It's official; I suck at climbing

[indysteel]

Yesterday's group ride was rather hilly (for Indiana) and included a rather steep hill about 25 miles into the ride that killed me. Embarrassingly, I had to get off the bike and walk about half of it because my legs just gave out. I started cycling this summer and, because central Indiana is relatively flat, I don't encounter much in the way of hills. That said, there are several "big" rides each year, including the Hilly Hundred--that include some tough climbing and I'd like to improve this part of my riding. Hills should be fun, but as it is now, they scare me.

My weaknesses on climbing seem to be two-fold. My breath gets very "wheezy" when I'm pushing too hard or when I have to get out of the saddle. I try to spin at a faster RPM, but that can be taxing too. Also, my legs get really tired from repeated climbs. I don't know if it's a leg strength thing or a lactic-acid thing.

Help me get in touch with my inner goat. Clearly, I need to seek out hills in my training regimine. What can I do in the off season to train? I have a meeting with a trainer (and competive cyclist) tomorrow at the Y to develop a weight-training program that is geared towards cycling (both to strengthen was is taxed during cycling and what tends to get neglected/inbalanced). I know I need to work on my glutes big-time. Do any of you have any specific suggestions in advance of my training session that I can discuss with him?

I'm also taking two spinning classes each week so that should help too. Any spinning-specific pointers or advice?

Thanks.

Kate

[mimitabby]

Oh please don't be too embarrassed at getting off to walk up a hill.
I do this sometimes too. It isn't worth it to me to burst a carotid artery just so I can stay on the bike going up a hill. Sometimes I get off because i am going so slow that i am afraid of falling over!
and SOMETIMES i get off and walk because I don't want to get overheated.
There are lots of reasons. maybe you can train on hills that are just a little hard for you and when they become easier, tackle a bigger hill?

[Bad JuJu]

I haven't yet gotten off my bike and walked up a hill, but notice that I say "yet"--anything is possible. I sukc at climbing too. I guess it's not so much of a problem because Florida is flatter than many other areas, though not completely flat--we have our share of wall-like hills here, just not so many of them, and no actual mountains that I know of.

So far (again, I emphasize, "so far") I've been successful at gearing way down and spinning up hills, but I am SUH-LOOOOWWWW, and both my bikes have triples, and the touring bike has what I can only describe as a tree-climbing gear.

So I guess it's worth looking at how low your lowest gears are and whether you could do much to go lower, if you need to.

Hill Slugs Are People, Too

[love2bike]

Indysteel,

I too need to work on hills. I had some problems on a hilly day 2 of the Gateway MS 150 this past September. Lots of people were walking up hills, including me.....there's no shame in it! But, I came back determined to do better next year. I'm into my 3rd week of spinning classes and hope this helps. I would be very interested in what weight training exercises your trainer gives you to help with cycling. Let us know what she/he says.

Patty

[Offthegrid]

I'm horrible at hills, which is not surprising considering my weight. I did an MS ride a couple of years ago (before I took a year off) and was actually going up a hill so slowly at one point that I thought I would fall over. If it makes you feel better, I saw some cyclists -- skinny dudes with a biking cap and everything -- walking up one of the very bad hills.

On the plus side, I don't even have to pedal on the downhill and I fly by people.

[ACG]

I suck at hillls too. I am not embarassed at all to shift into the granny gear and just pedal really, really slow. I have had recent breathing issues which I can relate to allergies.

The only way to get better at hills is to ride hills. I'm not sure about spinning class techniques. However when I ride my bike on a trainer I often switch to a harder gear in increments of 5 minutes, which is sort of a simulated hill.

Good luck

[Nanci]

I'm positive I suck more at hills than you! (Just search for my ride report called "Unto These Hills" if you want proof...)

When I'm in serious hills, like mountains, I've found that A. the more just plain riding time and distance I have put in, the more endurance I have for hill climbing, and B. it's ok to stop for a minute, catch your breath, then continue on riding if you don't want to give in and walk. It takes a _very_ short time to recover. If you have a hard time starting up again, if the hill is steep- plan ahead- watch for a driveway or something to stop in that will let you start off horizontally or even slightly down hill.

It gets better with time-

I have a HORRIBLE time in the morning when the humidity is high- it's hard for me to breathe.

Something else that helps, and it's hard to do, is ride your own hill- don't pay attention to how fast everyone else can go. If you try to keep up at a pace harder than you can handle, you won't last as long as if you'd stuck to a slow but comfortable pace.

Something else that helps is only look at the foot or so of ground in front of your wheel. That way you can't see how much further it is, and can't see the incline! This works great for me.

Oh- I have a triple, and before Six Gap, my mechanic put on a better hill-climbing cassette for me. I think it helped some.

Good luck...

Nanci

[mimitabby]

When I'm in serious hills, like mountains, I've found that A. the more just plain riding time and distance I have put in, the more endurance I have for hill climbing, and B. it's ok to stop for a minute, catch your breath, then continue on riding if you don't want to give in and walk. It takes a _very_ short time to recover. If you have a hard time starting up again, if the hill is steep- plan ahead- watch for a driveway or something to stop in that will let you start off horizontally or even slightly down hill.


Something else that helps, and it's hard to do, is ride your own hill- don't pay attention to how fast everyone else can go. If you try to keep up at a pace harder than you can handle, you won't last as long as if you'd stuck to a slow but comfortable pace.

Something else that helps is only look at the foot or so of ground in front of your wheel. That way you can't see how much further it is, and can't see the incline! This works great for me.

Oh- I have a triple, and before Six Gap, my mechanic put on a better hill-climbing cassette for me. I think it helped some.

Good luck...

Nanci

what she said. PERFECTLY SENSIBLE, wise counsel!

[Bikingmomof3]

Help me get in touch with my inner goat.

Kate

I loved this! I have absolutely no tips. I have not been able to ride for so long I think I forgot how. Not to mention, I live in a flat section of Ohio.

Keep practicing, you will master them.

[Meaux]

Oh thank God it's not just me. I am terrible at hills. I was so bad that I stopped half way up, and then tried to start again, causing me to fall over and bruise myself horribly. I hate hills right now.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well Meaux, I think that trying to get going from a standstill halfway up a steep hill is about the hardest thing one can try to do. Don't feel bad!

A couple of times I've tried to get going up a steep hill that started up at a right angle right off a highway, couldn't get any head start rolling or momentum going at all, and just ground to a halt after three or four wobbly pedal strokes and walked up! Somehow I survived! I'm better at getting started up a hill from a standstill than I was a couple months ago though.

[liberty]

I am SOOOO happy we are on the subject of stopping on a hill and starting again! Nanci- thanks for recommending the "pull off in a driveway, or start at a horizontal angle" to get momentum. I have been mulling and mulling over this issue, as I know sooner or later I will be stuck with some monster hill or a stop sign on a hill... Do you turn around and go downhill for a second and swing back around?

Any other recommendations on how to start from a dead stop on a hill?

And if you are clipped in, and the hill is HORRIBLE, HOW do you unclip before you loose all momentum and fall over? Figure you fall over from loss of momentum or from not being able to unclip in time (or a combo of the two).

[alforfun]

I am just glad to see I am not the only one wheezing up hills. I thought it was just that I started this road bike thing at a -cough- later age, and perhaps was suffering from emphysema or some other such lung disease. I too, have walked up some, but persistance is all, and I have improved. Which is good, since there aint no place to ride here in the Hudson Valley without going up a hill

[eclectic]

Indysteel : I would really like to know what your trainer lays out for you. We don't have anyone around here to do that for cycling.

Interesting points CassandraCain - some rethinking material

Re: hills - I suck at them too, they are hard and haven't gotten any easier. I was riding one day last spring with a very experienced rider going up one of our steeper hills after already riding 40 miles (my longest ride at that time) I asked him how and when do hills get easy and he said NEVER, they may get easier but never easy.

I practiced hills everytime I went out this summer to build up my endurance. they never really got easier but eventually I never had to walk

One of the things I really learned over the summer is how and when to shift, how and when to stand up and timing when riding rollers (one hill after another)

shift before you think you need to - as soon as your cadence drops and you feel pressure shift down. Even in my lowest gear there are some hills around here that I can't spin up, I just do the best I can.

If I have a down hill first I get going as fast as I can then shift down as soon as I feel myself losing speed on the uphill.
- I pretty much start in my front big ring and about 3/4 up in back
- then I shift my front ring, not my back until i get to granny
- then i start shifting the back as needed.
- Depending on how much I have left of the hill adn how much energy I have left I stand to "top it off" (if it is a long grinder -1/2 mile or more I just sit and pedal)

As a last resort and if there is no traffic I have been known to switch back (like slalom skiing) across my lane of traffic ( I NEVER go into the oncoming lane going up hill)

Mentally I think : "this is only (5,10,15) minutes, of my life, it will soon be over - hills end" contrary to WIND

I figure if I am only going 6mph that is still faster than I can walk!

[aicabsolut]

I had my first encounter with what looked like some pretty decent hills a few weekends ago--and lots of them over a 25 mile loop (only 5 miles or so about 11 miles in gave my legs a break). I had gone up one long twice hill a week before, but nothing like this. My breathing did get shallower than I'd like, and I had a couple moments of panic where I thought I'd have to stop and didn't know how to do that without falling. I also discovered my poor standing and pedaling skills just made me go SLOWER when I stood rather than giving me more power. I didn't have a computer, but my overall time was better than I thought, considering I am conservative on the descents.

What helped me was forcing myself to keep a breathing rhythm, even if it bordered on gasping. When you are putting that much energy into your muscles, if you make sure you take deep breaths, you really don't need to gasp, but you've got to focus. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it was like when I used to sprint in track. At sprinting pace, I'd breathe slower than at just a fast run. More forcibly, but slower. I couldn't keep up that effort for long running, but while I was still trying to enlist every muscle to get me up a hill on a bike, that kind of effort was something I could sustain minutes longer than sprinting...it still felt predominantly anaerobic at times, but like more of a slow burn than an explosion of energy.

I want to second the advice only to look a little in front of you, not way up the hill. Take some breaks in smaller gears, but remember that a bigger gear will get you there faster. Sometimes, that's motivation enough to keep your legs spinning fast enough that you don't have to downshift. So is the panicked feeling that you might not make it. I was more afraid of toppling over in the event I had to give up and stop than I was of the rest of the climb, so I made sure I didn't stop. Adrenaline is a wonderful thing. Luckily, I haven't encountered a mountain.