Ride yesterday: clipless victory, and Hill question

[ace]

Hi guys,

Went on a great 25 mile ride yesterday (even though it was pissing down rain for the first hour and half) with a Cinderella Training Group. I was really excited, because we were averaging around 14-15 mph, and I didn't have a problem keeping up. Plus, I had two scary incidents (chain fell off on a hill, and a kid on a bike cut me off and I had to stop very suddenly), and I managed to unclip and not fall over. Now I know that might not sound like a huge victory, but I've only been riding clipless for a couple of months, and have fallen twice from a stopped position, so I was thrilled that I instinctively unclipped instead of panicking and falling!

OK, I know this question has gotten asked, but I can't seem to find the answers by searching the board. Here it is- any tips to improving my hill climbing? I am handicapped, I know, by the fact that I am quite overweight, plus I ride a hybrid. My approach is to just go into Granny Gear and spin my brains out. Does anyone have any specific suggestions? It pisses me off, because I stay near the front of the pack on the flats, but when we hit a hill, I fall to the rear (can you tell I'm a tad competitive?). Anyway, any hints would be welcome.

Cheers,
Amy

[mimitabby]

Amy, you give me hope! I am planning on going clipless this spring too.

The way to get better on hills? Do more hills!

and unfortunately, the progress is VERY VERY slow. but the more you ride,
the faster that will go.
The fact that you are competitive will help you too, because you are DRIVEN to improve!

good luck !

[ace]

Thanks, Mimi. Fortunately/unfortunately, depending on the way I look at it, living in the sf bay area I can't really go for too many rides without encountering hills. I'll keep slogging along.

I'm sort of doing things in the opposite order of you from what I've read in your posts- going clipless on a hybrid, and then switching to a road bike. I want to get the pedal thing down before I have to deal with integrated shifting. Honestly, the clipless thing isn't that bad. I have spd clips, loosened all the way, so they're super easy to clip out of, and at this point, if I DON'T think about it, I have no problem unclipping. It's only when I was super fixated on them that I was falling for some reason. Happened the same way both times, too- I was stopped completely, but leaned toward the clipped-in side to push a button to make the light change. Duh. It doesn't really hurt much to fall from a stopped position anyway, as long as you're wearing your gloves :-)

[mimitabby]

yes, Gloves are VERY important!

I'm probably more of a chicken than you are, hence, taking so much longer with the SPD's..

[emily_in_nc]

Amy ~ I didn't get faster on hills until I changed from riding a hybrid and heavy recumbent bike to a much lighter road bike. Rotating weight, namely wheels, makes more of a difference than the weight of components that are simply carried on the bike, and hybrids tend to have very heavy wheels. All that said, even though I am a lightweight, petite gal and switched to a lightweight carbon road bike when I was doing lots of road riding, I was still not that strong on hills. I improved a great deal, but I still considered hills by weakest skill area. Hill climbing is all about power-weight ratio, and even though I had an advantage in the weight area, I didn't have a lot of power, so often got whipped on climbs by heavier, bigger boned, and more muscular gals. So even though you're heavy, that doesn't mean you can't improve greatly on hills if you get STRONG. As Mimi said, practice, practice, practice. There is no magic bullet.

Mimi ~ You just have to give clipless a try! You're a good cyclist and would be much better with clipless. I honestly don't think you're going to have a difficult adjustment since you're already comfortable on a road bike, so it's only one new thing to think about vs. several for some new riders who are trying to learn clipless at the same time as how to ride a road bike. My mountain biking buddy had never, ever used clipless either this summer, but after talking to me about it, she finally decided to go for them. It only took her two rides to get the hang of it, and she did great! And this was on rooty trails with switchbacks. I was SO impressed with how quickly she picked it up. I predict you'd have the same degree of success.

~Emily

[mimitabby]

A

Mimi ~ You just have to give clipless a try! You're a good cyclist and would be much better with clipless. I honestly don't think you're going to have a difficult adjustment since you're already comfortable on a road bike, so it's only one new thing to think about vs. several for some new riders who are trying to learn clipless at the same time as how to ride a road bike. My mountain biking buddy had never, ever used clipless either this summer, but after talking to me about it, she finally decided to go for them. It only took her two rides to get the hang of it, and she did great! And this was on rooty trails with switchbacks. I was SO impressed with how quickly she picked it up. I predict you'd have the same degree of success.

~Emily

Emily, I will. When the weather gets to above 40 and stays there. People
say to try it out on grass. Well, all the grass is mud right now and it's just too cold.. This spring, i promise.

[RoadRaven]

Hi guys,
My approach is to just go into Granny Gear and spin my brains out. Does anyone have any specific suggestions? It pisses me off, because I stay near the front of the pack on the flats, but when we hit a hill, I fall to the rear (can you tell I'm a tad competitive?). Anyway, any hints would be welcome.
Cheers,
Amy

Hey there Amy the Ace!!!
Getting in the "granny gear" is exactly what I would recommend.
Spinning up those hills saves your knees.
Obviously, the lighter someone is the quicker they climb - simply because they do not have to carry the weight up the hill with them (like wearing a back-pack when out tramping, or going for a bush walk with no pack - its way easier to walk up a hill without the back pack.

The way to get better on hills is as the girls say - keep doing hills.
I have built into my weekly schedule one day of hill repetitions.
I have a short bit of hill (3-400 metres) near my house and I started by just doing a few reps a few weeks ago.
I want to be able to 15 by the end of February...

But wait, there's more... it is not enough to be able to climb the hill several times, you must make yourself work at it.
No standing, and get into the biggest gear you can stay on top of while seated.
Turn around at the top and spin your legs as you go down to disperse the lactic acid and then turn at the bottom and head on up again.

It'll make you stronger... I can never keep count so I say:
This ones for... and name first each of my children, and then begin on their cousins.


Remember to grin - we all luuurve hills!!!!