Need advice for surviving hills

[leighko]

I don't know if it is the mid-summer heat and humidity here in Kentucky, but the last couple of rides have nearly killed me on the hills. I have been getting really red in the face, huffing and puffing, and trying not to quit. I succombed today on three separate occasions and got off my bike to regain my composure. Do any of you experienced gals have any training tips or ideas on how I can improve? A pack of kids on BMX bikes passed me going the other direction and said, "Are you with the group of riders cuz they're waiting at the top for you?" I thought I was well hydrated, but only ate a protein bar for breakfast. Any help would be mucho appreciated!!

[light_sabe_r]

LOW GEARS!

lol I was in 2:1 this morning going up a hill, and switched to 1:1 eventually and the difference was amazing! I even switched so I was doing 1:4 because I thought I was "spinning" too much.

Eat a GOOD breakfast before starting. I had 2 weet bix and three strawberries and Soy milk. And I learnt this the hard way. WARM UP!!! I got on my first big hill and nearly keeled over. after riding for 5 more minutes we came to the next big hill and was OKAY.

Kids are kids. Stuff em. Go at your own pace. The great thing about riding in a group is that they WILL wait for you up hills. It's a RIDING code of conduct so to speak. ^_^

Training wise... I've been timing myself up a certain steep hill. Marking where I STOP peddling with some chalk on the pavement and the time it took me to get there. and Then I go and try and BEAT it until I'm absolutley WRECKED. Then try it again the next day.

[makbike]

Leighko, I would say part of is the heat and humidity in our region. I rode in a century today that started in Campbellsville and the heat was a killer. By the end of the ride today everytime I saw a hill approaching I cringed, said a prayer and had a long talk with my legs.

How much riding are you doing each week? I found last year that if I simply increased my milage by 10% each week great things started to materialize about two months into my riding season.

Also, as lightsaber mentions, utilize your gears to the fullest. I found it really helped to calculate my gear inches and to make a chart which I attached to my top tube. Since I'm not a numbers person having the numbers in front of me has made a big difference and has allowed me to utilize my gears to my advantage.

Eating a good meal before, hydrating yourself before you begin and keeping the fluids moving during a ride make a world of difference.

Do you participate in the Louisville Bike Club rides? They offer a variety of rides and club members are great about offering words of encouragment. If you don't participate in the club's rides but would like to let me know.

Finally, it is nice to see someone in this area post a note.

makbike (Marcie)

[Kathi]

Do you have exercise induced asthma? I ask because I struggled more on hills in hot, humid weather when I lived in Cincinnati. I thought I was trying too hard to keep up with the group or was just slow to warm up.

I was diagnosed with EIA and now use my inhaler 20 minutes before I ride, it really helps.

[tsali911]

I don't mean to hijack the thread here, but I'm so excitedt to see some riders from this area! I have been looking for some other women to ride with. I would like to do the LBC ride tomorrow at Tom Sawyer. Are any of you going to be there?

Oh, and by the way, it is partly the humidity and heat to blame. DH came home Sunday and was suffering from a little heat exhaustion. It is tough this time of year, then come the downhills to help you make it to the next hill. Definitely hydrate and don't push to hard in the heat of the day.

[makbike]

tsali911:

I may drive in for the ride. I'll probably only ride the 15 mile route given the tough 90 miles I rode today. Look for a blue Univega (old bike, shifters on the down tube). If you spy this bike you'll know I had the energy to drive in and ride.

Marcie

[leighko]

Thanks for all the responses! The ride today was the LBC 20 miler which was supposed to be a #1, but the hills in the park and through Mockingbird Valley made it more of a #2-3. I don't believe I have exercise induced asthma....KY allergies though. My beautiful Felt f80 is only a couple of months old and I love it! I am still a newbie to the sport so I am still getting used to the gears....BUT I have discovered how freakin' competitive I must be because I try really hard to keep up. I will up the mileage and add a few hills for practice. Thanks again, yall!

[Geonz]

How's your technique? As well as using the gears, are you making sure you're using as much of the full circle of the pedal stroke to move you forward, or are you giving in to the temptation to push dowh, push down? Even if you don't have clipless pedals, you can get a lot more power (and it's smoother, and uses more and different muscles, and just looks better :-)) with rounder strokes. It uses a little more energy for me but it helped me immensely.

However, when I was in KY for the Horsey Hundred, I was loathing the hills sunday and re-thinking taking that bike on my long tour - until I remembered that I loathe most things when it's hot, which it was (90's). I was hydrated, well fed... but this engine was made for cool conditions.

Oh, and on July 1, *all* club rides I've ever heard of kick up a level and a half.

[Cyclesome]

I too had difficulty with hills this weekend. Four of us rode in the Mount Davis Half Century, only one made it up all the steep hills. I had to stop and push part of the way, and then hop on my bike to continue for a bit. I should say Mount Davis is the our highest mountain, but I found my legs were fine, I was just totally out of breath on this hill as well as two other steep ones. I was told I need to learn how to breath and practice breathing going down hills so I could continue the breathing strategy up hills. I am a beginning using a Cannondale Hybrid for the ride. I used ever gear 1:1 and was looking for more going up Mount Davis. A male cyclist told me at dinner, if I had had a rode bike for the event, it would have been easier.

[Duck on Wheels]

Ah yes, breathing. Sometimes when I give up pedalling a hill, I discover as I get off the bike that I was pretty much holding my breath. Once when I ran a relay race with gals from work I was assigned to the climbing lap (crazy assignment choice for me!). Luckily our hill lap guy from the men's team jogged back down and ran up alongside me reminding me to "Breathe OUT!, breathe OUT!, in will take care of itself!" That helped. Breathe out hard using your stomach muscles to really squeeze out the last drops (if air comes in drops), then relax and an enormous lungfull will rush in on its own.

Another thing that matters for me is not thinking about how tired I am and how easy it is to walk, but reminding myself for each pedalstroke that I'm still doing fine, still moving forward, still breathing, still rolling, still going fast enough for balance (if only barely ). Thinking about form is also a good distraction from hill pain -- back straight, neck straight, work full circles, think of a horizontal line through the circles and work each crossing of the line, relax the shoulders (releases a lot of otherwise wasted energy!), hips back (gives more power to the pedal strokes, I'm told) ... And then maybe already the next hill I'll lose all that focus, concentrate on the pain, and give up, walking the rest of the hill. But if so I tell myself I'm still moving on my own power, so it still counts. Occasionally I really need to get off and walk because my heart rate goes higher than I feel good about, but then too I keep walking. The hr goes down more slowly than if I stood still for a bit, but I don't get cold or stiff and I'm not good at starting up again on a hill anyway.

[summer]

Hiya
I'm not a natural climber, and my husband is, so I've had to look for every trick in the book to get up our Scottish mountains. I have the opposite problem, in that my legs give out before my lungs, but here's a few tips that have helped me...
- count your breaths. It helps to make you think about it, breathe more deeply, and if you think, 'I'll see where I get to after 25 breaths' you'll forget about your legs and concentrate on your lungs. It helps me anyway.
-use all your gears; that is what they're there for. Otherwise, they're just extra weight
-Alternate standing and sitting on a road bike, but the key is to change before you're shattered. It helps to change the muscle groups you're using, and to stop you crouching over the handlebars as you get tired. Standing for a few strokes really open out your lungs and strecthes your muscles.
- When it's a long hard drag and I'm really suffering, I think about a bigger push with every third pedal stroke. So its, LEFT, right left, RIGHT left right, and so on, if that makes sense. It just lets the lactic out a bit, and also gives you something else to think about.
- most important, eat enough. I found out on my first really long ride that one granola bar does not get you 100 miles. Eat before, eat early in your ride (before you get hungry), and keep eating. If you can't stomach it, a carbo drink will do, but get stuff you mix yourself so you can up the concentration if you need to.
happy hills!

[Dogmama]

I ride with 3 water bottles - two = ice water & one has a mix of cytomax & a splash of whey protein powder. Before the hill, I'll take a couple of swigs from the cytomax bottle and I swear it makes hills easier.

Approach the hill at a fast pace so that momentum helps carry you up. As pedaling gets harder, shift to easier gears. NEVER wait until you're mashing the gear, it just uses up muscle energy.

If you must stand, make sure that you have an easier gear to switch to when you sit. You'll need it because seated pedaling is harder than pushing down with your body weight.

As somebody else said, push your butt to the back of your saddle and pedal using those strong gluteal muscles. If you're in clips, pull back with the alternate leg - pedaling in a circle.

Don't blast up the hills fercryinoutloud! Just take it easy, especially in the heat & humidity. Practice your technique because it will pay dividends. You are developing muscle memory.

Oh - and the kids on the BMX bikes? Know that someday they'll be middle aged men, struggling up a hill & some cute young thing will pass them like they're standing still.

Here is something I believe - don't get off & walk. If you have to go at 3mph, as long as you're upright, you're moving. I never want to teach my mind that it is OK to quit. That's just me & I'm sure it doesn't apply to everybody.

[Jen Jen]

You're talking about the heat and humidity killing you... Not to overstate the obvious, but can you ride earlier? Until you get a little stronger, ride in the cooler morning air.

I'd say most of all, keep at it! Those hard hills will get easier the more you ride. Make sure you're downshifting. If it's too hard, do an easier gear. I always find spinning at a high cadence (90-100, I have a cadence computer) on an easy gear makes life easier.

How long of rides are you going for? If they're over an hour, you'd probably do well to use sports drinks, gels, or snacks to keep your energy stores filled to give you the strength you need to get through it.

[alpinerabbit]

What was the ozone concentration in the air? is there traffic where you ride? High ozone levels can zilch your performance and hurt your lungs, especially if you are prone to exercise induced asthma.