It's official; I suck at climbing

[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

[Meaux]

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

Age has nothing to do with it. I'm 27 and riding up hills is probably one of the must painful things I've ever done physically. I hate that feeling of getting out of breath. I feel like I'm never going to breathe again! I look forward to the day I shoot right up a hill. That day will come in 30 years. HA!

[miffy'sFuji]

We have a lot of hills here. I started riding regularly in April and could not ride all of the way up the final half mile to my house without stopping. It's an elevation gain of about 230 ft. and ~8-12 percent grade in various stretches.

My suggestions are to take it as slowly as you possibly can (3 mph?) until you can make it the whole stretch. While you are pedaling, concentrate on deep breaths and your heart rate. I don't stand, especially if I have a long haul (and a heavy backpack). My helpful thing is to count to myself. At about 189 I'm all of the way up my hill. = )

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well just to reassure a few of you....
I started riding 4 months ago at 52. The only exercise I ever did before that was walking about 3 miles a day for about 8 months before starting biking. Despite all that walking...
Nothing prepared me for how out of breath I got when biking up hills in the beginning. I was literally gasping for air, LOUD gasping breaths, and my heart pounding. This happened often, on most hills except for the smallest ones.
My DH (who usually rode with me back in the beginning) was SO patient while I kept stopping over and over to catch my breath and let my heart slow down. Like some of you, i suspected maybe I had asthma too, or heart disease or something!
As the weeks went by though, I gradually began to get less out of breath. My heart didn't race as much. After 2 months I could pedal up some hills I had to walk up before. I needed to stop and rest less often. My awful gasping slowly became just heavy labored breathing.
Now after 4 months, there are just a few hills around where I live that I can't pedal up, *mostly* without stopping. My heartbeat never feels uncomfortably pounding. My labored breathing has now become more like just deep mouth breathing.
And when going up steep hills, it's now usually my legs that will limit me rather than my breathlessness. That's a good thing I figure! I know I'm still not even halfway yet to the fitness level I would like to be at- maybe next year!
My DH and I would like to do some touring next year to visit friends in MA, VT, and NH. Right now my longest rides are 40 miles. When I can do 50 or 60 for several days in a row, I think I will be ready for that. Only a few months ago I was exhausted after 10 miles.
Just keep pedalling at whatever level you can. Pedal, pedal, pedal- it happens slowly...really!

[Cassandra_Cain]

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

Momentary thread hijack....

See I knew there was a reason I liked your avatar here - I have the same bike!

Now back to hills

[Brandy]

I'm still trying to find my inner goat as well...I want to like climbing so badly, but while I'm doing it, I just keep thinking about how much I want to be at the top...like yesterday! That said, I've only been riding since May, so I know that my time will come. I do believe that I came in with an advantage because I had been Spinning for months and months before that and our gym starts a periodization schedule in January. We started with aerobic base building and after that we moved onto endurance and then on to strength...which was basically two months of profiles that focused on strengthening the legs through climbing. I'm convinced that this gave me an edge when I started cycling.

[Dogmama]

First off - a 17 - 20% grade is a mountain!!

1. Hit the botttom of the hill as fast as you can. Momentum is your friend.
2. Shift slightly before you need to shift so you don't blow out your legs.
3. If you are going to stand, shift to a slightly harder gear. When you sit, you'll have the easier gear to fall back on.
4. Ride hills. If you have to go slowly, do it slowly. Speed and endurance will come.

In the weight room you want to mimic cycling:

1. Do your exercises with single legs & switch them out. In other words, if you are doing lunges, alternate your lunges. Ditto with leg extensions, hamstring curls,etc.

2. To hit the glutes - bulgarian split squats. This is a great glute exercise. It is basically a lunge, except your back leg is on a support, so you cannot push off with it. It works quads and glutes. Obviously, you cannot switch these out easily.

Back up to a bench, chair, aerobic steps, no higher than knee height to begin. Stand about 3 feet from the bench.

Put one leg on the bench, shoe lace side down. You may need to be next to a wall or something to use for balance in the beginning.

Now, lunge. Do not let your knee go past your toes (or not very much.) Concentrate on bringing yourself up using your glutes.

[indysteel]

Bulgarian Split Squat? I'll have to try that.....

Although I wish all who responded were as good at climbing as they wanted to be, but all the same, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's struggling with it.

Brandy, I am so envious of your periodization spinning class. I will have to talk to the people at the Y where I go about offering something like that. If you have any more specifics, I'd love to hear about it....

Kate

[Cassandra_Cain]

If folks are lifting weights because they want to be more 'toned' or 'buff' or help preserve their bone density, etc - then cool, do it

I do not think that weight training, of any form, will help you with climbing on a bike though. Forces in endurance cycling, are quite low - comparable to climbing stairs 2 at a time even.

For sprint and track racing, I think weights can be very useful.

The reason a cyclist has a hard time on a climb is because their body cannot supply what her muscles need in order to keep working at a high rate due to cardiac output and oxygen delivery.

[indysteel]

If folks are lifting weights because they want to be more 'toned' or 'buff' or help preserve their bone density, etc - then cool, do it

I do not think that weight training, of any form, will help you with climbing on a bike though. Forces in endurance cycling, are quite low - comparable to climbing stairs 2 at a time even.

For sprint and track racing, I think weights can be very useful.

The reason a cyclist has a hard time on a climb is because their body cannot supply what her muscles need in order to keep working at a high rate due to cardiac output and oxygen delivery.

Interesting....I assumed that weight training to strengthen (at least) my glutes would help. Several of my cycling books speak favorably of weight training (in moderation) to help strengthen certain muscles that are needed to climb but which are hard to actually develop unless you climb a lot. From what I've read, climbing is a function of both aerobic capacity and leg strength? Not so?

[Cassandra_Cain]

Interesting....I assumed that weight training to strengthen (at least) my glutes would help. Several of my cycling books speak favorably of weight training (in moderation) to help strengthen certain muscles that are needed to climb but which are hard to actually develop unless you climb a lot. From what I've read, climbing is a function of both aerobic capacity and leg strength? Not so?

Hi....

You are familiar with Lance Armstrong I take it right? So a few years ago he did a blazingly fast time up in a Time Trial on a very famous and difficult mountain stage in the Tour de France, Alpe d'Huez. If you look at the watts he produced, take into account his cadence, then the 'force' he was putting out with both of his legs was equal to about 55 pounds. There are few adults I know of, who can't do 55 pounds with 2 legs, I mean just climbing stairs requires that much....and more.

Lance reportedly rode up that mountain at around 475 watts or so. You know what though? I am certain you could do 475 watts - just not for an hour or anything close to it obviously, and neither can I!

Also, consider when you sprint you are exerting far more force than on any long climb, so you already have the 'strength' to do those climbs. The reason you, me, or anyone else typically struggles on a climb is because our bodies cannot meet the demands of our muscles - delivering oxygen, fuel mix, etc...and why? Our lactate thresholds, Vo2max, etc aren't developed enough for what we are trying to do.

In addition, weight training doesn't nearly replicate the joint angles and velocities of cycling. That's along the lines of the whole specificity principle, so those gains are not going to be very transferrable.

I'm not telling you weight training is bad or that you shouldn't do it - there are lots of benefits to it.

What I do think is that it won't make you a better climber on a bike. It can make you a better track sprinter or pursuiter - though if you gain weight (from muscle gains), it can then cost you in climbing and other aspects of riding.

[bacarver]

Struggling up a hill vs sitting on a couch doing nothing.
Walking up a hill vs smoking a cigarette.
Being slower than the others vs swilling beer.
Being a "newbie" vs not even owning a bike.
Riding only 10 miles vs being unable to walk up a flight of stairs.
Coming in last in a race vs being addicted to junk food.

No matter how often I fail to measure up to my ideal bikie image, I will always be proud of myself because I'm out there doing my best to stay healthy and active.

We're out there because we believe in the power and freedom our bikes give us. We should measure ourselves only against our abilities and not others.

Bike on!

Barb