Athletes, what's harder riding up that hill or running up that hill?

[Skierchickie]

Running - for me, it's harder both mentally and physically. I don't remember ever walking my bike up a hill (well, except when I've lost it on my mountain bike, but I'm just talking about steepness-related walking). I walk up hills I'm supposed to be running all the time.

Ooh - gotta go watch the Tour!

[malaholic]

For me, running is harder. Running up a hill will give me shin splints no matter how much stretching I've done beforehand. Depending on the grade, biking a hill can hurt, but I usually recover a lot faster than I do when I run.

[TrekTheKaty]

If there are tricks to the getting out rather than falling or going backwards, I'd love to hear them. My first year clipped in, I did a "controlled fall" on a hill. Got to the edge, found some soft leaves, TIMBER. Figured it was the lesser of all evils.

Yep, I'm always eyeing the shoulder. Nice to know where I'm going to land

[pfunk12]

For me, running is harder. Although I was a pretty successful runner(sponsored by a shoe company and successful at distances from 5k to the marathon), I absolutely hated hills. I never stopped to walk up a hill but that's not to say that I didn't slow down to a crawl! But on the bike, I love climbing. For some reason, it just seems so much easier to me. When running up a steep incline or long steady climb, I would think, "Gosh...this really sucks." But on the bike, I am sometimes sad when the hill is over.

[emily_in_nc]

Running is much harder for me...maybe because it takes longer than riding up the same hill, and I get hotter. I have very low gears on my road bike, so there would be very few hills I couldn't ride up, albeit very slowly. There are definitely hills I couldn't run due to their length or grade.

[colby]

This is a tough one. There is a point early in the season when I have been running outside but riding indoors that running up the hills actually feels easier. But... after I build outdoor and hill endurance on the bike, they start to even out, and then I think riding up hills might actually be easier than running up them.

With either one, it seems the only way to get better is to just do more of it... I get sick of running a lot sooner than riding, so maybe that's why riding comes out easier in the end

[kenyonchris]

I ride because I love it, run because I have to. I would rather ride up the steepest mountain pass on my road bike or the rockiest climb on my mtn bike than run up a nice, well paved slope. Run, for sure.
Having said that, while I can pretty much spin up any hill on my road bike (with an exception once when I shot out of an alley onto the middle of a really steep hill, totally unprepared and geared way too high...I pulled it off and didn't fall, but it was UGLY) there comes a time on my mountain bike where I just have lost my momentum and hit a rock and topple over. I usually can unclip, grab something, or tuck and roll.
If I ran up the same hill, I would have to stop and do CPR on myself.

[salsabike]

I ride because I love it, run because I have to.

Yup. I have been riding much longer than I have been running, and have much more of a base, including for hills. I would not be able to run up many of the hills that I ride up.

[smilingcat]

on a bike, I can take 2 second rests. Running up a hill I can't. The other thing about riding is that you can change yuor position and use different muscle groups to climb. Running, you don't have that luxury.

running is harder. Even on a 15+% grade. This is just me though.

[kenyonchris]

Yup. I have been riding much longer than I have been running, and have much more of a base, including for hills. I would not be able to run up many of the hills that I ride up.

Chasing someone up is easier. But still not easier than riding.

[aicabsolut]

I was only really good at sprinting (or hurdling) as a runner, and I couldn't stand even very mild grades. It needed to be a flat and fast track. So with that in mind, I say running up hills is always harder. The only times I've been forced to walk my bike, the gradient was too steep for running. In fact, in cycling shoes and pushing up my pretty light road bike, walking was difficult. The grades were over 20%.

[kenyonchris]

I was only really good at sprinting (or hurdling) as a runner, and I couldn't stand even very mild grades.

Does hurdling involve running at speed over large gates that I would consider jumping only on a horse? I tried one (yes, one) ONCE. Pain, embarrassment, laughter from the peanut gallery, and a permanent branding that would follow me through high school ensued. Not pretty.

[VeloVT]

For me, running is easier, especially as the incline increases.

[arielmoon]

I can't run period so to me biking is easier for everything!

[witeowl]

I don't know if this is definitive, or even if he wasn't just trying to make me feel better, but I have this story to share from yesterday's ride:

I began a long ascent yesterday and passed a runner at the bottom. I started dropping gears and finally landed in my lowest gear, concentrating on breathing, remaining upright, and continuing on up the mountain (and not passing out, if I must be completely honest). After a while, the runner caught up with me. Then he passed me. I smiled, chuckled, and decided that it was a good thing that I was wearing my "Team Hill Slug" jersey.

At the top, I finally caught up with him as he rested before beginning the descent back. I jokingly called out, "Sure, you may beat me up the hill, but just wait until I race you back down." He smiled and informed me that he almost always beats bicycles up the hill. Only one guy beats him up, and he's "hard core".

As he sees it, it's faster to run than bike. I don't know about easier, but I'd say that faster would be easier. Chatting about it, we discussed how - looking at the physics of the sports - mechanical advantages a cyclist has on flats and downhills is lost on uphills. As a runner, he has a onene ratio; everything he puts into climbing translates directly into his motion. It's not quite the same with a bike.

I dunno. I walk up hills when running, but I'm not exactly a stellar runner.