Quote Originally Posted by Kimmyt
The problem is that there is a gigantic hill on it that I just can't for the life of me make it up. I'm talking I very nearly had a coronary at the top of it on Saturday (I really did almost puke and pass out from such high heart rate).
I would pick route A, but if that hill is too awful, then I would probably do a combination of both, aiming to eventually do only route A.

When you get to the throwing up point, its not so much your heart rate but the lactate in your muscles (which can be predicted by your heart rate). Lactate acts like a poison and is the thing that hurts and eventually makes your muscles unable to respond. You need easy activity, like spinning your legs slowly as you go down the other sideof the hill, to disperse it.

I would suggest you do the hill every 2-3 days, allowing time for your legs to recover until you can make it to the top without walking.

I would also recommend "never walking" as soon as possible. Some of the best advice I have ever received was "don't walk... stop, have a rest for a minute or two, but don't walk".
The first time I did this I felt so good. Yes, I stopped on the hill I usually walked part of, but I didn't walk. I rested, got back on and rode a bit more... til I got to the top... and the psychological effect of this was huge. I didn't walk the damned thing - I rode EVERY last centimetre of it!

And that would be the last bit of "advice" I offer you... the toughest part of climbing any hill is getting your attitude to it right. If you approach thinking you can't, you wont. But if you approach it thinking you can, or that you will at the very least go further than last time... you will.

Good luck with it Kimmy... hills are my weakness but with perserverance and getting my thinking right before I get to the hills, I am improving.