Going Uphill

[Pink Kona]

Any advice on how to get uphill as quickly as possible?

Yesterday I raced Tahuya-Seabeck-Tahuya in Washington state. It climbs just shy of 5,000 in 62 miles. I was able to maintain with the lead group for the first 40 miles and then got dropped on a hill. I am a larger women - 5'9" and weigh 160. Obviously smaller women have a huge advantage over me on the hills - but I want to reverse that. I visualize lifting my hamstrings vs. pounding down my quads - but still am left in the dust. For all you billy goats out there - what's your secret?

I look forward to your discussion! Jen

[singletrackmind]

Pulling a kid in a trailer made a big difference in my strength going up! I think part of that's mental-not dragging that behemoth wind-catcher around makes me feel so darned light and fluffy!
One of the dudes around here highly suggests taking stairs 2 at a time (don't know what my knees would say about that).

Yeah, at 5'8" and 154# I knows what you mean. I'm working on that, though, trying to get back down to a muscley 134 like back when I did race. What a differece 20# makes...

[snapdragen]

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


Sometimes you just have to accept that the little feather girls are going to make it up the hill faster. You have the advantage on the downhills!

Above is an article on climbing. Once I stopped trying to keep up with everyone, and took the hills at my own pace, I found them a whole lot more enjoyable.

[neuroticcyclist]

At 6'2" and 170 I get to carry myself and the biggest bike on earth up hills.

Long live the momentum on the descents!

[spazzdog]

OK... this is just from listening to all the commentators on TV when comparing Lance and Ulrich. Far be it from me to be this smart.

(read that I'm tall and scrawny but I'm a "stand & mash" on the hills)

Everybody keeps saying that if the bigger Ulrich would spin a lower gear like Lance, instead of mashing the higher one his climbing would improveand he'd be less pooped.

So... do you have a gear you can spin, say 70-80 rpms, on the hill?

Or even 60-70 rpms? If you do, stay there. Practice raising the rpms in that gear on the hill until you can no longer spin without bouncing.

Then start doing the same practice hill in the next higher gear.... again spinning 60-70, until you're able to spin that higher gear up in the 90 range.

my 2 cents

[Veronica]

I suppose it also depends on the length of the hills you're talking about. What's going on with your heart rate as you're climbing. You don't want to be anaerobic for too long. You'll have nothing left for that sprint at the end. If you know your heart rate at your lactate threashold, I'd work on hills trying to stay within a few beats of that.

V.