So scared of the hills...

[drgynfyr]

ok guys, first post, kinda noob at MTB, but i try to do it on the weekends here in Miami. It's a lot of fun, when i'm not falling :) Anyhow, so i am afraid of hills (hills like 4ft or more). A few avid riders have told me just stay seated and keep peddaling. Well, thats what i did the first time and i slipped back down the hill and ended up on my back in a ditch. What fun! That didnt stop me though, I had to get up and keep trying. Although i am better than i was 3months ago when i started, i can now make it to the top of one hill and i have to stop because i am out of breath. I am working on my cardio though :)

Everyone says just keep peddaling, its not that hard. I ride in granny gear for the hills as it is and if its a mental block how do i get over this fear?

There is this one section that has a hill (the one i make it to the top on) then a drop and another hill right ahead. I always feel like my feet are peddaling to fast on the downhill and i kinda roll 1/3 of the way up the next hill and slip back down.

I ride in 1-4 most of the time and 1-1/1-2 for the hills.

I would appreciate any tips and advice you could offer this scaredy cat :D

[Roadtrip]

Not a mtn biker, but I have hills... LOTS of hills... and I have trouble with them too. Just try different things and see what works best!

I'm still befuzzled by gears and find myself completely wiped because I'm in the WRONG gear. I (finally) think I have my shifting issues fixed as I couldn't go down into my smallest gear and would just laugh and mock me. I rode five miles of REALLY hilly trail thinking I would be OK, but by the time we finished I wanted to slap DH (who looked fairly fresh) who's idea it was do THIS ride knowing I was having issues with the derailleur.

Good luck!!
Shannon

[marni]

I have never met a hill that I couldn't walk up! that aside, practice and get into the lowest gear possible as soon as possible and then just get the bit in your teeth and decide that the ***** hill is not going to beat you. I have cllilmbed hills with just enough momentum to keep moving without falling over, and I have fallen over, like the little old man on the trike in "Laugh in" (am I dating myself here?), but as the saying goes- no matter how fast or how slow you climb it, the top of the hill will still be there when you get there.

As for downhill, kick over into a harder gear, build speed and at the bottom switch down into a lighter gear, coast up the hill as far as you can until you feel the momentum start to slow and then start pedaling. It's all about the changing gears and the rhtym.

Good luck.

[colorisnt]

I do not blame you! I don't MTB. The thought frightens me. I will probably do it eventually if my guy friends and profs at work keep telling me to try it. One of them used to be a pro and so he really loves it. I hear them talk and I think, "SO fun, but SO scary!"

You are brave. I ended up in a ditch on my road bike two weeks ago so it is scary. But if you get in gear, you will be okay.

Learn your gears. It really is just a long set of errors that leads to "getting it". I still sometimes don't "get it". Find a hill you can do easily and go from there. Just keep practicing. When do you need to shift, how much momentum do you have. Just play around with it! You will NOT get it the first time. Honestly. I had been riding road pretty well for the first few months I had my bike - but in the flatlands. I came to MO and didn't even KNOW I had those gears. An older, more experienced gentlemen I rode with helped me learn the gears and I just kept practicing on each hill. It was wonderfully helpful.

[crazycanuck]

Drg..in terms of getting up the hill (i've no idea of the conditions of the hills in your area soo....) here's what I do on ours. Here in Western Australia, most of our mtn biking areas have hills with lots of pea gravel and it's really slippery. I basically try and move my weight around carefully and think ahead.

What this means is yes, keep pedalling but...what gear do you have to be in, what's on the hill, what's up ahead, what speed do you need etc.

On pea gravel, it's a case of grinding down and spinning through the crap.

Dunno if i've explained it well...:o but i understand what it is you're asking...:) (Mind is on a uni paper explaining a particular planning system...:o)

[drgynfyr]

tyvm everyone! I will try all the tips. After reading your posts i just realized i need to have a gear to shift down to (to make it feel easier) :). Instead of being at granny from the start.

[colorisnt]

^^Yes, that!

If you are in granny before you get there, you have no leverage. I get out of the saddle a bit before the climb in a higher gear and then downshift. You have to do it early enough, though, because at somepoint on an uphill, you can't downshift anymore.

[chicagogal]

and the "don't stop pedaling" thing is so you don't stall, and while intuitively reasonable, not always the easiest thing to execute!

I don't MTB very often (scares the bejeesus out of me), but I know that feeling of pedaling up hill, then seeing some obstacle, thinking "OMG, I am going so slowly, there is no way I am going to make it over that rock, root, etc" so I stop pedaling for a fraction of second to think about what I want to do, and then stall. I am actually pretty strong on hills (power to weight is my friend) and so can usually get it going again from a stall without unclipping, but it isn't easy. So "just keep pedaling" is great advice!

[pinkbikes]

A couple more things to think about...

The skills coach I did a few sessions with used to remind us all the time that you need to have your butt perched right on the nose of the seat to have your weight forward for climbing. He would point to the "s" symbol on the nose of my seat and say "S is for Sphincter. Make sure that's where it is!"

Now I don't always agree that I need to be that far forward, but when you are going up steep hills and you need to make sure you manage to both maintain traction but not lift your front wheel, you need to move your weight forward (butt forward on nose of seat) and make sure you are not pulling up on the bars (make sure your elbows are low and remember that oft-quoted advice "boobs to the bars"). Experiment - you'll find your sweet spot for climbing.

The other thing was one I learned from a very old man. I used to climb in a mid-lowish gear and mentally when I changed down to my granny I expected to be able to maintain the same sort of momentum, so would spin so fast I would run out of puff and stall.

One day I was out with a friend and his 70yo father. The friend is a mountain goat and would leave us standing on the huge climbs. I would start off ok and then when I shifted down to granny, would pedal like a demon, run out of puff and resort to walking. The friend's dad would then ride slowly past me at just over walking pace. I would hop back on when I got my puff back, and then go past him, only to run out of steam some time later and have him pass me again.:eek::o

Eventually I got sick of this, so one time, instead of passing him, I fell in behind him and tried to pedal slowly in granny like he did. It worked and I got up all the rest of the hills without walking.

I think I just had to modify my expectations about what would happen once I finally had to resort to granny. These hills were quite substantial (a few around the 20% grade and longish) so it didn't make sense to try to get up them the way I had been. Sometimes you just have to accept that a slow grind is going to get you there.

So my suggestion is to have that slightly bigger gear going as you were suggesting, drop back to granny on the hills, but settle into a cadence that suits you and keep your weight forward.

Oh - and one more thing another friend said that helped...

Attitude, Breathing, Rhythm.

You need to convince yourself you are going to get up this hill.
You need to breathe comfortably and rhythmically.
You need to adopt your own rhythm and pace. We all have one that is natural to us. Don't think you will do well if you try to adopt somebody else's when you are trying to do something that is physically difficult to you. Find your groove and stick to it for the hard stuff.:)

[drgynfyr]

Thanks again all! I will keep you posted if I dont get rained out this weekend!

[nikkoblu2]

I have never met a hill that I couldn't walk up! that aside, practice and get into the lowest gear possible as soon as possible and then just get the bit in your teeth and decide that the ***** hill is not going to beat you. I have cllilmbed hills with just enough momentum to keep moving without falling over, and I have fallen over, like the little old man on the trike in "Laugh in" (am I dating myself here?), but as the saying goes- no matter how fast or how slow you climb it, the top of the hill will still be there when you get there.

Stated absolutely perfectly!

[colorisnt]

Another thing is, ignore everything around you.

I sing "Just keep spinning" to myself in the tune of just keep swimming.

No rush. It is just me, the bike, and the hill. People probably think I am nuts, but there is a KILLER hill coming home from work - 12% grade and goes on for about a mile and a half. It's awful.

[jessmarimba]

I sing "Just keep spinning" to myself in the tune of just keep swimming.

I do that too!!!

[colorisnt]

I do that too!!!

I am so glad to not be alone!

We BOTH can't be weird, right?

[drgynfyr]

One more stupid question...should i be in the middle gear like 2-1 on the approach or something and then when i hit the hill downshift the big gear (on the left) to 1 or the little gears (on the right)?

Sorry if its a silly question, just trying to pscyh myself up for my climb, lol.

[pinkbikes]

Sorry - it's sort of an "it depends" thing.:)

If you are approaching the climb after barrelling down a nice big hill you might be in 3-8. If you are approaching the hill from a long flat you might be varooming along at a nice pace on 2-5. If you are approaching a pinch at the end of a more gradual climb you might be in 1-4. And yet again - what suits me to approach these might not suit you.

Practice will tell you what you need (just keep trying different things until you find what suits you) and then over a period it will become quite instinctive to select the right combinations for your legs when you see that hill coming.:)

[kimikaw]

Agree with the others about trying out different gearing as you ride. Over time you'll start getting a good feel for shifting. I usually try to get as much momentum as possible going downhill ( when on rolling terrain), so will be in a high gear like 3-8' shift into center ring while in base of hill, and downshift as I go back up. I did find that in an effort to keep "spinning" at the same cadence, I was downshifting too fast and losing momentum. It 's a balance act.

For long climbs an easy gear at a steady but effective spin works best for me. But on short punchy climbs, I'm becoming more of a stand and mash type. Trying to work on endurance at standing and pedaling on my commute.

Pinkbikes - great advice. At the mtb clinic I went to last month, instructor mentioned trying not to death grip the bars on climbs. Hadn't occurred to me that part of the why was to not pull up on the handlebars.

[TxDoc]

no matter how fast or how slow you climb it, the top of the hill will still be there when you get there.

+1, could not have said that better!

[marni]

[QUOTE=colorisnt;542304]Another thing is, ignore everything around you.

I sing "Just keep spinning" to myself in the tune of just keep swimming.


My song, to the tune of Frere Jacques (father John) is:
I am climbing, I am climbing, yes I am, yes I am, this is not a real hill, this is not a real hill, not it's not, no it's not."

Keeps me relaxed mentally and helps me set a good breathing rhythm.

[drgynfyr]

well guys, I tried, i slid backwards again... THEN I went back and i tried it again and the same thing happened....soooo, I got off and WALKED up, cursed the whole way up but I havent given up yet. The next day when i rode i noticed my chain kept slipping gears so maybe it wasnt me that was the issue (or at least that's what i would I like to think :) )

scratches and scrapes and all, I'm going to make it up that hill one day dresssed bubblewrap if i have to, but I'm going to make it up the hill !
Thanks for all the tips, I will keep trying!

[kaseyloramar]

Well if it's a mental block like you say than you just have to do it if that's possible. Just do it as much as you can. If it's physically too much to handle you will just have to build your fitness up. If it's physically challenging go on some trails that don't have too steep of hills and build your endurance. I guess this would also help for the mental block because you could tackle smaller hills in the beginning.

[drgynfyr]

Hi all!

Quick update... doing many more of the hills i was once afraid of!! :)
I just pedal like a banshee now. Thanks for all the support and insight!

There is still this one steep hill, i keep trying occasionally but 3/4 of the way up for some stupid reason i freak out and fall in a ditch off to the side...

I'm not as afraid anymore, it just takes lots of practice.

[Biciclista]

fantastic!! I knew you could do it!

[marni]

yay for drgnfyr- burn those hills.