Rollers and momentum

[Catrin]

Multi-Quoting is apparently my friend

.....I'm trying to imagine it and I think that coming fast into a steep hill I maybe downshift in 3 or 4 separate "sessions", several gears at a time, if that makes sense, before ending up on my smallest grinder gears. It comes with practice, judging at which speed you can use which gear, or rather - how much slowing down needs to generate how much downshifting.

I would think it helps to practice on the same hill or the same route, and try out several strategies. Downshifting too much is rarely a problem, you can just shift up a bit, but downshifting too little will have you struggling to shift again under pressure.

Oh, and long hills really are all about just grinding along, all momentum lost... Sing to yourself, stand a little, sit a little, practice reaching for your water bottle, don't worry about speed :-)

Today I experimented! I went to my "favorite" local park that has a very long, steep, and somewhat windy hill for a main road. I figured since I am doing this ride Saturday morning that I should practice with hill repeats so I could work on shifting.

I completely forgot about momentum as I lose it in the curves anyway - even while the fast boys and girls are blasting past me. That is fine, they can go around me Instead I worked between middle and granny front cogs to figure out where I needed to be in the rear to take full advantage of the front gears. I could tell a difference! I found myself going up the steepest bit of the hill at an entire 5mph, but with a cadence of 80 and my legs felt great! Ok, so there is something to this thing about not trying to power up in a harder gear - as has been my practice.

Like Grog and Becky said: don't coast down the hill--there's always an up on the other side of the down. Pedal (in harder gears) down and shift as you need to going up the other side. It will take practice.

Yup, and I found myself wanting to do the opposite - there is a part of me that wants to hit a harder gear at the bottom - probably because I want to feel that gear under my feet. Instead I put it in the granny gear and then into a hard gear in the rear so I could shift down as I needed to. This worked MUCH better than in the past when I tried to stay in the middle chain for too long.

You will develop a better feel for it with practice......I actually tend to rely less on momentum with some of these steeper hills and more on choosing a gear at the outset that will allow me to set a sustainable pace up the hill. I do not keep the same cadence on those hills that I use on the flats. I would blow up if I tried to do that. Rather, I get in a relatively easy gear, take a deep breath and then just pace myself up, susatining a good balance between aerobic and power outputs.

This is what I tried to do in the steepest parts of the hill tonight - I WANT to mash gears and just need to break this tendency of mine where long hills are concerned... though this would indeed be easier clipped in...

mantra for hill climbing- to the song of Frer Jacques
we are climbing, we are climbing,
yes we are, yes we are
This is not a real hill, this is not a real hill,
No it's not, no ti's not.

when in dobut/downshift until you can't shift anymore and remember, as long as you are maintaining enough momentum to move forward, you are in balance and all is good.................marni

I like the mantra! I will try and remember it Saturday

Something funny about my ride tonight. I have only gone one direction on THAT hill since something like March. I've only gone north to south on it, never the other direction because something about the downhill side scared me. So I've carefully avoided it for 4 months and carefully ignored that I was avoiding it. However, with hitting far more significant hills this weekend, it seemed time to finally "face my fear" of that particular stretch of road.

I decided to do it very first thing after warming my legs up a little. Rode to the southern end of the road, turned north, and started downhill.... First bit was fine, good - kept reminding myself that "I" am in control of how fast I go downhill. Got through steeper climbs and short yet fastish curvy downhill bits - then I realized that I was at the bottom!

You see - I had remembered a section of the road where the pavement was raised in the middle of the lane and then dipped on both sides - and I wasn't in very good control of my bike in March the last time I went down that hill at 27 mph - and I had NO business going that fast 4 months ago!

The end of the story is that after 3 repeats of that side of the hill - I never could figure out which section of road had me so scared - and I did not allow my bike to go that fast either. There is a lesson here about facing your fears, for sure. I am glad that I did - even if it turned out that there was nothing to be afraid of

[lph]

The end of the story is that after 3 repeats of that side of the hill - I never could figure out which section of road had me so scared - and I did not allow my bike to go that fast either. There is a lesson here about facing your fears, for sure. I am glad that I did - even if it turned out that there was nothing to be afraid of

I just wanted to say that it is so cool reading about your riding experiences, because you obviously think about things, decide to challenge yourself, and write well about it afterwards. Inspiring and fun

[Catrin]

J One thing for certain is that when you do start using the clipless pedals, you will be upset with yourself that you didn't use the pedals from the get-go. Falling over is just falling over, and at most there is some road rash and a bruise or two. Falling over is unlikely to result in death or permanent injury.

Oh, I am pretty sure I won't be upset with myself about not switching sooner when I finally do so

I had some pretty spectacular falls on those 3 days when I tried last time - even gave myself a small concussion and needed a new helmet I will try again when I am confident that my muscle memory is solid - right now I am breaking myself of a couple of bad habits - once I am sure that I've been successful and my muscle memory is "corrected" then I will try again. I learned a rather, umm, creative way to stop my bike and until that is changed clipping in is just not possible.

I just wanted to say that it is so cool reading about your riding experiences, because you obviously think about things, decide to challenge yourself, and write well about it afterwards. Inspiring and fun

Glad that it isn't boring - I don't mind laughing at myself

[Crankin]

I agree! Catrin, it is interesting to read of your adventures. It makes me wish I had written something down when i started, though I still remember many of the interesting things that happened on some of my rides.
Darcy, I am just not intense about the stuff you describe. If I was, I would hate riding. I don't ever look at it as training. It's just what I do. After ten years, I have to keep it fun. I've been exercising and been involved with fitness for over 30 years; after a good case of exercise obsession, weighing 92 pounds, and injuries galore, I know what will happen. Like Oakleaf, I am a pretty good climber (compared to the rest of my riding!), because I am light weight, I am good at shifting, and the piddly bit of running I do has really improved my fitness.
My DH has 2 GPS's (both are "old" now). The only reason he used them was so we didn't get lost and for like maybe a couple of weeks after he had 2 cardiac stents put in, making a feeble attempt to follow doctor's orders (yea, they told him not to ride hard, but after 8 days he was climbing the hills in Harvard, MA). A few people in my riding group have them, primarily for the same reason. They probably are looking at their stats, but I never hear them discuss it.

[Catrin]

For me, the attraction of a GPS is my tendency to just head out somewhere and see where I wind up - I am getting closer to doing this on the bike I also like the idea of being able to download gps points from a brevet route to aid in navigation - though I will never divorce myself from paper maps. My LHT's name is "The Wanderer" for good reason I wanted a more personal name than that, but short of naming him Magellan (hmmm) couldn't think of another name.

As far as the health stats - that is a good thing as well - I cannot generally tell when my HR gets up there until it is WAY too high. I like my Polar HRM just fine though - it will do until I can afford/justify the Garmin. The HRM helps to keep me honest - and I like that it tracks calories

[Becky]

For me, the attraction of a GPS is my tendency to just head out somewhere and see where I wind up - I am getting closer to doing this on the bike I also like the idea of being able to download gps points from a brevet route to aid in navigation

This is really the only reason that I even own a GPS. (Actually, it's DH's and fortunately so...I'd have chucked it into a ditch by now if it were solely mine.) When I'm out on my own in an unfamiliar area, I like having the map at hand while moving and knowing exactly where I am. Otherwise, I don't use it.

I'm a respectable climber, by virtue of being petite, in decent shape, and because I've trained to climb rather than for sprinting or for long stretches of high power. I'm not worth a d@mn when the road is flat or the wind is blowing.

This is a big ol' case of Your Mileage/Method May Vary. If you want the data, then by all means get the equipment to capture it. But don't feel like you're not a "real cyclist" if you don't have all the bells and whistles.