Getting better at climbing hills?
 

So I just started biking this month and I realized that I suck at going up hills.
What's a good way to get better? Do you bike and also work out legs at the gym? This is also my first time with clipless so I tend to mash downwards with one leg at a time and don't have a good smooth circular pedaling motion yet with going down with one while pulling up with the other...
When should you get your butt off the seat? If I get to a steep hill with little momentum, I expend all my energy getting to the top and just have almost nothing left after I get over. Does it just come slowly over time?

Climb more hills

Hill repeats.

It gets better with time.

Unfortunately this is the most accurate answer. Learning to pace yourself is usually the biggest challenge, do so by climbing more hills.

You'll see gradual improvements as you keep doing more climbs, and just general riding as well. Be patient and don't stop doing it and you'll keep getting better. Try to relax your upper body as you are climbing as well to help reduce fatigue.

What the others said. Plus, get aggressive about it. Do some solo rides where the point is to attack the hills and recover on the decents and flats. Then repeat.

I should add that if you KNOW the hill well, it is really to your advantage. If you don't know when it ends and/or when it gets steeper, you risk blowing up before the top or not pushing hard enough and having too much in your tank at the top.

Some of my favorite hills I have virtually memorized, so I know exactly when to change gears, when to stand up, etc. Take a nasty hill near you and make it your b!tch. That's my suggestion.

Do what i did. move on top of a big, STEEP hill. i climb it once a day at least. ive gone from spinning in my bailout ring up it to middle chainring, middle cog, mashing up it in about a month. so, to second dat, hill repeats

Since you are first starting, you might want to push an easier gear and spin at a higher cadence. When I first started riding I pushed it too hard and spent 2 months off the bike due to knee pain because my muscles were under developed.

If you're just starting hills can be hard. The best way to improve hill climbing is to just do them repeatedly. If you have sufficient gearing, it's more efficient to just spin up the hill; 70-80+ rpm works for me. Standing is great for stretching the legs and powering a bigger gear up tougher hills. In the past I'd usually spin up a hill but on longer rides (60+ km) I find standing up helps me stretch my back and relieve butt-aches. Interval training on hills will help you improve as well.

When I first started road biking about four years ago some of the bigger hills just killed me, even with 34/27. Now I take those same hills with a 34/23 and find I carry more speed with a lower heart rate as well. Just keep working at it and make sure your seat height is properly adjusted.

Practise, practise, practise. That means climbing hills.

I too tend to err on the side of mashing the pedals and trying to get up hills using anaerobic brute force. It works for small hills but if I'm not careful I get part way up a hill and run out of power. Alternatively sometimes because my legs tire quickly I think I need a lower gear and change down, when in fact I need a higher gear to make the most of the power I am putting down.

For me it's usually a mental effort to keep reminding myself, "spin, don't mash" and to keep the pedals turning at a steady pace, even if that's a slow pace.

So is there a prefered method or technique to hills in regards to pedaling? I find on the larger hills (and this is my first season of riding since I was a teen) I'll pull up with the hamstrings for the first part, then spin with the quads for the second. I'll only mash if I need to get my weight behind it if the quads have burned up. I know HTFU, but is one better than the other, or a question of trying to keep all the muscles fresh?

Nevermind, just read all the responses in between.

The hill is your gym.

Careful - it's VERY easy to hurt - or even tear - tear your hamstrings if you try too hard too soon.

1). Practice 360-degree pedaling while on flat roads.

2). If you're used to mashing - mash. As you do more of (1) above, concentrate on 360-degree pedaling on hills during the steepest portions, but don't over exert the hammies until you've done many, many hills.

3). While struggling up a hill, try an interval from time to time. I.e. choose 2 lampposts in the distance, take a few deep breaths, and when you get there, sprint (as much as your body will allow, anyway) between the poles. Do this sparingly at first.

4). Repeat, repeat.

5). Seattle Forrest makes a point, though I would contend that The hills are not your gym - the gym is. Squats, calf raises, and leg curls - low weights, high reps, many sets ... will definitely help.


Good luck!

Don't forget recovery - if you do a hard hill workout one or two days, take it easy the next, give your muscles a chance to repair.

There is no workout in the world that can make you a better hill climber other than climbing better hills.

Ride, climb, recover, nourish/hydrate. Repeat often.

check out Lope's book on Mountain Biking Technique and read the part about pedaling technique. He describes which muscles are engaged at variious sections of the arc, and how to transition between sections, and rest the inactive muscles. makes for very smooth power throughout the 360 degrees.

As others have said pacing yourself is the biggest challenge. If you go too hard at the start you'll blow up, if you spin up in your granny ring you'll never get faster. I immediately improved my hill climbing times when I started approaching the hill with good speed, and starting off the hill sitting down in a relatively easy gear. I like to alternate between sitting and standing when I climb, maybe 65:35 in favour of sitting, so when I first stand up I'll shift up 2 or 3 and then gear down 1 or 2 when I sit down. After a couple cycles of this I can usually find comfortable but challenging gear.

When I first started I would mash pretty badly when I stood up, and only for a short time before my legs were shot, but with a little practice you can build a really good technique for dancing up the hill. Then again I find my lungs are usually the most painful when I attack hills so maybe that's why I favour going anaerobic more frequently.

I'd say if you want to improve your hill-climbing skills, then spend more time practicing it. I used to be horrible at climbing hills, but I trained myself in intervals in order to get good at it.

By having a time of intense hill climbing followed by easy spinning for the same amount of time done over and over several times a week, you will improve by 100%.

I am blessed/cursed with living on top of THE hill in town. So on my commute, I get it every single day.

In May, when I first started riding, I had to stop and walk. Then it got to stop and blow, then climb back on.

In June, I managed the beeg one. Then the beeger stretch to my house.

Now I own every hill in this hilly part of town - just riding them and riding them and riding them seems to have made the biggest diff, plus I simply am riding a lot.

I have a 'cross bike, so my front is 46/36. Before a century a couple of weeks ago with two nasty climbs (one short and nasty, one nasty then long), I put an 11/27 cassette on my bike. That made a huge difference, but funny thing is I almost never use the 27 now! It is nice to have when I want to really spin up a steep hill, but I have managed to get comfortable standing in the pedals when I climb. Used to, about 5 revs standing and I would blow up my legs. Now I can go quite a ways longer, but still no pro.

And, I'm 53, just started riding in April after a 24 year hiatus, and am still a Clyde. Having seen the diff in climbing after losing 25, I am really interested in what the next 30 will do for me on the hills. But if I can do it - get over those hills - so can you. Just ride more hills....

if you want to get better climbing hills in the gym then hit all the machines that works your ass and glutes. most people who start cycling have ITBS because their asses are weak or they arent utilizing them as much, which will require more work from your it band

Climbing hills is not the only way to become better at climbing. If you think about it physically, the difference between a hill and a flat is that you are riding at an angle so that the force of the gravity does not cancel out by the normal force of the ground. To emulate this on a flat, you'd have to have a spring attached to your bike pulling you backward while you're riding forward or have a strong headwind. Absent that, you can also emulate a hill by a far simpler method - high gear on a flat. Thus, to become a better climber, you need to always have quality workouts and ride as fast as you can for as long as you can. If after your ride you're not in pain, you didn't do it right. When I first started a few months ago, I tried so hard to keep up with the group that after every ride I would go home in agony and be in bed all day, out of whack. But I quickly advanced from last to top 1-3 on the hills and I have never done any hill repeats. So just put in the effort no matter what you're doing.

Let's also not forget the body weight. If you make serious effort, you will lose weight which will be one of the most important aids on your climb. Training alone might not be enough to get in perfect shape, so you also need to watch what you eat. If you want this badly enough, you can do it. Anyone can. But most people, most cyclists, do not. This is why you see old and young cyclists who have been in the sport for many years but are still overweight.

A few people already mentioned here - do NOT concentrate on hill repeats now. You might injure yourself. Use the lowest gear possible to keep up with your group (join the fastest division). If you get dropped, it's ok. Try again the next day. Strength is something that requires repeated exercise. It will come in few months. You can't force it's early arrival by doing hill repeats. That's a recipe for disaster.

I read a few cautionary comments about "blowing up". When anaerobic efforts are involved like arduous climbing, exceeding your comfort threshold is a good way to trigger growth mechanisms. Blowing up requires more rest for recovery, but it's a sure way to attain gains if you have the time for long rest intervals, as in 48hrs or more following the day's ride. The daily commuter should approach it differently.

I set stage goals for extra steep climbs like focusing on a shrub or pavement marking, then reseting another goal after passing the first, and so on. It helps me avoid defeat by the overall size of the task at hand.

First off to get good you will just have to resort to doing more hills. That said to be a better climber it takes patience and a solid planned routine to build the right base through good technique, endurance and eventually strength.

Start slow and work on spinning with a high cadence to build aerobic endurance

After several weeks to months you can start working on doing the same hill repeats in one lower cog in the rear cassette

Next up shoot for timing how long it takes you to climb those hill repeats and start by knocking off 15 to 30 seconds off a single climb. Other options are to do it with full water bottles, camelback etc to increase the workload.

Focused efforts over 5 to 6 months will really show some results and you will find yourself passing others on the middle to upper tiers of climbs on group rides. Oh, don't forget to look over and smile as you go by.

Climbing is demoralizing to most people so you need to also look at it with a positive attitude that you enjoy climbing and will be (are at some future date) a good climber.

A lot of folks have touched on it already, but just get more miles. Don't ride hills that you can't complete without hurting quite yet. You need to just put in some routine effort miles for the time being. Get used to riding, build your stamina a bit, get your heart and lungs as well as your legs used to it slowly. Pushing too hard too fast will end up injuring you.