cuda2k

I tend to spin at higher cadence for most hills. Exceptions are when I either run out of gears, or the hill is short enough to power through without blowing up at/before the top.

UGASkiDawg

It depends

dstrong 

From RoadBikeRider a couple of weeks ago...

7. TRY THIS ON YOUR NEXT RIDE
Break Down Long Ups


We often see riders attack a climb at the bottom and try to sustain that pace to the top. Then they blow halfway up. The rest of the climb becomes a survival contest. Wise riders who pace their effort stream past.


One way to solve this problem is to divide the hill into 3 equal sections. If you know the climb or can see the top, pick landmarks at the one-third and two-thirds points. A sign, tree, mailbox, guardrail, patch in the road -- anything you can see from a distance works fine.

Then treat the 3 sections like 3 different climbs.
Here's a great image for this technique (thanks to coach Chris Carmichael): Climb like a carpet unrolling.

A climb paced in this way will feel better physically and mentally. Your time up the hill will almost certainly be faster compared to the common mistake of starting too fast and then melting down before the top.

deep_sky

Depends on what you mean by hills. A fair amount of folks on this forum seem to think that a quarter-mile length grade at 5% is a monster grind. I am located in what is by no means a particularly mountainous terrain, and what is considered a respectable hill starts at 3 miles at 8% and only gets steeper and/or longer. Burliest climb I can think of is Sierra Rd (see ToC stage 4) or Welch Rd (even steeper than Sierra), and I won't even bother attempting them.

I tend to like higher cadences, but what I think of as a high cadence for me is low for someone else. Even though my lowest gear is 30-32, multi-mile climbs see me in the high 60's to low 70's. If it's something ridiculous like a half mile at 12% or greater, I am doing about 30 by the time I reach the top I am so depleted, but thats just because I have several physical disadvantages, some of which I cannot change. Flats I tend to try for low 80's.

Garfield Cat

On long steady climbs, like going up Glendora Mountain Road/Glendora Ridge Road to Mt Baldy Village, its about 20 miles. For me, its about pacing. At first the heart rate jumps up but then if I do the pacing thing, I settle down to a cadence and gearing that allows me to enjoy the climb. The heart rate and breathing stabilizes. That's my indicator.

But its still a climb and taking hydration (Perpetuem) at shorter intervals helps a lot. In long stage climbing, the ebb and flow of your energy level takes center stage. You gotta listen to your body. A riders conditioning is a dynamic thing.

joe_5700

I like dstrong's suggestions. In the Duathlon and Triathlon races I have been in, my cadence was always faster than the person that I was passing going up a hill. Once I reached the top of the hills I stood on my pedals to get my speed back up quickly.

Erzulis Boat 

It's a feel thing for me.
If I feel that I am running a "high cadence" then I am not working hard enough, if I feel that I am "lugging" it, then I need to jack it up a tooth or two.
My fastest hill climb times always felt just right, I was working hard but it just felt perfect. Kinda obvious sounding, but it is true. Downside.......(or upside) is that you have to be in your best shape to know the difference.

Sorry for the vague answer, but there is a golden cadence for everything, and it depends on you.

ZIPP808

i know a couple of you guys were wondeing and saying well you didnt really tell us whats the hills like but
i did the race and found that the higher rpm sitting down was alot easier....by the way the hil was 1.5 km at 15% gradent.

ScrubJ

Would that be on Skyline Drive?