pgjackson

I'm sure many of you have been doing this for years, but I recently heard about it and gave it a try. No s#!t it works.

I count ten strokes on the left leg then ten on the right and repeat till I get over the hill. I was motoring up the inclines today. Essentially I'm focusing on one leg for a while, then switching legs. Purely psychological, but it works for me.

Just something for the fellow newbies to put in their bag of tricks.

run1206

Might be sometime i'll try out next time I climb. Probably better than pushing hard on both legs the entire time

sjmartin

I never heard of anyone else doing this, but I do exactly that. I get about 60 strokes by counting 10L, 10R, 10L, 10R, then the last 20 I count every other leg. Allows me to sprint almost any small to moderate sized incline.

banerjek

Also, be sure to push on the leg that's in the forward position...

I suspect a lot of cyclists count. I'll do something similar on extended grades (though my counting system is different) where you have to grind up thousands of feet.

NCMTBIKER

Goin to try this myself...

rangerdavid

just a mental diversion technique. clears the mind of the pain and other thoughts.

old friend who was buddist told me to take a walk, count backwards from 1000 by 3, by the time you're done (and it ends on 1) all the random thoughts will be gone, your mind will have slowed down and you can meditate. Now you dont want to meditate on a climb, but same principle.

AEO

you've learned mental conditioning.
now you can walk on fire.

thump55

I hope the tip made your subscription to Bicycling magazine worthwhile.

Marauder9

Simple but it sounds very affective.

Think I will try this at the weekend.

rumrunn6

90% of cycling is half mental

thank you Yogi Berra https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra

NCMTBIKER

You have learned well grasshopper

banerjek

This is arguably a version of cycling Zen. The rhythm clears your mind and enables you to continue through pain, cold, and whatever other crap is going on.

In addition to counting, it's also useful to control your breathing.

kleinboogie

I don't count. I'm too busy cursing (and regretting my agreement with gravity). GL

banerjek

I actually prefer going up to going down. Steep descents on crappy roads are definitely not Zen for me.

pgjackson

I wouldn't say I prefer climbing to decending, but my favorite part of cycling is a nice, long, flat road with a slight tail wind.

Velo Vol 

Does counting your steps help with that?

A few times I've counted revolutions going uphill. I'm not sure why focusing on one leg at a time makes any difference.

ilvwhtgrls

for the longest time I thought I was a spinner but I've recently starting climbing in my big gear with really good results. I was doing hill repeats yesterday on a 5-7 percent grade that last a mile and a half and I ended up breaking my old PR by a 1.5 minutes three times in a row.

zatopek

On really long, steep climbs or when racing up climbs, I put my head down, focus on deep, powerful breathing and count my breaths. That has proven the most effective technique I have found for climbing.

puppypilgrim

+1 for zapotek. I just count aloud in my head "One," breath, "one," and so on. Other times I focus on short sequences, "One, two, three, four," and repeat as if I have only 4 strokes per set.

chadteck

A variation on this that I read on Joe Friel's blog is to apply a bit of additional force every 3rd stroke and let up slightly on the two in between. I suppose the actual numbers don't matter much as long as it's giving your mind something to focus on, but the 3 count seems to create a good rhythm for me.

JonnyV

This is a slightly more complicated method than what I use. It's something like this...1L, 1R, 1L, 1R...and so on.

clink83

I just ride.

Velo Vol 

Counting becomes too complicated on long climbs.

calamarichris

Eddie B talked about the 'leg resting technique' during time trials in his book--during a time trial, relax alternate legs every fourth rotation.

Another good distractor, is focusing on unclenching and making a conscious effort to breath in AND out deeply. That sounds pretty ridiculous, but we tend to clench up when putting on the hurt, which constricts our trunk and makes deep breathing difficult.
If you can focus on unclenching and breathing deeply instead of on how much your legs are burning, you might be very pleasantly surprised. Another little trick my power meter taught me.

beej65

I do exactly that when I can't sleep because the brain is working overtime (not too often it works at all). It works surprisingly well. As someone previously stated it's all about diverting the mind.