I know some of yous stuck in the flats are gonna hit the hills this summer...

from this week's RBR newsletter -- https://www.roadbikerider.com/176a.htm


Several years ago, Fred interviewed Bobby Julich, who took third place in the ’98 Tour de France. Julich's podium spot was earned in large part with his climbing skills.

Here are three of Julich’s keys to better climbing, followed by our quick interpretation or example. Next week we’ll detail three additional tricks of the trade.

---"Climbing should always be done in your comfort zone. You may have to dig deep, but you also have to be careful not to go too hard and risk blowing up. Know your limits and listen to your body."

It’s a common mistake: Trying to keep up with the real climbers on the lower slopes, then blowing sky high and losing big hunks of time.

Climbing is always a matter of carefully gauging your ability and staying intelligently within it. Go a bit slower than you're able to on the lower sections. That'll improve your chance of riding stronger in the tougher second half.

---"Cycling-specific weight exercises in the off-season are a great way to develop climbing power. I prefer higher reps and medium weight to develop muscular endurance and minimize the risk of injury."

Try step-ups, lunges, squats or leg presses. Two or three sets of 15-25 reps twice a week is a good general program.

---"After you’ve developed a good strength base in the weight room, the best way to work on climbing is to do power work on the bike."

To convert weight-room strength to on-bike performance, ride hard on hills that take about 15 seconds to climb at a cadence of 90 rpm. Also useful are climbs of 10-15 minutes in a big gear that you can turn at 70 rpm. Start these workouts in late winter, but not if you have a history of knee problems.

All good advice and common sense.

i don't do any weight training with my legs, but the rest sounds right. when i'm by myself, i just go and see if i can improve on my times, but when i'm with friends, i hate leaving them behind, so i just climb in the big ring when we're up in the mountains. it almost seems easier at times.

"ride hard on hills that take about 15 seconds to climb at a cadence of 90 rpm".

That's not a hill, that's just an undulation in the road

like the tips....thnks

i thought the same thing but figured we're blessed with real hills, so I didn't want to be obnoxious like I am now

I think it was SteveE who said, "it's not a climb if you can see the top"

but this is for the flatlanders, whom we pity

What if your one of those people with knee pains, hope fully no for long, but what about us?

well, I've never done anything to help me climb, except actually riding up mts... but since I have a fooked up knee, I find just spinning at a decent cadence is good enough. I can't stand for long. I also use a 30-27 and there are a few places where my cadence drops below 80. Toyed with the idea of going with a mtb crank, but I don't want to drop my big ring all the way down to 44.

Why not just shoot up with tons of steroids, and then smoke some crack right before the ride?
That'll give you all the energy you need. Who cares if you blow up?

To heck with staying in shape and excersising to keep your climbing abilities at its peak. Who needs all that unecessary work?

Winning is everything, right?

mmm... crack rock. now that's a good way to keep in shape -- get the 'rock user's body shape, which'll make sure that you're the thinnest one in the field. look out fatties! here i come!

d'oh!

"I also use a 30-27 and there are a few places where my cadence drops below 80. Toyed with the idea of going with a mtb crank, but I don't want to drop my big ring all the way down to 44."

I'm an old-timer, so I think 110/74 IS an MTB crank. I guess now it is a "compact triple." Next time I come to Colorado, I may very well bring a 50-36-24, and perhaps an 11-27 in back. Seems to me that you could find some happy medium between the road 53T large ring and 44T.

I don't like to turn less than 90 rpm if I am working hard. I have no idea how people (Pavel Tonkov?) can make power for long at sluggish cadences. If I tried to do fast hill repeats at 70 rpm, I'd blow out my knees in one afternoon.

is 50-36-24 custom? Sounds like something I should have as it'd make for a good dual-purpose crank (i want to start touring).

uhh, what's with the negativity?

Just throwing out a bit of sarcasm Opie, you of all posters should recognize that by now, eh?

My point was an indirect way of supporting the use of tips and techniques to maximize climbing ability.

The only thing I recognize 100% of the time is boobies. Sorry for the concussion.

Thanks. Timely advice. Could've used this today (well, okay, about 3 months before today), got clobbered on a local classic (Montebello Road/Cupertino area if you care). Also a triple would not have hurt

"is 50-36-24 custom? Sounds like something I should have as it'd make for a good dual-purpose crank (i want to start touring)."

Well, sort of...

Shimano's triple FD capacity is 22T, but lots of people cheat on that, usually by switching a 28T onto the road Ultegra 52-42-30 stock triple. That would be 24T, but over time the rings tend to switch to what's on sale, so then you might end up with 53-39-28, which is my preference for road rings in all but the steepest terrain (39 is much better than 42), and now we're up to 25T, and from time to time I have used the 50-36-24 combination for 26T of difference. While these tend to shift well even if you can't get ramped, pinned and gated rings, some combinations might not be usable because the chain drags on the bottom of the FD cage, usually on the triple and some of the smaller cogs. I'm willing to accept this limitation to get the other combinations I want, but if you were Shimano you might have trouble selling that idea. Someday we might get FDs with greater capacity. Right now most crankset manufacturers conform to Shimano FD capacity limitations.

On the other hand, if you have long legs and you want long cranks, if you call up Peter White and order a T.A. crank, he will put any rings on it that you want, leaving to you how you will use it. In that case, that combination of rings is no more "custom" than any others. Perhaps Grant Peterson at Rivendell will do that as well with some of his older Japanese cranks.

It will be interesting to see what the future brings. If Shimano starts offering a "compact" Dura-Ace crank, can a "compact triple" be far behind, and then we will get a dedicated "compact triple" FD, presumably with a capacity of 22T, which will be suited to 50-36-28, but owing to the outer cage plate radius being a match for 50T, will be a slightly better FD for 50-36-24, because it will be possible to slide it down the seat tube a little closer to the small ring?

I go zipping around NTex pretty well on 53-39-28 and 11-21, but once the grade gets past 10% in the Texas Hill Country or Colorado, it is time to consider more compatible gearing, especially with the thin air above 12000 feet. Until recently I considered 28 X 27T to be enough, but I am not aging well, and now 24 X 27 seems more suitable.

It depends on what is wrong with your knee. See a rheumatologist first. If he says it's ok to ride then..

Take it easy in the cold. Don't do anything too hard until it gets warmer. Keep your knees warm with enough clothing all the time.

Going up hill ride in your (knee) comfort zone, not what other people tell you about cadence. In first gear, when you increase the cadence you speed up the bike and are doing more work, this can hurt as much as grinding. More work of either type can make your (my) knees hurt more. .

You need to find out by experimenting.

since no two hills are alike, i can only conclude that no two climbs are alike.

these are fine places to start however.

i have little problem climbing. its relaxing and recovering and getting back into your rhythm AFTER the climb that can be challenging. That is where the race heats up, in the immediate mile after the climb.

I surprised that there's no discussion of breathing. I use two different breathing techniques on the climbs. For short, intense climbs I pre-breath prior to hitting the incline. By this I mean that I accelerate the rate and depth of my breaths before I reach the hill. Depending upon the length of the hill, this technique will usually help me get half way up at full throttle without even feeling like I'm climbing.

The other technique I employ is for long hills and pertains to rhythm. I usually get into a breathing rhythm that takes my mind off of the difficulty of the climb itself. On occasion I will even mentally count my breaths in an effort to reach a certain number and then start again. Finally, I will increase the rate with which I'm breathing in an attempt to be "proactive" about clearing CO2.

Ahhh, the games we play.

-mark

I think about sex.

I get better at hills by climbing hills...

Yeah, I remember saying that! I might have to take that back, though. On the climb up Mt. Hamilton there are two intermediate descents. After the second one, you can see the observatory and it looks like it's right in front and above you! Sadly to say, there're another 8 miles and 2,000 feet of climbing left.

A great climb. I like to call it "Monsterbello". Some sections are at 15%, so a triple isn't a bad idea. A nice winter training climb, since it's mostly in the sun.

ahhh, the sun. i remember that. we used to see it alot around here in southern california. all you had to do was look up in the sky and ther it was. unfortunately, for the last couple of weeks, it seems like the sky is made mostly of water...