Looking to improve climbing skills?

[flirtees]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to improve my climbing skills this coming season. I live in Ontario so I am on the trainer right now. Does anyone have any tips so I can climb those hills easier next year?

Thanks,
Tanya

[wannaduacentury]

I would have to say be ready for the hills. Drop down to a gear that lets you continue a steady cadence w/o losing momentum, but not have too hard a gear which will cause you to have to shift down again going up, losing more momentum. I usually stay seated on the hills and stand up on the small section before you crest the top and then go on over. Then switch to a harder gear as you roll downhill to keep going. I try to do this as well, but sometimes I have my gear not low enough to not switch either, but I keep trying. Hope this helps. I'm sure the others will give plenty of advice as well. Jenn

[velogirl]

Okay, here's a shameless plug for Tanya! She's the genius behind Flirtees (which was discovered on another TE thread recently). Super-cute cycling-related t's for women.

http://www.flirtees.ca/

[flirtees]

Hi there,

I do have some specific goals for June 2008. I will be participating at the World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver.

My only advantage in these races is my cycling. I am a poor swimmer and average runner. I've been able to make up most of my time during the bike portion. My goal is to average 34-35 km/hr (not sure what that is in miles/hr.) and I know I lose most of my time on the the hills.

I get so frustrated when I get dropped on the hills, work so hard to catch up only to get dropped again. This makes it hard for me to save any energy for the run.

So my goal is to "Eat the Hills"!!!!

Any trainer workouts that will help. Right now we have a couple inches of snow on the ground and it doesn't look like it's going to melt anytime soon.

Thanks Jenn and Velo Girl!

Looking forward to hearing some other suggestions.

Tanya

[silver]

I went to a triathlon symposium a couple weeks ago. One of the guys suggested for trainer hill workouts that you raise the front wheel of the bike while it's on the trainer by stacking phonebooks or dictionaries.

[VeloVT]

I live in Vermont, we had snow on Thanksgiving (last week), and my parents, who live several hours south of me, have had light snow cover for several weeks, so I think the climate is not TOO different. I hope no one will get mad at me, but my suggestion, if you REALLY want to get better at hills, is to get a bike that can handle winter (I commute all winter on a CX bike) and actually ride hills all winter. The extra weight of wide tires, fenders, heavy clothes, commute gear, etc all just make you stronger. Last year I took about a week off from riding during the winter when we had a record snowfall and the city just couldn't get rid of the snow (I had to do all of my running in the road for two weeks because the sidewallks were unpassable, causing a few entirely unwanted games of chicken with unfriendly cars). Other than that, you just have to leave yourself extra braking room if there's a chance it could be icy.

[makbike]

Tanya,

I found this year the more I rode the easier the hills became. I've also found shifting early and often helps me up the hills. Your cadence is going to drop as you climb but try to keep it steady as you make your way up the hill. Relax as you climb and don't think about how far you have to go but remind yourself how far you have climbed at that point.

[Eden]

It's pretty hard on a trainer to really simulate hills. You can prop the front of the bike up and gear up, but its still not like really riding up a hill. I'd say if you are stuck on the trainer all winter work on things that will help you develop more power - so that you are hopefully improving your power to weight ratio, which will in turn improve your hill climbing (and your cycling overall).

As far as the race goes, tri's are usually no drafting events, so losing the pack isn't a concern. I'd say you may want to look at it differently. Rather than trying to "catch up" on the hills, ride more evenly, keep a tempo that is good for you and you may find that overall you are faster. If you are trying too hard to keep up with othe people as you climb, you may be wearing yourself out too quickly. If you "pop" its going to be harder to get your rhythm back when the hill is over.

[flirtees]

Thanks Everyone!

These tips are great and will definitely use them. Just one question what is meant by power to weight ratio?

Does anyone one use a power meter to measure wattage? Ok. 2

Thanks for the help,
Tanya

[indysteel]

Tanya, I've "pulled" a few training articles from PezCyclingNews.com that you might find helpful. As the first article suggests, how to approach your training depends, in part, on what kind of climbing you're struggling with, i.e., short, steep climbs or longer, sustained climbs. There's also a bit of an explanation on what's meant by your power to weight ratio.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5223
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5208
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5072

[Veronica]

Power - how many watts can you put out
Weight - how much you weigh

You can have a lot of power, think like a sprinter or a time trialist. But if you have a lot of weight that power doesn't help you when you add in the effects of gravity when you climb.

I like this calculator for figuring out my watts. I use the data from a climb that I do often

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

V.

[Bklynmom]

I am a newer and less experienced cyclist, and I too have been strugling with hills.

The gearing described here has helped me - but don't drop down so far that you don't generate enough power. I have also gained power from riding up hills standing up, and in a heavier gear.

The one advantage of the weight /mass ratio, is loosing weight will probably make you faster on hills, if you have weigh you can afford to loose. (I have about 20 lbs that could go).

I am also wondering if the right weight workout in the gym will help you gain power in your legs? Would love to hear from anyone with expertise.

Maybe running, even on a tread mill, would help hill climbing -- anyone with experience with that?

I do think that an indoor program that you will actually do, is probably better than planning to bike outdoors, then whimping out (like I do!). This depends entirely on your weather tolerances.

Has anyone tried these indoor biking set ups where you bring your bike and they simulate a ride? There is one near my house I was thinking of trying.

[VeloVT]

I am also wondering if the right weight workout in the gym will help you gain power in your legs?

Deadlifts and squats are great. Lunges prob.not bad either (but I just don't like them for some reason). You want to target BOTH quads and hams/glutes. If you like machines (I don't really), quad extensions would be helpful, as would hamstring curls (the one where you lie on your stomach). I suppose you could do leg presses too but they target the same muscles as squats and squats are more fun/less tedious.

Hill running (and sprinting) are also good for building power in the ham/glute region. Just remember that it's not specific, so running on hills won't translate into direct one-for-one improvement in biking hills. And you don't want to neglect your quads which are still important riding hills. But it will definitely help both with power and with aerobic conditioning, which is also an important component of riding hills (in my opinion at least -- if you don't have to gasp as hard you can probably ride faster !).

[flirtees]

Thanks everyone,

I appreciate the tips greatly!

Sincerely,
Tanya

[Starfish]

You might Google Arnie Baker and check out the online books of his you can buy. I bought one last year when I was training for a climbing century, and he has some things to say about simulating climbing indoors on the trainer, and how he thinks it stacks up against outdoor workouts. I think the one I bought was called ACE: Altitude Climbing Endurance...maybe not exactly what you want/need, but I know he has some smaller online "booklets" too.

I also know that even the few spinning classes I did last spring helped me build strength that I could feel on the bike. I plan to start them up again soon.