gregf83 

I'm going to disagree with this. With the right gearing you can climb all day and do as many repeats as you want but if you're not riding at or above your threshold it won't do any good.

robbleebob your task is straightforward: you need to improve your 6 min W/kg by about 13%. As mentioned earlier 6x5 min intervals at VO2Max power 3 times a week would be a good start. The 13% gain can come from power increase and/or weight loss, preferably both. If your body fat % is already low then you'll have to work on power only. Do you have a powermeter?

jsutkeepspining

unless your 6 foot at 140 lbs you can still lose some weight.

Chris516

I would sprint up the hill, in the highest possible gear that won't tire me out from doing too few, or too many revolutions of the pedals.

wrr1020

Hill repeats

Nachoman

Totally true. I find the most effective way to become really good at climbing hills very slowly, is to keep climbing lots of hills very slowly.

Titmawz

Start to hate the routine but just be persistent and do it over and over and over and over again. Learn how to use your gearing properly and keep on riding =) Eventually you will develop an affinity for it.

Terex

Yep. And ride more. You're totally over-thinking things. Ride more. Push bigger gears. Go faster. Repeat.

rumrunn6

I have a new 20 mile loop. kinda short but I'm gonna work with it for now. it features several nice climbs including one killer at the halfway mark. so far I haven't been able to get up it without stopping briefly to rest for about 60 - 120 seconds. I'm sure i could make it with my other bike that has the triple crank but this old school cromoly steel '80s era 10-speed just kicks my a**. I'm getting better at this killer hill and I know that at some point I'll be able to make it without stopping. I got higher up the hill yesterday and rested for less time and it was only my second attempt.

Mose

What hill, do you mind me asking? Or maybe post a MMR or RWGPS link to the loop? I'm curious.

jr59

Look, find a bigger steeper hill and work on TT that one. Hill intervals on the steeper hill would work as well.

The only way, to get better/faster is to ride bigger and steeper hills faster.

VOmax, HR, and power meters are all tools, they will give you data. They won't get you to the top any faster, if you don't push yourself beyound your comfort zone.

I'm not saying that you don't ride hard. But your body will adjust and you will improve if you can get thru the spot you are comfortable at.

good luck

rumrunn6

mose~

the hill is on middle road east of hill rd in boxborough, ma

my "loop" isn't an actual loop, I run my route to the end and then turnaround and follow the same route back. my turnaround is at the top of the killer hill at the intersection of middle road and hill road in Boxborough, MA, at the Old North Cemetery. I got to 37 mph coasting down yesterday but because of the curve that isn't recommended because you don't know what traffic or animals lay ahead in the road.

This is the route but I get a little more mileage out of it than this google map shows

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=apple+ridge+rd+maynard,+ma&daddr=42.457576,-71.4607062+to:42.4429026,-71.4985622+to:MA+01719+(Old+North+Cemetery)&geocode=FQZ9hwIdBmK9-ynvbVCk95HjiTGewWWJQT9fmg%3BFejZhwIdnpi9-ynxtQ7_nJHjiTGzhH1V7XOtOg%3BFZaghwIdvgS9-yk3IjW2FZLjiTGe5DDaGpZP0Q%3BFddfiAIdx5S8-yFhckgCzBgkOg&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrsp=2&sz=13&via=1,2&dirflg=b&sll=42.441701,-71.436882&sspn=0.060933,0.154324&ie=UTF8&ll=42.48058,-71.504774&spn=0.030448,0.109863&z=14&lci=bike

Mose

Kewl... thanks.

telebianchi

Someone correct me if I'm wrong because this is the first spring that I'm putting dedicated Hill and Interval days in my training week.

But, aren't you supposed to push through and beyond the top of the hill? Getting to the top is nice, but I thought one of the goals of this type of training was also quickening the recovery so that you can continue on.

(rumrunn6: I obviously don't know what your actually do on your rides; just using your words as a jumping off point for a question.)

rumrunn6

no worries, not offended!

now that I know where i am I might be able to stretch this another 5 miles making it a decent 30 trip

Rob P.

A 6-7 minute climb? Something like a mile or so (2km)?

Try standing up and pushing in a HIGH GEAR the whole climb. I don't mean 1 or 2 cogs bigger, try the big chainring and something in the middle cog. PUSH! and push hard. Repeat 2-3x per week.

Once your heart and lungs catch up to the demand you're putting on them you'll get faster. Think of it as being a stair climbing machine.

Salmosebago

Living up north I usually ride my mtn. bike on the road the early in the season (pot holes, frost heaves, and loads of sand on shoulders). Doing this more I noticed my hill climbing, once my road bike came out, was improved. I attributed it to pushing more weight with the mtn. bike. Now I add 2 water bottles of rocks (gravel) to my road bike and do hill repeats in the early season. Seems to whip me into shape much faster than simply riding. I also surf and reading this article got me thinking. Laird is a MACHINE: https://www.bicycling.com/news/featur...laird-hamilton Just my .02.

Bacciagalupe

FYI, running is not bad for your knees, unless you are overweight or already have a knee injury.

I can't state that cross-training will improve your climbing, because running and climbing on a bike use different muscle groups. However, I can say that running (in general or on stairs) as part of a training program will improve your aerobic system, and will mentally toughen you up.

I also suspect that an elliptical trainer may use similar muscle groups to climbing out of the saddle, but that's just a guess.

robbleebob

Awesome advice all. I have tried the big rig training method, I don't have a power meter, and I also have started MTBing. The climb is 2.5km (I think), with a few sections over 10%--the only reason why it has become a point of interest is because we have started timing it. It is not really considered a climb compared to most of the roads around here, but I think mastering this will help me in my overall riding.

I would love to drop weight, but that would likely mean that I would have to drop some of the foods that I love so much! ~I'd rather just loose the competition frankly.

It seems that there is a lot of support for the effectiveness of 6-7 minute hill repeats. I'll definitely give it a go. I do also run, and I am a big proponent of the positive effects that it gives, particularly in terms of cardio improvement.

Thanks, y'all...

531phile 

Is this because it is a supah dupah workout or because it is physically bad for you???

Kind of Blued

Masochistic and inconvenient, but awesomely hilarious. How about one of those lead vests you wear when getting an X-ray? That's some good kit.

berner

Proper training for climbing is a big part of improved performance. I've been impressed by how fluid the best athletes are, whatever the sport. Ive played quite a bit of tennis and recently took up skiing. In tennis, good players always appear unhurried, almost lazy. Skiing is the same as someone rips down the mountain at high speed with now wasted motion or energy. This link is what I'm talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRFNK...eature=related

jamesdak 

Lifelong distance runner who always took precautions to "save the knees". Now here I sit at 45 years of age with two recent knees surgeries, another torn up knee, bone on bone wear, and at least one knee replacement in my future. So much for running keeping you healthy!

I won't say that you should not run but that my reality is different than others. I can also state that a majority of the other runners I've known for a long time have issues as they get older. An older runner with no issues seems to be the exception, not the norm.

kenji666

"I am already in good shape". This is a common mistake that people make. They get comfortable and fall into a routine on their "normal" training rides. They naturally fall into a comfort zone after their body gets accustomed to the effort that was much harder when they first start riding. The road to improvement is to continually stress your body, which your head doesn't like, because it means discomfort and pain (good pain, not bad pain).

gregf83 

Lots of non-runners have knee issues also. Unfortunately, it's part of getting old. Or a function of the type of sports injuries you had when you were young.