Knackered at hilltops
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Knackered at hilltops
Hey folks
Any tips for how to accelerate when you've just done a big ascent and you're feeling it?
Any tips for how to accelerate when you've just done a big ascent and you're feeling it?
#2
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Climb, descend, repeat.
Three times a week or more.
Three times a week or more.
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1. As above and add a little sprint at the top of each repeat if you want.
2. Ride tactically and reserve what you'll need at the top.
3. HTFU.
2. Ride tactically and reserve what you'll need at the top.
3. HTFU.
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Very staunch and motivational replies. Lol.
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
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How long are these hills? Are they 30 minute grinders? Or 2 minute rollers? Or something in between?
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Very staunch and motivational replies. Lol.
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
BTW - top 10s on Strava? I'd only see those if I left the Garmin on while driving home with the bike in the trunk! SO many riders around here that my rankings on any segment are always at least 4 digits.
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#9
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Mainly just #2 of what MoAlpha said :
You only are able to go max effort for a short time. That'll increase some the more often you ride. So you have to get some experience to know how much time you can put out a max or near max effort. And that comes from experience. Don't start off hard on a long hill because you won't have any energy left before getting to the top.
Certain types of training while riding will speed up the process some. Look up interval training for cycling. However if you have a lot of hills on your route already you are sorta doing the things interval training want's already.
You can also get a coach. There are some online coaches with blogs you can read and services for hire.
But in the end, everything is going to boil down to simply riding more miles and riding often.
2. Ride tactically and reserve what you'll need at the top.
Certain types of training while riding will speed up the process some. Look up interval training for cycling. However if you have a lot of hills on your route already you are sorta doing the things interval training want's already.
You can also get a coach. There are some online coaches with blogs you can read and services for hire.
But in the end, everything is going to boil down to simply riding more miles and riding often.
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There are all sorts of training advice to get stronger. But in the moment, not feeling “knackered” is about appropriate pacing and gearing for the fitness you have. Long climbs start a bit slower than you think you can maintain, and then build speed and effort gradually as you get farther up the climb.
Also, the climb’s not over until you reach race pace again over the top. So manage your effort so you can ride strong over the top and get back up to speed.
Also, the climb’s not over until you reach race pace again over the top. So manage your effort so you can ride strong over the top and get back up to speed.
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You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
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W = m g h
W = work (potential energy)
m = 90 kg + mass of bike, etc.
h = height of the hill
The amount of work you need to do to overcome gravity is directly proportional to your mass. Lighter people need to do less work to get to the top of the hill.
(There is also a component that is a function of friction, but this part dominates on the climbs.)
If you can lose weight without destroying muscle mass, you will climb easier and faster.
W = work (potential energy)
m = 90 kg + mass of bike, etc.
h = height of the hill
The amount of work you need to do to overcome gravity is directly proportional to your mass. Lighter people need to do less work to get to the top of the hill.
(There is also a component that is a function of friction, but this part dominates on the climbs.)
If you can lose weight without destroying muscle mass, you will climb easier and faster.
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If you can accelerate when you get to the top of the hill you weren't trying hard enough to climb it. Ideally your lungs should be burning, legs like jelly and you should be seriously contemplating selling the bike.
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Alternatively - as close to throwing up as you can get without actually throwing up.
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#15
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As the group rides happily off into the distance leaving me to struggle home alone.
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In a race or group ride, the time honored tactic for big guys is to drill it to the base of the climb. You want to be at the front, or ideally off the front, as it goes up. Fade backwards through the group and pray that you reach the top before you are spit out the back.
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Very staunch and motivational replies. Lol.
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
Here's an article I just read recently about Edwig van Hooydonck, the Belgian cyclist who won the Tour of Flanders twice by, well;
In the winter of 1988, Van Hooydonck devised an austere training routine. He would drive to the Geraardsbergen house of Superconfex directeur sportif Hilaire Van der Schueren and do five laps of the Muur-Bosberg race finale. It was akin to a footballer practising a swerving free kick a hundred times on the training ground. It meant that he knew every cobble by rote and that these bergs held no fear. On the morning of the Ronde, Van Hooydonck felt terrible. It was a blessing in disguise. “Normally when you feel good, you do stupid things, you attack. I was waiting. Then after 120 kilometres, the cold and rain started. I felt I was going better and better with every kilometre.”
He slipped into a sodden leading group of seven before the Muur. “I wanted to attack there, but Jan Raas told me ‘wait till the Bosberg.’ Going up the Muur felt easy, I was climbing it at 80 per cent. So while the other riders were hurting, I had everything under control.”
He joined up with Dag Otto Lauritzen (7-Eleven) and the pair held a marginal lead onto the race’s final test, the Bosberg. His training kicked in; he had memorised the telegraph pole from which he could attack and keep his speed till the top. Face splattered with dirt, Van Hooydonck raced away through the murk, thrashing the pedals, his head bobbing around like Paula Radcliffe’s. The long-limbed Belgian was no stylist, but it had the desired effect.
He slipped into a sodden leading group of seven before the Muur. “I wanted to attack there, but Jan Raas told me ‘wait till the Bosberg.’ Going up the Muur felt easy, I was climbing it at 80 per cent. So while the other riders were hurting, I had everything under control.”
He joined up with Dag Otto Lauritzen (7-Eleven) and the pair held a marginal lead onto the race’s final test, the Bosberg. His training kicked in; he had memorised the telegraph pole from which he could attack and keep his speed till the top. Face splattered with dirt, Van Hooydonck raced away through the murk, thrashing the pedals, his head bobbing around like Paula Radcliffe’s. The long-limbed Belgian was no stylist, but it had the desired effect.
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Very staunch and motivational replies. Lol.
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
Just fitness then? No technique?
I've been cycling regularly for 3 months. I can see from local Strava groups that my weekly elevation gain is usually way above most of the other cyclists. Ive started to get the odd 'top 10' on segments so I reckon my fitness ain't too bad. Usually far from the top 10 on the hills though! I really do enjoy the hills, but not quite there yet. I am a big lad though. 6ft2/188cm. 90kg/14 stone. Thoughts?
If you want to have something left to sprint the top of a climb or charge back to the group then you will have to hold something in reserve. You will figure out the nuances of this over time. I.m sure your body is still adjusting to the stress of cycling and you may improve for years.
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Story of my life.
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Also alternate between seated climbing and standing out of the saddle. Works different muscle groups and it really worked for me in the “formative” years of cycling.
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There are all sorts of training advice to get stronger. But in the moment, not feeling “knackered” is about appropriate pacing and gearing for the fitness you have. Long climbs start a bit slower than you think you can maintain, and then build speed and effort gradually as you get farther up the climb.
Also, the climb’s not over until you reach race pace again over the top. So manage your effort so you can ride strong over the top and get back up to speed.
Also, the climb’s not over until you reach race pace again over the top. So manage your effort so you can ride strong over the top and get back up to speed.
There is no feeling better than demoralizing your compatriots with the "thunk" of an upshift, when you left something in the tank and they didn't.
#22
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Unfortunately, the longer the climb the less well it works.
__________________
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
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#23
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Attack the steep bits...
Spin up everything else.
And definitely accelerate over the crest...get up to speed and THEN let the hill do the work.
If you coast after you crest, you're missing out.
And definitely accelerate over the crest...get up to speed and THEN let the hill do the work.
If you coast after you crest, you're missing out.
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I go a little conservative at first, using any reserves in the upper stretch,
then kind of fool myself into thinking that the top is actually a ways down the backside where the speed picks back up.
then kind of fool myself into thinking that the top is actually a ways down the backside where the speed picks back up.