Trouble with steep hills

[marni]

remember, whether you ride or walk up the hill, the top will still be there when you get there. Hang in there and remember the value of practice and repetition.

[f/64]

Short way to say it -
Find a hill that's pretty easy to climb & just keep riding it daily. Once you start getting used to it & can climb up easily, start attacking from bottom to top w/ a larger gear & time yourself every time. Know your limit !

What helps -
hands on top of the bars
relax upper body, too much movement can tire you out
which method helped me (just got used to it after) = keep your heels down while pedaling
& the biggest one, stay seated

Goodluck !

[FunSize]

What helps -
hands on top of the bars
relax upper body, too much movement can tire you out
which method helped me (just got used to it after) = keep your heels down while pedaling
& the biggest one, stay seated

+1!

Then...
I remembered another kind of imporrtant mind thing. It never hurts any less, you just get faster. But what's good to know is that your body will keep going if you tell it to. For me its my mind that makes me stop. Kind of along with that is that you shouldn't ride outside of yourself. Its tempting to just rush up the hills but you won't be able to maintain it and it'll make the rest of your ride hard, too.

Today, I went on my usual loop. 3 steep but short hills. Still hurts, my legs were on fire, but I finished them faster than I usually do!

[ny biker]

+1!

Then...
I remembered another kind of imporrtant mind thing. It never hurts any less, you just get faster. But what's good to know is that your body will keep going if you tell it to. For me its my mind that makes me stop. Kind of along with that is that you shouldn't ride outside of yourself. Its tempting to just rush up the hills but you won't be able to maintain it and it'll make the rest of your ride hard, too.

Today, I went on my usual loop. 3 steep but short hills. Still hurts, my legs were on fire, but I finished them faster than I usually do!

Actually for me it does hurt less, but I don't go much faster. Which is fine with me.

[ivorygorgon]

I totally agree with what the other ladies here have said, but I also want to add that it just takes time. You have to build your fitness. Even if you are fit, when you start riding you have to build your BIKE fitness. Just keep riding. It will get easier. Hills are always a bugger. It kinda cracks me up when people say, "just pick a gear where you can spin up." Well, that gear doesn't exist for me. Hills are simply tough and it takes time to build the bike fitness to just spin up them.

I got my MTB about 2 years ago and my road bike one year ago. DH and I do lots of hills and I have ridden a century. We just did one of our usual routes the other day, and for the first time I noticed I could go faster on one of the the hills.

You just need to be patient with yourself, not beat yourself up, and keep working on it.

[Crankin]

I think we scared the OP away.

[TxDoc]

the top will still be there when you get there

+ 1