Share how you came to love the hills

[Ana]

I hate long and steep hills. My favorite terrain is flat or slightly descending decline so I can actually enjoy the scenery/cycling.

I would be very much obliged if you would share how you overcame the incline and started loving the hills :) I have to admit that my "go muscle" isn't as in shape as it probably should be...but I'm working on that with my commute! :D

[makbike]

Ana, let me start by saying I don't buy the adage that "hills are our friends." I have never liked hills (they were guaranteed to trigger an asthma attack before my asthma was well controlled) and to this day I don't like them. However, I have learned to get up them quickly so as not to prolong my misery. I have over the past two years learned a couple things about climbing. The first is to utilize all the gears on my bike. I shift early and often when climbing. Second, keeping a steady cadence seems to also be a key component to climbing. Third, determination is a huge factor. I refuse to walk up a hill and so I give myself pep talks on difficult climbs. I basically tell myself walking is not an option so the pedals must continue to go around and around. Finally, building leg strength is also important so the more you ride the stronger you will become.

Hope this helps and remember the most important component - have fun!

[KnottedYet]

I love hills!

They are my chance to amble along, admiring the birds and trees and flowers. Folks say "Hi", and I admire their gardens. I get to enjoy first hand (literally!) how well balanced my bike is, as I push it one-handed. I love discovering the miracle of fork "trail" and how it makes my bike more stable as I stroll uphill playfully tipping the bike left or right. Hills are my big chance to drink some water, have something to eat, and call my sweetie on my cell phone. I can even take some fabulous pictures as I walk up hill.

Yup, hills are great!

[OakLeaf]

The view from the top is even more breathtaking when you're already hypoxic.

[maillotpois]

I like the hills because I can always be better at them than I am now and I will never be particularly good at them. They're my weakness (long sustained climbs at any rate - rollers, I rarely even shift). But they sure as heck don't stop me.

[sundial]

I didn't care for hills until I got a new bike with compact gearing. That changed everything. Now I don't mind the hills and as I amble up the hill, I try to just focus 10 feet in front of me instead of dwelling on the grade. It really seems to help with the climbing. After I finish my hill work, I have a deep satisfaction of knowing I'm getting stronger with each climb.

[motochick]

I LOVE climbing mountains. I like the longer ones, not so much the hills as it is harder to get into a rhythm in a shorter distance. How did that come about? When I survived and conquered my first mountain. I actually really enjoy pedaling slow and steady, minding my heartrate, and conquering what I once believed to be an impossible feat for me. I guess I enjoy the satisfaction of the accomplishment.

Brenda

[Veronica]

I'd rather spend an hour or two grinding up a mountain than ride the flats. I get bored on super flat rides. I like the challenge of a climb. Plus you can't have a flying descent without a good climb. Well, I guess you could, but that would be cheating. :p

V.

[kat_h]

Yesterday a friend was telling me about her commute. Going home each day she has 6 km of hills. I don't know the total elevation gain but it's a rough way to end the day. She said that part of what keeps her going is that right around the point where she'd love to quit there's a big ad for a gym with a picture of a person riding a stationary bike in the gym. That reminds her that she's outside actually riding a bike, instead of driving to the gym to pay to ride an exercise bike indoors.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have grown to accept hills and have a love/hate relationship with them.
I can definitely say that I love how climbing hills has changed the shape of my legs....pure vanity. :D

[mimitabby]

Yeah, what she said. Living where i live, i can hate hills and be miserable because they're pretty much unavoidable, or I can just treat them like what they are; part of the landscape. If i had my druthers, i'd be on a 1% grade going downhill, but if I am on a hill, i use my gears and start climbing. I love it when i find myself going faster up a hill than I usually go. But somehow I just can't bring myself to love the hills.
I love it when I'm finished with a hill. That's about as close to loving hills as I get.
The hill I loved being done with the most was Hurricane Ridge, it was 17 miles with 5200 feet of elevation gain.

[shootingstar]

I don't pretend to be enamoured of long sustained climbs, etc...but it has made a difference to move to a place where the climate makes it abit easier to do hills...when the air is not as humid, smells fresher and temp. just cooler ..even in summer.

Vancouver is like Seattle: there are some short steep, others longer in the heart of city and outward.. if you are planning a ride more than 30 kms...you are bound to have at least a hill somewhere in your ride in the city of Vancouver or City of North Vancouver. Can be a different in suburbs where it is a flatter..but only certain parts.

AFter moving to Vancouver and cycling around last few years, I now don't consider a real fitness ride, unless the ride route does have an appreciable hill or 2 or 3, etc... meaning 5-10% grade at least...where one is forced to go up. :rolleyes:

Streets that ascend on a hill and ascend long, with many cars.. which also have busy 4 way traffic intersections and several of them along the way...just don't agree with me. A bit of pain in butt when loaded down with full panniers of groceries...etc...to get the restart on bike with me doing several mini-hops to get back on bike...grrrrr.

[smilingcat]

Yesterday a friend was telling me about her commute. Going home each day she has 6 km of hills. I don't know the total elevation gain but it's a rough way to end the day. She said that part of what keeps her going is that right around the point where she'd love to quit there's a big ad for a gym with a picture of a person riding a stationary bike in the gym. That reminds her that she's outside actually riding a bike, instead of driving to the gym to pay to ride an exercise bike indoors.

LOL so true. When you get to the top of a hill there is a sense of accomplishement that you don't get with riding the flat. Don't think of it as conqure or be conqured. View it as something you learn to pace yourself and its there to help you with your spin.

I huff and puff my way up but I just think of the exilerating feeling at the top. Just visualize on your way up. Or at least visualize and break the hill into smaller section in your mind. To the next telephone pole, to the manhole cover, to that tree... and you can spin your way to the top.

wish you luck,
Smilingcat

[Trekhawk]

I can not say I love riding hills but I do however love living in the hills. So even when I move from one side of the world to the other I still find myself riding up hills as soon as I leave my home.:)

[Harley]

I live in the mountains, have always lived in mountains, I love the mountains, unless I'm riding a bike.

Short hills are fun, a short burst on energy, standing to pedal, feeling the weight of my body rocking from side to side, propelling me up in style, visions of TdF... I'm a star!!! Of course this is a hill I can see the gradual incline and top, 50yards, maybe 100 on a good day.
Otherwise I'm with Knot enjoying the flowers, strolling up the hill.

However, I have a goal... It may not be this year, but I will ride the North Cascade Highway to Washington Pass. 3500ft climb in 35 miles... Someday...:rolleyes:

Now DOWNHILL is another story... Ooooh how I love the downhill... The ONLY reason to go UP!!!!! :D

[Pascale]

I'm getting used to them, but what I really hate are steep DOWNhills - they scare the heck out of me - i ride the brakes constantly (yep, i'm a chicken!)

[lph]

I like hills - I like zoning out and reaching this place where I feel I can keep going forever at a steady pace, all the time knowing that it will end and I'll have a view and with luck a bomber descent to have fun on :D

I don't like flats though. I get bored, and it doesn't feel like I'm going anywhere. So I slack off, and then I'm REALLY not going anywhere.

I think low gears and a predisposition to day-dreaming really helps with long hills, though ;)

[uk elephant]

I used to hate hills, and tried to avoid them whenever possible (which was rarely when living in Norway), but riding ALC changed my mind. Not that I love hills now, but I enjoy the challenge. On ALC there were some monster hills, and I was dreading them for months before going over because I was afraid I couldn't do it. But then I found my pace, used my gears and just enjoyed the scenery and the sence of accomplishment at the top and realized I can do almost any hill. Now I quite like the challenge and I have even started training on hills, riding up and down the only big hill within reach of home to get better at it.

[OakLeaf]

There are hills and hills, too.

The kind some of you are talking about - where you can sit and spin for long periods of time - those just don't exist around here. What we have is grades of normally 12-13% and up to 20%. The kind of hills where you're going to fall over if you don't mash the gears, and whatever your bottom gear is, you're in it. I was mostly joking about the hypoxia, but a hill here, you'll definitely see some pretty impressive heart rates. The only salvation is there's usually no more than 200 feet of elevation gain on any individual hill. That's actually why they don't bother to put a grade on them - it's because trucks can climb them without blowing their engines out.

Those long, shallow hills sound like fun.

+1 on hating the flats, though. I rode the flats all winter. Boring and WINDY. ALWAYS windy. (See the thread about wind...)

[MALcontent]

I don't think anyone else mentioned that at the top of the really long ones, you get to eat!

[sundial]

I rode the flats all winter. Boring and WINDY. ALWAYS windy.

You're right--it's always windy in the flats around here.

[Crankin]

I don't love hills, but I don't totally suck at them. I use my gears to my advantage and my granny gear is my friend. I prefer short steep climbs to longer shallower ones. I have been on 18-20% climbs in the Berkshires and in Europe that I just kept going on. I just turn the pedals over, even if I am going 4 mph or less! I have never walked up a hill.
However, living on a street with a 10% grade and a driveway that is even steeper has change my perspective on hills. I don't like knowing that I have to climb this (particularly the driveway) at the end of a ride. It brings my average way down and at the end of a commute, it's tiring.
What I don't like is false flats. For some reason those tire me out and play with my mind.
I have found that when I ride with people who seem stronger than me, a lot of the time I can pass them on a hill. I think it's because I ride on hills ALL of the time.

[alpinerabbit]

Mountains - the cyclist's natural enemies - Erik Zabel

...

however, I love the feeling once I'm up, and they make you stronger. so there.

[GLC1968]

Here's a flip side to this. I used to LOVE hills. All kinds...the super steap where I had to stand and even then could barely keep the gears turning, to the short ones I could almost pretend weren't there and wouldn't slow me down...and the super long mountain climbs where you have to put your brain in a zone and only look a few feet in front of you (and never around the bend above you)...

Now, not so much. Now I'm 30 lbs heavier than I was when I started cycling and I've hit the point where my weight has outgrown my strength. Now I find that all hills (minus a few rollers when I'm feeling particularly fresh) SUCK. And yes, I ride a triple. :o

Personally, I found that the secret to loving hills is having a good strength to weight ratio, good gearing, good weather and good mental attitude. Unfortunately for me, a bad strength to weight ratio out ranks the other three factors! :p

[Ana]

I'm getting used to them, but what I really hate are steep DOWNhills - they scare the heck out of me - i ride the brakes constantly (yep, i'm a chicken!)

I looooove the descent :D Which makes the hills somewhat bearable (well, except when the hill is flat at the top...that is such a disappointment) I like being head-and-head with the cars at a 35mph speed limit :) But alas, the often still find the need to pass me (maybe it's an ego thing....like "my car can go faster than you"...?) :p:confused:

[Trigress]

This was supposed to be a thread sharing how we got to love hills, right?

Well, I hate them. Born sprinter I'm made for short bursts of speed rather than infinite slow pedaling. However, even I have to admit that the hills back to my flat aren't killing me anymore, and my fellow Frøy riders sometimes give me a push back home, which makes me feel so included in the group!

I suppose riding hills is going to make it easier after a while. For me it's a great achievement that I'm no longer near maximum heart rate every time I struggle up the Nordstrand hill.

[7rider]

Are you supposed to love them???

I suppose I could say I love them because it gives me a chance to check out all the tight tooshes on the guys in the group ride as they zip up the hill ahead of me. :o But, they disappear too quickly to enjoy and I'm usually looking down anyway, grunting and struggling and wishing I were 15 pounds lighter (oh...yeah...like that would make all the difference in the world!).

[ehirsch83]

I love hills!

They are my chance to amble along, admiring the birds and trees and flowers. Folks say "Hi", and I admire their gardens. I get to enjoy first hand (literally!) how well balanced my bike is, as I push it one-handed. I love discovering the miracle of fork "trail" and how it makes my bike more stable as I stroll uphill playfully tipping the bike left or right. Hills are my big chance to drink some water, have something to eat, and call my sweetie on my cell phone. I can even take some fabulous pictures as I walk up hill.

Yup, hills are great!

Knotted-
I love your response!! You put the biggest smile on my face :D:D

[Ana]

Are you supposed to love them???

I suppose I could say I love them because it gives me a chance to check out all the tight tooshes on the guys in the group ride as they zip up the hill ahead of me. :o But, they disappear too quickly to enjoy and I'm usually looking down anyway, grunting and struggling and wishing I were 15 pounds lighter (oh...yeah...like that would make all the difference in the world!).

Regarding the hills: I think you've targeted some sort of cycling inadequacy I feel ;) I guess I feel like I'm supposed to and I feel really pathetic when I'm going up at 0.00001 mph and pedaling my little heart out :P

As for the male-related scenery: LOL--I've never thought of it that way :) Not many riders are usually traveling in the same direction I am....I don't know why though. I like to wave to people and see if they wave back :)

[Tri Girl]

I wish I could've loved the monster hills we rode today. :rolleyes: I sometimes hate my compact double because it doesn't have enough gears to get up some of our hills. I just pedal along in my tiniest gear and wince in pain as I stare intently 2 feet in front of me. :p I didn't have to walk though, so that makes me happy. I walk sometimes without guilt, but didn't have to today. Now tomorrow may be a different story..

[2Gowans]

I prefer long & shallow downhill, but short steep uphill (so you can either sprint it or comfortably walk it if it's way too steep).

IMHO the only good thing about going uphill is that you can gauge your condition by seeing how far you get before you have to walk or use your lowest gear.

[bluebug32]

Today we hit a 20% grade and some other whoppers. It's really all about the self talk and not letting yourself give up no matter what. This can be a metaphor for so many things in life and, while it could take years to climb to greatness at work or in a relationship, you can gain instant "I kick ***" gratification on a hill. Today I dug to the bottom of my toes for inspiration. At one point, I thought I was done and another monster hump appeared. I muttered, "I just can't do this" to my boyfriend, who gave me a friendly slap and confirmed that I could and didn't give me any other choice. I raised up off the saddle, let out an angry grunt, and felt the energy surge through my body, shooting out the bottom of my feet as I left him in the dust and pedaled for the top.

[mudmucker]

I've learned to love hills because I have so many around me and if I want to leave the car in the yard for the weekend and ride from the house, which is every weekend, then I must ride over them. I've learned to accept them because I can't avoid them, and so I make them into challenges. I condition myself to these hills and work on intervals to become stronger to make them even easier to get up as the season goes on. It's sort of a matter of biking survival. And before you know it, they are easier and the hills are actually fun, even when some are still hard. Not without a little pain in the beginning of the season though. Then sometimes when I bike in other areas to the east later in the season; Shirley, Lancaster, Westford, Bolton, Concord, Littleton, Groton, or in the valley to the west; Greenfield, Deerfield, Whately - these areas seem so insanely flat by comparison that these rides don't really seem like a lot of work at all (if it's not too windy) but they are very fun.

It's hard to talk about hills, just like when people talk about avg mph. Hills are hills and it's relative to what one is used to and what they have to deal with in their backyard. What is a hill to one person may not be a hill to another person.

[redrhodie]

It's hard to talk about hills, just like when people talk about avg mph. Hills are hills and it's relative to what one is used to and what they have to deal with in their backyard. What is a hill to one person may not be a hill to another person.

You're so right. I thought I shouldn't post here because although I have learned to love the hills I regularly ride, they're nothing to write home about (to me anymore). I actually saw someone struggling up one of my regular ones today, and now I remember, not everyone finds that hill easy, and it was really scary hard for me a year ago.

Anyhow, what she said is true. They get better and easier the more you do them. A lighter bike helps, and big cogs. I also find that if I "ride like a slacker" meaning slow down my cadence, try not to let my heartrate get out of control, basically try to not break a sweat, I climb better.

[lph]

I also find that if I "ride like a slacker" meaning slow down my cadence, try not to let my heartrate get out of control, basically try to not break a sweat, I climb better.

Oh, definitely. If I know I have a long or steep hill coming up I ride as slow as I can without actually falling over. Either that, or sprint my heart out, but then I'd better have gauged the hill correctly or I DO fall over! :p

[frnz]

The only time I love hills is when I realize I can get up one that I couldn't before.

[BeeLady]

I have finally gotten over my mental resistance I towards hills...maybe even enjoy them some now. I rode about 30 miles of hilly terrain last weekend and really felt like I had hit a new level in my cycling.

My gear shifting has improved a good deal to where I can usually maintain the same cadence going up hills. I do use my granny gear from time to time, but often stay in my middle chainring. One surprise was I stayed back with a slower rider on a long uphill. Often I become anxious about my ability to make it to the top and ramp up my heart rate and effort more than necessary. By taking the hill at a slower rate, I was able to make it up without the hard breathing and higher heartrate. My favorite style though is still to tackle the hill and enjoy that great downhill!

Riding home from the grocery store with my Big Dummy fully loaded (bike and groceries at 85 lbs or more), there is a hill that can still get to me. I just slap it in granny gear and go -- not feeling like I have to prove I can do it anymore. That's a relief.

All that said, I still kinda believe that the best hill is one that is already behind me!