How do I prepare for hills?

[TexasKate]

Ok, that may seem like a stupid question...but where I live and ride, the terrain is predominantly flat. Like a pancake. I'm talkin' F-L-A-T. So, I went on a 25 mile ride yesterday (my first one EVER) and had to deal with gradual sloping hills for the first time ever. The upside - I never once had to get off and walk, inspite of burning legs and lungs ....but the downside, it took me WAY too long and used up too much energy to figure out how to handle the hills.

I guess my question is - what is the best technique for conquering hills, other than just doing it? How do you gals who live in hilly and/or mountainous areas do it? I'd like to ride in places other than my local area, but that will involve more hills. I have a ride coming up on April 1 and I'd like to be more prepared. Any advice?

Thanks!

Kate

[snapdragen]

This might help:

http://www.imt.net/~yvcc/jeff_hill/index.htm

[alpinerabbit]

I promise it will get easier.

Try the same route a few times and you will notice. Some of this effect is psychological, especially if you just start out (btw I started serious riding in September. I speak from experience).

As the above link says, alternating between standing and sitting will give some of your muscle groups intermittent breaks and you can go on longer.
Apparently Lance positions himself very much above the handlebars, using some arm muscle to support his upper body. who knows if that helps. I've also heard him quoted that he does not see the hill, just the 10 meters of road in front of him. This definitely seems to work for me.

[snapdragen]

I've also heard him quoted that he does not see the hill, just the 10 meters of road in front of him. This definitely seems to work for me.

Exactly, I try to never look at the top of the hill, just the road ahead of my front wheel.

[TexasKate]

Thanks for the advice and the great link!!

[CyclaSutra]

Kate,

Do you ride with a heart rate monitor? It's pretty important to climb within your ability, at a heart rate you can susatain. If you go anaerobic, i.e. near your max heart rate, your lungs will fee like they're coming out of your chest, your eyes will cross and you'll have to slow down and "give up," but probably not stop.

I've been working with a trainer who has you do a fitness test at the beginning of your season: Pick a flat section of road with as little wind as you can muster. Warm up well first, at least 10-15 minutes. Then start at one end of your course from a standstill, and hammer as hard as you can sustain for 8 minutes. Stop, record all your data: distance, average speed, average heart rate and max heart rate. Spin back to the start and repeat. What he's looking for is your max heart rate on this test, which will tell him your trainable max. Then he builds "zones" below this like 60 percent of max, 70-75 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent plus.

The idea is to occasionally train at 90 percent plus in intervals to try to raise your sustainable max heart rate and make it "easier" to cycle that hard.

With all that being said, if you don't ride with a monitor, pick a gear you think you can push all the way up the hill and keep a steady cadence to try to keep your heart rate steady. If it feels like you can't sustain it, drop down a gear or two and try to keep the same cadence. Don't worry about "keeping up" with anybody when you're first starting out on hills, just get up them and they WILL get easier!

Johanna in the rocky, rocky mountains of Wyoming...

[salsabike]

One way to build some hill climbing strength when you don't have hills to practice on daily is to ride into headwinds for a while on the flats.

[Nanci]

The thing that helped me most with hills is gaining the quad strength to be able to climb standing- all the way on smaller, not so steep hills, and the last bit on bigger hills. You can practice on flats. I do little sprints- stand, pedal at what feels to me like a nice "running" cadence until I feel the very beginnings of lactic acid in my quads, coast, still standing, until legs feel ok or until speed drops to say two or three mph less that what it was pedaling, repeat as many times as I can take. Also, stand for a change of position every 15 minutes or so on any ride. Being able to stand and not die right away is like having an extra three gears. (So, when you really do stand on a hill, shift down about two gears while you are still sitting, then stand and enjoy how easy it seems!) I am _not_ a fast climber- probably weight-related, but I'm working on that!

Nanci