hill repeats?

The naturally strong riders are like those brilliant math professors... they have no idea that things might just be different for people starting out; they don't remember where they came from (if they even ever really were there). So those math profs will shortcut through explanations just like you're supposed to shortcut through ever using your granny gear. It's no shame to be beginning as long as you are moving forward!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by li10up

This was very well written and very informative. I have a couple of questions though...when you said you stop when you feel a twinge in a knee I'm assuming that you just shift into an easier gear? Or do you mean you just stop doing hill repeats? I'm sure you don't mean to stop altogether. Also, how many times should you repeat a hill? Should I do the first one in as hard a gear as I can without hurting myself and then on subsequent ones use one gear lower (easier)? Or should I use one gear that I can climb the hill with several times? Sorry, but to newbies these things aren't obvious. Thanks.

---

Thanks, I was just writing how I find it all...

I stop pushing big gears when I feel a twinge - my knees are over 40 years old, so I wanna look after them. I still have to ride home though, so I just ride easy.

So I stop the repeats. I usually only get knee pain when I have had a big week, so sometimes I do all my repeats, other times I stop short.

I don't know heaps about hill climbing, but what I do is I just started doing repeats and aimed to do one section of hill 2-3 times. When I found that was ok, I upped my number for next time.

Initially I just aimed to get up the hill even in a lower gear than I first started in. However, as I get stronger, I try to avoid changing down. My goal is races, so I need to be able to get to the top of a hill in a gear that I can dig straight into at the top so I don't get dropped... or that I can start powering into to open up the distance so that when anyone behind me crests the hilll will feel gutted by the distance between us and will settle to come in behind me.

Thats the plan anyway.

Racing is partly about power, but very much about strategy and one of those strategies is trying to make the other riders give up.

I lead a beginner ride on Saturday mornings. After the storms Fri. night only one other rider showed up Sat. morning. He is in his late 50s early 60s and fairly overweight (even more than me :o ). Since it was the two of us I asked if he was up for riding some hills. To my surprise he was! So we rode to the bottom of this monster hill (to me it's a monster anyhow). It's actually a stepped hill - about 3 hills in one. So, I tell him to ride at his pace and that I'll come back to him. So I ride to the first crest and then back to him and up again. Then to the top of the 2nd crest and back to him and then the 3rd crest and back to him. We then ride a flat stretch for a couple of miles, turn around, ride back down the hills and back up. It was 26 miles in all but took nearly 2.5 hrs. I was pretty please with myself but I was really proud of Bob. He never quit and actually enjoyed the ride. I think it really helped that he could go at his own pace and not feel like he needed to keep up. That was one of the most enjoyable rides I have been on! I actually felt pretty strong. I liked it so much I did it again on Sun. by myself. It was tougher the next day...but I did the same ride in 2 hrs. Not exactly hill repeats, but kinda, sorta like 'em.