hills... my dreaded weakness

[Kim1976]

Does anyone have any tips on getting up hills?
I just started going up hills 2 weeks ago, and have improved slightly. When I first started I could barely make it up some of them, and now, I can make it up 2 without stopping.
My problem is i go, but after I push hard, my legs just start to go and lose all momentum, and have to get off and walk my bike uphill. I have noticed that on the right side of my waist starts to spasm .. is that from breathing too heavily?
I try to take deep breaths and relax.
My husband and I are signed up for the Civil War Century ride in September.. but we are only doing the 1/4.

[Zen]

google "how to improve hill climbing" then ignore half of what you read.
Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?

The CWC is a beautiful ride and the food at the end is fantastic.

[chicagogal]

Does anyone have any tips on getting up hills?
I just started going up hills 2 weeks ago, and have improved slightly. When I first started I could barely make it up some of them, and now, I can make it up 2 without stopping.
My problem is i go, but after I push hard, my legs just start to go and lose all momentum, and have to get off and walk my bike uphill. I have noticed that on the right side of my waist starts to spasm .. is that from breathing too heavily?
I try to take deep breaths and relax.
My husband and I are signed up for the Civil War Century ride in September.. but we are only doing the 1/4.

Half of hill climbing is technique and the other half is psychological. (a high power to weight ratio doesn't hurt either). Assuming you have power to weight on your side, then it is even more psychological.

Tell yourself that you can do it, and then use your gears! I prefer seated climbs, so I get into an easy gear and spin, spin, spin. The key here is to not worry about how fast (or slowly) you are going, and not to let your cadence drop too much. On a long hill you might want to alternate between seated and standing, but I try to avoid that because after standing I have trouble keeping my cadence up in the saddle. On a short hill, some people like to do the whole climb out of the saddle, and I am starting to use this technique more often. This will allow you to turn a slightly bigger gear, and put more of your body weight into the pedal stroke.

No matter what your climbing style (seated or standing) or the length of the climb, you will really want to get into a rhythm on the climb - sing a song to yourself if you have to. This will help greatly with keeping your cadence up and turning off that voice that says the hill is too hard :-)

[marni]

sit up straight, spin easily, relax your death grip, breath deep and sing "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 it's not " to the tune of frere Jacques.

Practice practice practice and don't worry about the speed as long as you are going fast enough not to fall over.

marni

[azfiddle]

Someone once posted here to smile when you're climbing hills. I have made that my motto, and I think it helps. Beyond that (and I'm a relatively new rider- just since last summer)- keep riding up the hills and use your low gears. Someone said to me, it doesn't get easier but you get better at it. I just plug away at it, and go back to the same hills regularly. I see my progress that way.

I mostly climb sitting down. If my legs have already started to get tired/sore, then I simply can't stand up. If I try standing up before I'm hurting, it works better for me.

Good luck!

[DarcyInOregon]

A group leader on a ride I did last month told new cyclists to not stand while pedaling when attempting to get better at climbing, to do it when there is more experience under the belt and the climbing is more easy. He said sitting while climbing will build the leg muscles faster, thus increasing the power/body weight ratio. His advice to the new cyclists made sense to me, so I pass it on. I am not a new cyclist, but standing while pedaling isn't feasible for me, so I've really built up the leg muscles over the past few years to make up for the deficiency in not being able to do that pedaling technique. Sadly I am still working on lowering the body weight, so that I can continue to increase the power/body weight ratio.

[Bike Chick]

Relax! Smile! Breath! Spin! You can't climb efficiently when you have a death grip on the handlebars and are leaning forward. Try to keep your weight off your front wheel and more on the back. Breath easy and make yourself relax your arms, neck and shoulders. Don't sit in the saddle like you have a hanger in your jersey. The tension in your upper body takes power away from your legs. Just keep at it and you will get stronger.

I agree with Chicagogal in that it's half technique and half mental. I used to have anxiety attacks when I saw an upcoming hill but soon realized that it's never as bad once you get into it as it appeared when you were approaching it. I wouldn't look at the hill, just the road right in front of me so I wouldn't get overwhelmed at the task of climbing.

Remember there is a reward at the top---the downhill!

[BluOrchid2]

I wouldn't look at the hill, just the road right in front of me so I wouldn't get overwhelmed at the task of climbing.

That is exactly what I do, too. It really does help. I do it when jogging, too. Hills are even harder when I'm running.

[nikkoblu2]

Ditto. Besides all the real-biker-stuff like shifting & spinning, I think hills are 60% headgame. I count. I look at the ground in front of me and count to 20 - then I look up. Then I reassess if I need to shift again and start counting. After all this counting, shifting, and looking...I'm up the hill before I know it. It's just something to distract me from saying, "OMG...I'm dying getting up this hill". It works great for me!

[MomOnBike]

Agreed to all the above.

I've also heard that core work can help, it can't hurt in any case. If nothing else, it will help the mental struggle. "All those crunches are helping me up this hill. Yep, here I am at the top, and looking great!" It's worth a try.

[Becky]

Staying seated while climbing will keep your heart rate lower, which is a good thing, especially for longer climbs. Sit and spin...find a good rhythm.

The CWC is an awesome ride, and you'll have a blast! Bring a camera too....very pretty country.

[Catrin]

sit up straight, spin easily, relax your death grip, breath deep and sing "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 it's not " to the tune of frere Jacques.

Practice practice practice and don't worry about the speed as long as you are going fast enough not to fall over.

marni

But what about when you are going so slow that you start weaving? Perhaps this is just a problem for me because I am new and still developing, but I've noted that if my speed drops below 5.5 mph or so then I start the weaving thing. Then I start focusing on trying to keep a straight line - and if that gets too hard - OR if it is a twisty bendy road that traffic flies down I will walk to the top to keep from getting creamed.

On our Southern Tour ride a little over a week ago I did find myself starting to pick out landmarks on the way up the hill..like in "I can make it to that stick", or "I can make it to that tree", or crack, or whatever. It helped a lot and I made it to the top

[trista]

Staying seated while climbing will keep your heart rate lower, which is a good thing, especially for longer climbs. Sit and spin...find a good rhythm.

+1 for this advice.

[Crankin]

Catrin, you will find that as you get stronger, the weaving thing will occur at much lower speeds, or even go away. I can easily climb at 5.5 for a very long time, and that's just what I did in Spain (well, I estimate this, since I had no computer). I have seen my computer at 3.5 at certain points on really steep climbs, but that would be just for a little bit, to rest.
I do think its safer to walk, though, if you think cars are around and you are weaving. A couple of weeks ago I was coming home from a ride with a friend. We were in her neighborhood, just chatting and going very slowly. A younger woman ('20s?) passed us on the left, on an older bike with a standard double, at the beginning of a little hill. She looked a little proud of herself for passing us old ladies, and then I noticed she was completely on the wrong side of the road, weaving horrifically. I told my friend (a newer rider) to watch, and I accelerated up the hill, spinning, and passed the younger person. She was totally red in the face and stopped in the middle of the road. She either didn't know how to shift, or she should have walked.

[featuretile]

The most important thing I learned about hill climbing is: if you are going downhill and you see a steep hill coming up in front of you, don't slow down or stop pedaling. Get as much momentum as you can to glide half way up the hill and keep pedaling until you have to shift down. Then get into your lowest gear as quickly as possible and spin for the remainder of the hill. Don't wait until you have lost all momentum to shift down.

This doesn't work on really long hills when all momentum is gone. Then you need to find the sweet spot between leg muscles hurting (high gear - pushing) or breathing too hard (low gear fast spin). Then keep at it as long as you can.

If you start weaving, it is not a sin to walk your bike for a short while. If it even slightly levels out or the grade gets less intense, then get back on the bike.

Using these techniques, I have gradually improved my hill climbing. I can get up hills that I used to walk. And we have really big hills here. The small hills are easy now.