Fixed.

God! I am ssssooooooo jelous now! Hill climbing and hot weather. lucky......

Here's one for you guys. Everyone talks about the secret of climbing faster to being climbing more. From what we have read and know, this is not necessarily true.

However, assuming all you did was climb. So lets say you ride alone most of the time, will there be ANY benefit at all to just riding climbs at endurance pace and doing all your recovery rides as opposed to having to do intervals on hills?

I've been intrigued about this for the longest time but could never get a definite answer. I would assume that your climbing would improve just from the bio mechanic aspect of just climbing hills all the time and you would be more efficient? How about low cadence (50-60rpm) with a low HR (60%MHR)?

Nothing cycling can give you the return that climbing can. Climbing is the ultimate in resistance training as far a cycling is concerned. Couple that with the suffering, whats not to love? As far as the mental game of climbing goes I like to tell myself while climbing that; Climbing hurts me because I am fat. ( It is true , 240 @6'-1'' thats plenty fat) I deserve to suffer like a dog on a climb because I let myself get so friggin' fat. But the more I suffer on these climbs the less fat I will be, so suffering is good. I must learn to embrace it. Suffering is good, it tells me I am not slacking and that I am working hard.
I also find faith in my abilitys and patience to help on a long climb. Faith that if I continue to put out the same amount of work for the appropriate amount of time that eventually I will arrive at the top. And that I have the patience to endure the suffering to get to the top.

Re: boredom. To me endless flats are boring and hills, even a long grind are less so. Don't stare at the pavement though, that's just asking for trouble.

For the "It doesn't get any easier crowd": There's a climb in my area I've done plenty of times, and always found it absolutely draining. Today I was riding up it for the first time in months and found myself thinking, "I think I went the wrong way, because this is MUCH easier than I remember it being."

Machka
You may be similar to me in climbing. I have found out that it's my lung's and not my leg's that go first. After a break to let the heartrate go down I can go right back into it. and more importantly, My riding partner is an excellent coach for me being a noob. I find out if your mind is involved elsewhere, like conversation, the climb is much better. Originally i wanted to say to him "just shut up, I'm suffering" but if the talk requires thought i look back and say hmmmm when did we go up that? Is clinmbing with Rowan better than by yourself?

+1 hills on a ride get me psyched. Also switching it up between sitting and grinding and standing up helps break up the climb. I find that i can either stay sitting and spin, stand up at a low cadence and rest the lungs or stand up at a higher cadence depending on how things feel

I'm a 52 year old guy, 6'2", 190 Lbs, who moved to the hills near Groveland CA. Like you, I used to spend 95% of my time in the flats of Central California. Last year, after visiting my brother, I decided to resume riding after a 14 year hiatus. My bike then was a touring bike equipped with 28/32 granny. Right near where I work, is a 1.5 mile hill which averages 13%. I started using that hill as a training route. With my old bike, I would drop into granny and crank up. Although I improved, it seemed like I was not building leg strength. I started using bigger gears and tried to make it up w/o downshifting. Soon, I began to get used to the feeling of hard working leg muscles. I was spoiled by my granny gear and not at all used to the feeling. All it took was a trip up, with a friend who rides compact gearing, 34/23, kicking my arse. I figured if he could climb in a taller gear I could.
It's been 4 months since I started this. Now, when I ride with my Valley friends, my training pays off. On a little Valley hill, they are grabbing gears and I just power over them, leaving them behind.
Get used to the feelings of hard working legs. It worked for me.
Eric

No.

Hills end.

Headwinds do not.

Yes. These factors are all mental and it gets way better. The trick is to look forward to what the hills offer and not let them intimidate you.

Spinning might generally be the ticket, but on hills it pays to learn how to alternate standing and sitting while working different muscle sets. You may find that it is actually easier to climb with higher gearing with the right technique than it is to just spin and rely on low gears.

No. If you're zipping up it, it's not steep enough. But that doesn't mean it's not fun.



I can't say I've ever gotten bored on a climb. I think the trick is to either relax in the rhythm (breathing, pedaling, standing, etc) or ride a bit harder. There is nothing boring about pain.

One of my favorite climbs is infested with deer flies in the summer -- those suckers will eat you alive. I don't know what kind of flies you have, but deer flies and horse flies prefer sun. Try to get in shade and/or expose yourself to wind. I assume you're trying to outrun them, but that isn't always possible on steep grades.

This spinning on hills theory is interesting. Because some hills, unless you are strong, you ain't spinning even on a 34 X 27. Spinning being > 80 RPM. For mere mortals it's more like 65 RPM or standing up and grinding it.. In NM we are cursed with inclines and wind. The worse thing is a sustained 4% grade and either a side or head wind on tree less brown terrain. Where it starts to be alpine like you are already at 7K-8K ft above sea level and you will have diminished lung capacity at that point. When I rode some crazy climbs in the Berkley hill, San Pablo Dam andthe ride to MArtinez 2 weeks ago, it was much easier even though I had a rented Sequoia with a heavy wheelset. I come back to NM and it was hard again.

After seeing Steeler's telemetry videos (who I believe is ~Cat 2 or greater) I am more hopeful. Even though I am far from matching his flat sprints, it looks like I do okay on most hill climbs looking at the speed and power outputs (unless his hill climb ride videos were all recovery rides - and could be since he is barley puffing)

I rarely think about this anymore. I'd like to race regularly, become a kick ass climber but my life situation is not really conduciive to that (my wife is not in the best of health and I have 2 kids in competitive gymnastics, 15 animals and a garden) I just put in ~6K junk miles a year and sustain a delusion that I will be a strong roadie.

No ... believe me ... climbing at 37C (99F) is tough!! My climb on Sunday was much nicer with the high reaching only about 25C.

From my perspective, there is definitely some benefit to riding climbs at endurance pace. There was one hill Rowan took me on a couple months ago. It wasn't particularly steep (but had a few steeper bits) during the fairly steady 15 km climb. The first time I went up, I made it all the way up without walking, but I was wiped out by the time I got to the top. I've done that climb, and many others since then ... and the last time he and I did that climb I felt great by the time I got to the top.

At the very least climbing at endurance pace increased my fitness level.

Where do you look if you don't stare at the pavement? If I look around me while climbing, I get very wobbly.


It's actually probably better by myself for two reasons ... when he's near me, it's distracting because I need to be able to wobble and/or stop and start again as necessary, but I've got to think about where he is so I don't take him out with a wobble or stop ... and when he speeds up the hill, it's frustrating. But I prefer him to speed up the hill and just let me do my thing.

I can't talk on a climb. I'm too busy counting and I don't want anything to distract me from my count.

The scenery! Or I look up the road at how far I have to go. That bothers a lot of people but I like it. Sometimes I imagine getting pulled up the climb by giant invisible rubber bands. You have to look up the road for that to work.
It sounds like you're not relaxing on the bike. If you grip the bars hard its tough to maintain a straight line at low speed. If you relax your upper body you'll have a bit more energy to use for climbing. Head up, eyes up the road, hands loose on the bars, shoulders relaxed.

What the heck are you counting for? That's a good way to make a climb seem about 5 times as long as it is, and not in a good way.

I'm the same. I also like looking down the road to see how far I've come already.

What are you counting? Talking is good, keeps you more relaxed and distracted.

wut

How much does your bike weigh?

I count to help me focus and get into a rhythm. It works for me.

My bicycle weighs a nice light 27 lbs.

-- your heart stops sinking every time you see another hill in the distance - YES
-- your stomach stops going into knots as you approach the hill - YES
-- your legs stop turning to jello a short distance up the climb - YES
-- your lungs stop feeling like they are going to climb out of your body and die in the ditch - DEPENDS HOW FAST YOU'RE CLIMBING
-- your heart stops beating so fast and hard that the entire left side of your chest aches - NO
-- your body stops being in pain? - YES...ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES THAT OCCURS HOURS AFTER THE RIDE DOES!

If you use counting for rhythm, a computer with cadence might be the ticket for you. The cadence gives you something to focus on, and the odometer shows that you're always moving forward. Don't look at your speed. The cateye astrale is a nice cheap computer that does this.

I understand that you look at the road for balance, but most people have better luck looking further ahead. I look at the scenery and typically don't look at the road in front of me unless I'm dehydrated, bonking, or am otherwise compromised mentally/physically.

What does your listed bike weight include? Is that your honest rolling weight with gear and water in the bottles, or are those things in addition?

I wish I lived where there were "mountains."

counting?

like the OCD kind of counting?