Ok - so let's talk about clipping out going up hill

[DarcyInOregon]

Remember that it isn't the hill that one fears, but the steepness of the road. Every one of us has a grade that is too steep for us, that we can go up to a certain max grade for a specific max distance, and anything above that combination is too much and we can't bike the climb.

It helps if I can see the top of the climb. However a lot of climbs are miles long with curves in the road, and if I can't see ahead that the grade might be getting less steep, I will struggle. I know how steep I can get and for what distance, and so long as I am under those two numbers I will continue, but as I said, if the grade goes over 18% and I can't see the top of the climb, I will look for a place to turn into on the right, unclip, recover and walk if it is necessary.

If it is a planned ride, group or event, and I know there is a category 2 climb on the route I will drive the climb first to see where I can stop to recover. I've done enough climbing so that I know I am ok with biking categories 5, 4 and 3. Last month I did my first category 2 climb, which was 5.5 miles of climbing with grades of 9-13%, lesser grades were at 6%, and I really struggled. I now know that at this point in my life that a category 3 is my limit, that I can do a category 2 if necessary, and a category 1 is most likely impossible for me and I have no desire to even attempt a category 1. The descent on that category 2 I biked last month was just terrible, hated it more than the climbing. Earlier, male cyclists didn't make a curve on the steep 8-mile descent, crashed horrifically, and were transported out by life helicopter. As it was, one little pebble spun out from my tire with great velocity, hit my upper left thigh, and left me with a huge nasty bruise, just one little pebble did all of that damage. It made me think that I really have no desire to do a category 2 climb again if on the other side is an 8-mile steep descent that can potentially cause me injury or death. I will leave it to the alpha males.

I did drive the category 2 climb and descent first, saw where I could stop to recover and get started on the bike again. I used side roads and gravel drives to make my stops.

Hills where you can see the top are different because the distance is less, typically under one mile. Also, how steep of a grade a cyclist can climb will be unique to each cyclist because everyone has a different power/weight ratio, which means I will stop around 18-20%, others might stop at 11%, and real good climbers don't have a limit at lower altitides, but may suffer at higher altitudes.

[TrekTheKaty]

This only happened to me once. It was a monster and by the time I realized I wouldn't be able to clip out, it was too late. The fear of falling got me over to top. Relax (drop shoulders), breath (seriously), pedal. Repeat.

Just get out there and do it. My fear used to be riding on the road and being hit from behind. I learned: 1) that's not the most common accident 2) take the lane instead of hugging the curb 3) Longer distances would only be possible if I took to the road

[OakLeaf]

Well said, Darcy.

Only two things you didn't mention -

(1) Gearing. The same person with the same legs might be able to climb a hill with their 30x27 that they wouldn't be able to with the 42x21 low gear on the race bike they used to ride 25 years ago. Not anyone I know of course. (Last week I spent a couple of hours shooting the sh*t with someone I used to ride with back in the day. I felt sooooooo much better when he broached the topic of the hills he couldn't climb with the gears we both used to run.... )

(2) You can pull off on the descents, too. Unclip, let your rims cool off and your adrenaline settle down, go back out.

It's all good.