Getting ready for hilly rides??

We're going to be camping here in a couple of months and the area where we are going is quite hilly. I'll want to ride while there, as we'll be there for a week and the rides will be gorgeous, especially with the autumn colors.

Where I live, it's rather flat and where I ride, we have only gentle rolling hills. If I travel an hour away by car, I can get some steep, longer and shorter hills - lots of good hill work. Right now, I can't regularly take the two extra hours each time I ride to travel by car to these hills and even trying to do so once a week is difficult. In the area I ride, there is only one decent shorter hill, that flattens at the top into a more gentle, long uphill . However, it's on an MUP and without going into detail, it's not a good hill to repeat. I usually ride 6 days a week, and I make sure to do this hill each time, even on recovery rides.

When my bike was built, I was racing crits and in obviously much, much better shape. I ride a 39/53 up front and a 13/26 (10 speed) in the back. Fine for me then, even on hills, but not exactly a good set up for me on hills right now. Unless I get better at climbing, I'm not going to be able to ride on our camping trip - I just won't have a low enough gear. I'll be walking more than riding, I'm afraid. I'm losing weight pretty fast with all the riding, but I expect I'll still be at least 15 lbs. overweight when we go, so that's another strike against me.

Is there anything other than actual hill work that will help my climbing? I've been back to riding about 6 - 7 weeks and I'm working mainly on endurance, getting in a fair amount of miles (a little under 1000 so far, avg. about 150/wk) since I started back. I do intervals once a week, one long ride, one short ride that is usually a recovery ride and then a few moderate rides (usually 25 - 30 miles). That's not much of a fitness base. Will this be enough to do some hilly rides in 10 weeks, though? Is there anything else I can do to get ready to ride some hills? I'm pretty sure the answer is "no", but thought people here would have an idea or something that worked for them. TIA!

P.S. Sorry so long... just wanted to explain things thoroughly.

Gym work will help - leg presses and squats. Climbing is all about those thigh and low back muscles.

When I came back to cycling after a long hiatus, it was at a retreat in the northern California mountains. I was leg pressing 15 reps at 225# and hadn't been on a bike in 12 years. Okay, there was one climb I gave up on - but that was after I accidentally climbed to the top of another one when our leader got lost :p - and if either I'd had a little bit lower gearing, or I wasn't trying to remember how to unclip after 12 years away, I'm pretty sure I would've made it to the top of that one, too. I want to say it was the Oakville grade, for those familiar with the area.

Can you make a loop, so that you can at least do your hill a few times in a session, without having to make a U-turn? Will your RD accept a 28T - might be worth a change in cassette?

Thanks, Oakleaf. I was reading up on doing some changes to the cassette. Based on what I'm reading, I would need to hang a longer RD. I am very comfortable with my setup, too, and one of the first things that came back to me was shifting. I'm a little bit reluctant to change anything mechanically at this point because I'm used to the bike again. It seems easier to change me, instead. :) And in spite of riding about 150 - 160 miles a week, I still have a ways to go before I'm fit and trim again. It may be that losing another 20 pounds between now and then does more for my climbing ability than I expect.

I was afraid strength training was going to be the only other solution. I'm not ready to spend much time in the gym... having too much fun out on the road. ;) It's hard to explain, but turning around and doing the hill again is problematic and looping back to the beginning of the trail to do the hill again is not feasible. Guess I need to either find the time to drive an hour to hills, get in the gym, or forget riding on our camping trip (other than noodling around on the 21 speed hybrid). Unless others have ideas and would chime in?

I trained for riding in Colorado by doing intervals in Florida - pancake flat, but with headwinds. It's all I could do, and I think I'm better trained than I was when I able to train on hills.

Thank you, Pedal Wench. Maybe if I bump up my intervals to twice a week and then a few weeks before, try 3 times/wk, it will be enough. Really, right now, I'm interested in long-term fitness and being able to ride longer distances without killing myself... just a base fitness that will allow me to enjoy many hours in the saddle at a moderate pace. With this area where we're camping being so hilly, though, and absolutely stunning at that time of the year, I just want enough climbing ability to enjoy the rides without sacrificing my other goals. Headwinds we have in spades... intervals into headwinds are definitely do-able. Thanks again!!

You indicate in your first post that you can't travel an hour to do hillwork weekly, but don't underestimate what even just a few sessions on those hills will do for you. Even if you can't get down there weekly, it'll still be very much worth while to get there when you can. I live in a flat area and, when I was purposely training for out-of-state hilly rides/tours, I was only able to hill work here and there. That here and there helped tremendously though.

Speaking for myself... I also ride in a very flat area and in early June I went bike riding to a hilly area in Italy. In addition to mastering gear changes, it takes hill practice to find your sweet spot in terms of cadence when you climb.

My first ride in Italy, during the first couple of climbs, I was suffering quite a bit, my heart wanting to jump out of my chest. Eventually, during the same ride, I think I found my sweet spot. My cadence climbing was a bit higher than in the first part of the ride, and my heart rate settled down. My legs got a good workout, and I was sore for the remaining 5 days, but I was no longer intimidated by the hills. The bike I rented had a compact crank with a 12-25 cassette.

Upon my return to the flatlands, I noticed my fitness had improved a lot!

I started riding about 6 weeks ago. The ladies I ride with are at least 20 pounds heavier than me and can climb hills faster and easier than I can. They've got muscle memory, aerobic stamina, power, higher cadence and experienced shifting.

I can power up shorter hills and ride flats easy. But, when it comes to long, steady hills, I have problems maintaining my cadence in a lower gear. Even my lowest gear forces me to work hard and can bring me to my maximum heart rate. My lungs give out faster than my legs.

I've asked others for advice on how I can improve my ability to climb hills. I would love to be able to workout in the gym rather than do hill repeats! Give me a treadmill over hills any day! lol I would even be tempted to lose weight and start shopping in the junior's section. But, everyone tells me the only way to get better at climbing hills is to climb hills.

Some things I've noticed that I need to improve is increasing my cadence. I also need to shift into a lower gear before my legs start working harder. I'm so used to trying to muscle my way up the hill and it only hurts me on longer hills. I also am working on increasing my aerobic capacity by working at no more than 80% of my maximum heart rate and increasing stamina by accepting that I'm not going to get up some hills unless I quiet my inner voice telling me I'm going too slow. I also need to be kinder to myself. Instead of powering downhill, I need to rest and spin my legs in preparation for the next hill. Living in PA, there's ALWAYS another hill.

How to translate these goals without being able to ride on hills? A spinning class would help with my aerobic capacity. Intervals that focuses on a long Zone 2 climaxing at Zone 3 heart rate vs. a minute of Zone 4 maximum heart rate would be helpful. But, I don't think endurance weight workouts would not help someone like me. Maybe once my lungs catch up to my leg strength.

Take the bike with you on your camping trip. If you have to stop for breaks, enjoy the scenery! Everything looks better on a bike. Don't focus on distance or speed. Do your best and be proud of it! :-)

Thank you again ladies. As I've thought about it more, my best bet to get me in a better shape for hills is probably to hit the gym if possible and do another session of intervals each week. Although I'm new back to riding, the skills of riding for 15 years and racing/training for 4 are coming back quickly, including shifting on hills (if you can call them that around here). So I don't think shifting is/will be an issue ( then again, I've not ridden major hills since coming back to cycling). I think it boils down to my fitness level and lack of a granny gear. My lowest gear is still on a 39t up front and I don't think I have the fitness right now to manage the hills where I'm going with this set up. I think I'm going to take my hybrid (with the triple) as well, just in case. I may just need to forget about riding my Klein... which is OK for just one week. I enjoy my Klein more, but I won't if I'm just suffering on the hills. Thanks again all. It's helping me think this through.

Well, after a day like today, I feel like the wind and intervals might be enough. Serious headwind and I planned my ride so first half was into the wind.

It's flat where l live and frequently windy. I've taken to treating a stiff headwind as if it were a hill, getting out of the saddle frequently and pushing a fairly big gear. Doing laps of a 4k circuit means I get some respite from it. I don't know if it's a real substitute, but better than nothing, I guess.

I didn't read the rest of the replies, but what if you drove the hour distance and incorporated a lot of climbing on your one long weekly ride?

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Originally Posted by Jiffer

I didn't read the rest of the replies, but what if you drove the hour distance and incorporated a lot of climbing on your one long weekly ride?

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Most days I have the time to ride no more than about 3 hours (and I ride straight from my driveway... no driving to ride). That means driving 2 hours round-trip to the hills plus prep time nets me about 30 minutes of riding hills. It almost doesn't seem like it's worth it. I've started doing some intervals into the wind, and I'm hoping that will suffice. If I, by chance, have a day I have more time to ride, I'll definitely make the trip down south. I'm hoping to do that at least a few times before we go.

Can you drop into a harder gear and simulate a hill that way? Intervals are also good for increasing aerobic capacity. I'm not keen about the gym & leg presses because the type of muscle used in weight lifting is different than the type used in cycling (type II vs type I) and it does nothing for your aerobic capacity.

Don't get me wrong - I love to lift weights. But research has shown that sport specific exercise is the best way to get in shape for a specific sport. (Duh...they pay people to do this research? Where can I sign up? :rolleyes:_

Just another idea:
I live in a flat area and recently did a tour in Vermont.
We did some steep climbs (specifically Middlebury Gap) and were able to do so because we supplemented our training by using this DVD from Spinervals. You will hate him, but it really did help us.

A couple of times my Garmin indicated a 17% grade so it was no cake walk.

http://www.amazon.com/Spinervals-Com.../dp/B001E3DLE4

I know everyone else knew that these sites existed, but I just found out last week. :o I went out to the website "ride with gps dot com" and spent a few hours trying to find a route that was a little more hilly. Definitely better than the routes I've been riding, I mapped out a ride that I took this morning. It had 1028 ft. of climbing, which I know is not much, but the best I could do from my front door. I found it to be a good challenging ride, but a little short. I ended up crossing back near my house and heading my usual direction to get in a little longer ride. BUT!! I did find some hillier terrain, so I call that a success! Because it's shorter, I'll do it for weekday rides. I like to use weekends to do longer rides.

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Originally Posted by velo

I know everyone else knew that these sites existed, but I just found out last week. :o....

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RidewithGPS.com is a great little site - I prefer their manual mapping tools over those of mapmyride.com. Glad you were able to find a way to mix more hills in your route, have fun!