not very difficult) I do. Wind is the key determinant for me. If it's still, I'm gonna be strong. If it's 20mph winds, I'm gonna feel weak.

According to icebike your aerodynamic resistance increases (yes, noticeably) as the temperature decreases. So 80 versus 60, you might not care. 80 versus 20, yea that's a difference.
https://www.icebike.org/Articles/SlowerWinter.htm

There's also your clothes and the fact that your body doesn't want to work as hard.

I'l repeat what others have said, and say that while climbing never seems to be easy for me, I will say that it has definitely gotten easy-er. Besides all the good suggestions to just do a lot more of it to build aerobic base, climbing muscles, and technique, the mental side is ultimately what it all boils down to, IMO.

I like what this guy says, and how effective these techniques are for helping you get more comfortable and confident in climbing. Read all his stuff, if you can, I think alot of it is really relevant and useful.

I never thought I would become so addicted to climbing. It's really the most enjoyable riding I do. While it's hard, being able to ride to more remote and beautiful places defines what I enjoy the most about cycling. I'm just not a "zipping along in a large group" kind of guy, I guess.

you are correct. you misinterpreted what I said. you also apparently failed to read the OP's post. They said nothing about competitive/race/training situations, or "pushing yourself as hard as possible". They just asked about climbing hills dude, not racing or training.







that's what I said. I'm glad you agree.

I didn't mean necessarily that you were misinterpreting it, just that it is misinterpreted here. In this thread and on the forum in general. I didn't fail to read the OP's post, and I stand by what I said. "It doesn't get easier, you only get faster" applies only to max effort situations. Period.

Edit: I went back and reread what you wrote, "but they never get easy." I'm going to go and declare that fail. I don't agree. You are wrong, they can get easy if you get stronger and chose to go slower.

Edit that ... it wasn't 32C, I just found out it was 37C (99F) at that time yesterday.

Machka:

let me offer a suggestion on how to work on the mental aspect of this (since it seems to be a significant portion of it).

try riding some of these hilly courses at night. You might find you think differently when you can only see a few feet in front of you as opposed to observing the entire hill.

No Pain, No Gain.

In a similar vein, I've had some success limiting my vision to a point about 5 feet in front of my front wheel. During the day.

See now ... that's an area where I have a lot of trouble, and which gets me into a lot of trouble on my randonnees. My usual method of climbing involves seeing the hill, and making a plan of attack to get up it. When it is dark, or when the hill continues around the next curve, my energy from the initial plan of attack dissolves and I'm left struggling.

Just assume the hill is infinite and will never end. There is no reason you have to spend any more energy climbing the hill than riding on the flats. The mental aspect is that people focus on how fast they are going instead of just keeping their effort constant. With no external indication of speed you shouldn't even need to care that you are on a hill, especially you crazy long distance folk with the super-low gears.

I just knocked off six minutes on a 10.2 mile [mostly] uphill one-way commute simply by employing advice from this very forum on cleat placement. Holy cow, what a difference. Moved the cleats back off the front of the ball of my foot, and it's like someone replaced the business end of my cycling anatomy with that of a cyclist 20 years my junior.

I moved my cleats back in 2004 ... it makes a difference when it comes to hot foot too.

Hmm...I rarely post, but I have to agree: that is a great clip. Makes me want to go out and climb a serious hill. Man I miss living in the Black Forest.

some good suggestions here. I'm not a huge fan of going uphill. It comes from being a flatlander. I do prefer hills to headwinds though. At least hills finish and I don't have any shame in walking.

Machka, since you are used to relentless headwinds, just think of a hill as a moderate to strong headwind. It may help you get over the mental hurdle of "Oh heck, hill!"

From the sounds of your post you are riding up hills like a recumbent or tandem rider. Spinning like a dervish in very low gears. I can tell you that, that keeps hurting. One of the advantages of a road bike is that you can stand and mash a taller gear in a low cadence. It just stresses different muscles and gives the leg muscles used when sitting a chance for a brief rest. I think that you need to keep your foot clipped in (at least for the first few hills in a ride) so that you can alternate between standing and sitting when you climb hills.

Since you are not racing, it doesn't matter if you ease off the effort and go slower when you feel your heart racing and lungs burning. As you get more used to riding the hills, you will find that it does get easier or that for the same maximum effort you get faster.

Oh, and since you can't fit Rowan's bike, at least steal his light wheels. The less weight to push up-hill for a given power output, the easier or faster you will climb.

Are hills and headwinds comparable?

No.

The strongest headwinds I've faced are only comparable with probably about a 2% to 3% grade ... a gradual hill. You sit in a certain way when you ride into a strong headwind, and you sit in the same way on a gradual climb, and use a similar technique.

When you get to steeper hills, say 5% and up, it's a different technique ... you sit in a different way, use your muscles differently, and tackle the situation in a different way.

However, perhaps mentally approaching a steeper hill in the same way I approach a headwind (as a challenge and good workout), has some merit.

I sure hope so, as I'm more like "there's that big f*cker again" when I get towards my daily commute's bridge.