hill repeats?

[RoadRaven]

LOL Sadie, I cuss too... about 1km from my gate is a very steep hill... its great leaving cause its downhill... but returning home is always tough - its only about 500metres long but its 11%gradient!!! Yup, I def cuss too...

[latelatebloomer]

What a good thread for me to read this morning. It is time for me to get some hill smarts. I had to stop mid-way on the first hill on our club ride last night, and it completely deflated my attitude for a while. The good part of the ride was that a large and powerful mtb biker rode with me and coached me before the hills. One problem was that the ride leader had previously told us to avoid the granny gear. The mtnbiker said, you paid for it, use it for now.

So it's hill repeats for me so I can stay on my bike! I'm also finding that I need to get to the club ride early and do some warm-up riding. Hitting that first hill before my lungs and muscles are opened up is the other killer.

For a moment there, last night, I saw some people walking in a park and thought, "walking! What a great sport!"

[maillotpois]

There is this stupid little hill on one of our routes. I hated it as a newbie and I've always wondered why it is such an annoyance. It is in full sun but it is short. Had my new computer on yesterday (Cliclo 434) and discovered that the hill just gets steeper and steeper, topping out at 9%. Now, I don't feel so bad about the cuss words I used to yell at it.

Were they monosyllabic cuss words? Usually as the hill gets steeper that's what I'm reduced to.

So your new computer was in and is working?? Like it?? Sometimes I don't want to know what the % is. Sometimes it is good.

[maillotpois]

What a good thread for me to read this morning. It is time for me to get some hill smarts. I had to stop mid-way on the first hill on our club ride last night, and it completely deflated my attitude for a while. The good part of the ride was that a large and powerful mtb biker rode with me and coached me before the hills. One problem was that the ride leader had previously told us to avoid the granny gear. The mtnbiker said, you paid for it, use it for now.

So it's hill repeats for me so I can stay on my bike! I'm also finding that I need to get to the club ride early and do some warm-up riding. Hitting that first hill before my lungs and muscles are opened up is the other killer.

For a moment there, last night, I saw some people walking in a park and thought, "walking! What a great sport!"

OMG - the club leader told you to avoid the granny gear??? That's insane! That's what its there for - to spare your knees and make it possible for you to ride up a hill without stopping. Sure, as you get stronger you'll probably use it less. But why not use it now and get yourself some confidence that you can get up the hills. What kind of a club leader dictates what gear you can use??

Reminds me of my daughter. She was so mad Sunday that she had to stop in the steep part of a hill. She wanted to be able to ride the whole way up and was just furious thatshe couldn't. She finally got over it and eased up on herself a bit. I know she'll be able to ride the whole way without stopping soon - and you will too.

[SadieKate]

What a good thread for me to read this morning. It is time for me to get some hill smarts. I had to stop mid-way on the first hill on our club ride last night, and it completely deflated my attitude for a while. The good part of the ride was that a large and powerful mtb biker rode with me and coached me before the hills. One problem was that the ride leader had previously told us to avoid the granny gear. The mtnbiker said, you paid for it, use it for now.

There are times mtnbiking that staying in the middle gear maintains momentum and gives you the traction necessary for short steep or technical stuff; a granny makes you spin too fast and you loose the critical speed.

HOWEVER, you must have the power to use that gear and knees that won't be damaged by it. An ex-pro mtb racer friend of mine who coached on the side, said "They wouldn't have invented gears if they weren't meant to be used." Try to do what the more skilled riders do and you'll clean some stuff you wouldn't have on your own, but take care of your knees first.

[SadieKate]

So your new computer was in and is working?? Like it?? Sometimes I don't want to know what the % is. Sometimes it is good.

Yep, it is working. Had to drill out the magnet hole for a bladed spoke but let Joe do that as I wasn't sure if the computer was even working. I've had such bad computer kharma. It was actually kind of fun to see the numbers as I rode on the hills. I like the validation of my pain.

I try to keep the cuss words under my breath and I'm usually succesful on inanimate hills. Other times with animate objects . . .

[jobob]

A pox on that ride leader !!

I get up tons of hills in my (great)granny gear that I otherwise could not manage. Sure, I'm probably slower than I would be if I didn't use it - on some hills I'm sure I could walk the darn things faster - but so what?

It's such a huge confidence builder to be able to get up the hill in the first place.

I get so irritated sometimes with this "real cyclists don't use a granny gear" mentality.

I'm just a mere mortal who wants to save her knees and ride 'til she's 90.

[RoadRaven]

Triple chain rings (ie, granny gears) are meant to save knees/enable climbing to happen up hills...

However, you will never go up a hill fast in a granny gear.

Part of my training includes hill repeats, going up in a gear I can just get on top of without standing. This is to increase my anaerobic fitness.

I stop as soon as I think I might possibly be feeling a hint of maybe a twinge in either knee.

Perhaps this is what the club leader was talking about. If he believes your goal is to be able to climb hills, not just get up them (in racing terms), then I completely understand why he said not to use granny gears (and this is why I refuse to have a triple chain ring on my bike).

But you know your legs and your goals. If you want to climb hills fast, you either have to learn to spin in your triple as fast as you can in a the small chain ring... or, you could try what I am doing which is the hill repeats, slowly trying to push a bigger gear - but remaining constantly aware of what your knees are telling you. it will take time - you muscles have to grow and strengthen to support the demands, but slowly and surely it will work.

Good luck, and remember, although it is useful to hear advice (like club leader) always try and get a second opinion (like helpful mtn biker) and always always listen to your body and take your main cues from it.

Good luck

[latelatebloomer]

Thanks for the salve to my wounded dignity, everyone!

For now, I think I should use the third ring to get up the hill on the BIKE when the only option I have left is my FEET. But I am going to do hill repeats on my solo rides and get better. I am, I am, I am.

The ride leader is not a bad man at all- but he's been riding for probably 40+ years and is a very powerful rider. I think it's great that he does all these rides for rank beginners, his other advice has been sound - and he's been very supportive of my effort. But sometimes what's really needed is advice from those with similar body mechanics. There are other other newbies on the club rides, but they are much lighter and, though I don't think about it much, much younger, too.

It is kind of a yin-yang thing - simultaneously being the weakest rider and at my personal best at the same time.

[li10up]

Triple chain rings (ie, granny gears) are meant to save knees/enable climbing to happen up hills...

However, you will never go up a hill fast in a granny gear.

Part of my training includes hill repeats, going up in a gear I can just get on top of without standing. This is to increase my anaerobic fitness.

I stop as soon as I think I might possibly be feeling a hint of maybe a twinge in either knee.

Perhaps this is what the club leader was talking about. If he believes your goal is to be able to climb hills, not just get up them (in racing terms), then I completely understand why he said not to use granny gears (and this is why I refuse to have a triple chain ring on my bike).

But you know your legs and your goals. If you want to climb hills fast, you either have to learn to spin in your triple as fast as you can in a the small chain ring... or, you could try what I am doing which is the hill repeats, slowly trying to push a bigger gear - but remaining constantly aware of what your knees are telling you. it will take time - you muscles have to grow and strengthen to support the demands, but slowly and surely it will work.

Good luck, and remember, although it is useful to hear advice (like club leader) always try and get a second opinion (like helpful mtn biker) and always always listen to your body and take your main cues from it.

Good luck

This was very well written and very informative. I have a couple of questions though...when you said you stop when you feel a twinge in a knee I'm assuming that you just shift into an easier gear? Or do you mean you just stop doing hill repeats? I'm sure you don't mean to stop altogether. Also, how many times should you repeat a hill? Should I do the first one in as hard a gear as I can without hurting myself and then on subsequent ones use one gear lower (easier)? Or should I use one gear that I can climb the hill with several times? Sorry, but to newbies these things aren't obvious. Thanks.

[Geonz]

The naturally strong riders are like those brilliant math professors... they have no idea that things might just be different for people starting out; they don't remember where they came from (if they even ever really were there). So those math profs will shortcut through explanations just like you're supposed to shortcut through ever using your granny gear. It's no shame to be beginning as long as you are moving forward!

[RoadRaven]

This was very well written and very informative. I have a couple of questions though...when you said you stop when you feel a twinge in a knee I'm assuming that you just shift into an easier gear? Or do you mean you just stop doing hill repeats? I'm sure you don't mean to stop altogether. Also, how many times should you repeat a hill? Should I do the first one in as hard a gear as I can without hurting myself and then on subsequent ones use one gear lower (easier)? Or should I use one gear that I can climb the hill with several times? Sorry, but to newbies these things aren't obvious. Thanks.

Thanks, I was just writing how I find it all...

I stop pushing big gears when I feel a twinge - my knees are over 40 years old, so I wanna look after them. I still have to ride home though, so I just ride easy.

So I stop the repeats. I usually only get knee pain when I have had a big week, so sometimes I do all my repeats, other times I stop short.

I don't know heaps about hill climbing, but what I do is I just started doing repeats and aimed to do one section of hill 2-3 times. When I found that was ok, I upped my number for next time.

Initially I just aimed to get up the hill even in a lower gear than I first started in. However, as I get stronger, I try to avoid changing down. My goal is races, so I need to be able to get to the top of a hill in a gear that I can dig straight into at the top so I don't get dropped... or that I can start powering into to open up the distance so that when anyone behind me crests the hilll will feel gutted by the distance between us and will settle to come in behind me.

Thats the plan anyway.

Racing is partly about power, but very much about strategy and one of those strategies is trying to make the other riders give up.

[li10up]

I lead a beginner ride on Saturday mornings. After the storms Fri. night only one other rider showed up Sat. morning. He is in his late 50s early 60s and fairly overweight (even more than me ). Since it was the two of us I asked if he was up for riding some hills. To my surprise he was! So we rode to the bottom of this monster hill (to me it's a monster anyhow). It's actually a stepped hill - about 3 hills in one. So, I tell him to ride at his pace and that I'll come back to him. So I ride to the first crest and then back to him and up again. Then to the top of the 2nd crest and back to him and then the 3rd crest and back to him. We then ride a flat stretch for a couple of miles, turn around, ride back down the hills and back up. It was 26 miles in all but took nearly 2.5 hrs. I was pretty please with myself but I was really proud of Bob. He never quit and actually enjoyed the ride. I think it really helped that he could go at his own pace and not feel like he needed to keep up. That was one of the most enjoyable rides I have been on! I actually felt pretty strong. I liked it so much I did it again on Sun. by myself. It was tougher the next day...but I did the same ride in 2 hrs. Not exactly hill repeats, but kinda, sorta like 'em.