Looking to improve climbing skills?

[flirtees]

Hi there,

I do have some specific goals for June 2008. I will be participating at the World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver.

My only advantage in these races is my cycling. I am a poor swimmer and average runner. I've been able to make up most of my time during the bike portion. My goal is to average 34-35 km/hr (not sure what that is in miles/hr.) and I know I lose most of my time on the the hills.

I get so frustrated when I get dropped on the hills, work so hard to catch up only to get dropped again. This makes it hard for me to save any energy for the run.

So my goal is to "Eat the Hills"!!!!

Any trainer workouts that will help. Right now we have a couple inches of snow on the ground and it doesn't look like it's going to melt anytime soon.

Thanks Jenn and Velo Girl!

Looking forward to hearing some other suggestions.

Tanya

[silver]

I went to a triathlon symposium a couple weeks ago. One of the guys suggested for trainer hill workouts that you raise the front wheel of the bike while it's on the trainer by stacking phonebooks or dictionaries.

[VeloVT]

I live in Vermont, we had snow on Thanksgiving (last week), and my parents, who live several hours south of me, have had light snow cover for several weeks, so I think the climate is not TOO different. I hope no one will get mad at me, but my suggestion, if you REALLY want to get better at hills, is to get a bike that can handle winter (I commute all winter on a CX bike) and actually ride hills all winter. The extra weight of wide tires, fenders, heavy clothes, commute gear, etc all just make you stronger. Last year I took about a week off from riding during the winter when we had a record snowfall and the city just couldn't get rid of the snow (I had to do all of my running in the road for two weeks because the sidewallks were unpassable, causing a few entirely unwanted games of chicken with unfriendly cars). Other than that, you just have to leave yourself extra braking room if there's a chance it could be icy.

[makbike]

Tanya,

I found this year the more I rode the easier the hills became. I've also found shifting early and often helps me up the hills. Your cadence is going to drop as you climb but try to keep it steady as you make your way up the hill. Relax as you climb and don't think about how far you have to go but remind yourself how far you have climbed at that point.

[Eden]

It's pretty hard on a trainer to really simulate hills. You can prop the front of the bike up and gear up, but its still not like really riding up a hill. I'd say if you are stuck on the trainer all winter work on things that will help you develop more power - so that you are hopefully improving your power to weight ratio, which will in turn improve your hill climbing (and your cycling overall).

As far as the race goes, tri's are usually no drafting events, so losing the pack isn't a concern. I'd say you may want to look at it differently. Rather than trying to "catch up" on the hills, ride more evenly, keep a tempo that is good for you and you may find that overall you are faster. If you are trying too hard to keep up with othe people as you climb, you may be wearing yourself out too quickly. If you "pop" its going to be harder to get your rhythm back when the hill is over.

[flirtees]

Thanks Everyone!

These tips are great and will definitely use them. Just one question what is meant by power to weight ratio?

Does anyone one use a power meter to measure wattage? Ok. 2

Thanks for the help,
Tanya

[indysteel]

Tanya, I've "pulled" a few training articles from PezCyclingNews.com that you might find helpful. As the first article suggests, how to approach your training depends, in part, on what kind of climbing you're struggling with, i.e., short, steep climbs or longer, sustained climbs. There's also a bit of an explanation on what's meant by your power to weight ratio.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5223
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5208
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5072

[Veronica]

Power - how many watts can you put out
Weight - how much you weigh

You can have a lot of power, think like a sprinter or a time trialist. But if you have a lot of weight that power doesn't help you when you add in the effects of gravity when you climb.

I like this calculator for figuring out my watts. I use the data from a climb that I do often

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

V.