I will NOT hate hills!

[Kano]

Nasty start to our ride this morning -- I don't understand how the second half can be so much more fun! We thought we'd go out and practice climbing hills for a while. There's a ride next weekend that's supposed to be hilly. First few miles were very little hills, like giant bumps, you know? LONG bumps. You'd think, when you're fresh, this would be easy, yes?


Sidebar!
NO FAIR! Nadine next door just came home from a bike ride: new rack and road bike on the back of her car! She's been riding a loaner hybrid much like mine this season, and we've both been talking about the NEED for one of those things!

What a lucky lady!!!

Back to the ride...

Okay, so I'm chugging up those rotten bumps, in freakin' granny gear, at 4.5mph. This is bad even for me on the wee hills these days, and DH says, as we get to a tight spot, where some moron has parked his motorhome out in the middle of the road (pulled out of his driveway to do it) he has the NERVE to say to me (had a car behind us) "you don't have to slow down!" Which, you can imagine, had me wishing I knew how to make gravel spit up from between my tires and the road right into his face....

So, we keep plugging away, and I'm trying to figure out WHY I'm struggling, when just two days ago, I felt like I was flying up the hills (hmmm, only 75 degrees out, was over a hundred the other day) and I decide I'm just NOT a morning person, but I'd hang in there a while longer. We cruised past some guy's driveway, and I said to Earl, see that guy's driveway? I don't think I need any of THOSE kind of hills today! Kept on going, and eventually got to where we'd planned to start our "hill exercises" -- MUCH more traffic than anticipated for that early on a Saturday morning, and besides car traffic, the gravel mines are operating and trucks are barrelling around with their loads of gravel. Made it REALLY easy to change my mind about that hill, and made it easier for DH to accept that it was not a real good idea.

ON THE OTHER HAND, the whatever that was slowing me down was starting to work out of my body, and I was starting to feel much better riding. Still not moving quite "normally" but getting better... So, he says, what say we go on that road where I taught Orianne how to drive? (like I know what he's talking about?????) and led me in that direction. We stop at the top of a fabulous downhill, and he says, want to try that one? The down's immediately followed by an up. Gives me this lecture about use the granny gear, just do what you can, and don't you dare give me crap all week about how you hurt cuz you were too stubborn to quit when you should have and it's all his fault....

What FUN!!!! We sailed down the first hill, and I think I was almost half way up the new one before I noticed a need to downshift -- and shifted bunches after that.

Got to the top, though, and noticed I was breathing hard suddenly. Said to DH, I'm not sure, I think I forgot to breathe!

HOWEVER, "real" hills seem to be easier for me than the invisible hills and little bump hills.

Had one more "big" hill -- going back the way we came, had to do the pair in reverse, of course -- and I'm SURE I forgot to breathe on the way up the second one! (might have to get myself a note on my handlebar bag!)

Some GREAT speed coming back toward home, though -- heels down, knees in, breathe, and FLY! back toward town!

Any more hints besides remember to breathe that will help me to learn to ride up hills?

Maybe someday, I'll say I like hills, but for now, I promise not to hate them!

Now, got a question to put in another post...

Karen in Boise

[RoadRaven]

Kano... I read this and I wonder if you found the little bumps hard because you hadn't warmed up, and by the time you reached the big hills, not only were you "psyched" and ready for it, but your thighs were well and truly warmed up and ready for them.

I have heard (in fact it was a thread here in TE) that you should warm up one minute for every year of your age... I am 40, and I before I read that here, I was finding it took me 30-40 minutes to feel warmed up before a hilly training ride, or before a race.

[DirtDiva]

But will I get a little more patient with every year that goes by?

[RoadRaven]

Yup...
Patient... like a leopard waiting to pounce...
Def

[kelownagirl]

I second what Roadraven said about warming up. I have figured ouyt tha I need about 25-30 minutes minimum to warm up (don't like to do hills before then), and I can really start to fly after about an hour (I'm 46). Dh doesn't seem to need any time to warm up and likes to hammer right away so this week, he gave me a 3 minute head start and I did about 10 k on the flats alone before we hit the hills. He hammers on the flats and catches me at the 25 minute mark. Works really well for us.

I also find the non-existant hills hard - partly because I hardly notice them visually and I end up trying to keep my pace up to what I was doing previously.

Good luck with whatever you end up doing - practice does help...

[Shiraz]

Thanks Ladies!
I thought I was the only one who needs time to warm up. I am always feeling like I need 10 -15 miles before my legs come alive. We do a 27 mile route that starts right out on those rolling hills and I scream everytime. Someone said to jump in place to warm up your quads...have you ever heard that??

Kano,
I travel to Boise frequently to visit my daughter. My husband and I are always looking for places to ride besides up to lucky peak and back. Where do you recommend? It is nice to see another Idaho rider.

Anita

[Kano]

Warm up -- interesting -- I do pretty much always feel like the first three to five miles are the most challenging of any ride I go on. Once they're behind me, there's a good stretch of "I could go forever" before I get to the tired phase...

The other thing I was considering -- I am NOT a morning person, and we were on the road before I'm usually awake! I decided at one point that maybe I should wait an extra half hour or so to hit the road!

Shiraz --

Places to ride... We do a lot of the greenbelt too. It's a lovely ride! When we don't go there, most of our riding is out south of home -- we live south of the Edwards theater complex in Boise (you know it!) and there's a lot of roadway out there, between all the new subdivisions that have been going in, and if you keep on going, there's the birds of prey thing -- some nice riding out there too. Freshly chip-sealed even!

Karen in Boise

[Dogmama]

I'll be 52 next month. During my weekday rides - if I needed that much time to warm up - my ride would almost be over!

I only need 5-10 minutes to warm up. Don't know why - have always been that way. I think it might be habit. I've done my rides first thing in the morning for over ten years.

[Shiraz]

Dogmama you crack me up


Kano,
Thanks for the riding tips. What organized rides do you participate in? I would love to find some rides in Boise.

[Kano]

Kano,
Thanks for the riding tips. What organized rides do you participate in? I would love to find some rides in Boise.

Shiraz -- we're not too organized, just get on our bikes and go, but there is a NEAT group in the area -- http://www.spinidaho.org -- will take you there. No fees, join in when you're in town, that sort of thing. I've been on one ride with them, was out of town for the next, and now they're doing this hilly one next weekend that I'm not sure I'm ready for. Told DH we should drive the route and see just how evil it is. Hmm, maybe I can talk him into it tonight, with the thought that we could practice on it tomorrow?

We're also thinking about the "Blue Cruise" in August. Again, http://www.bcidahofoundation.org/Eve...bluecruise.asp will take you there!

Still pretty new to riding, but, you know, these event things, they make good motivators!

Karen in Boise

[yellow]

Hey you Whydaho Girls, don't forget about Tater! She knows about all the rides thereabouts. She was the only Whydahoan for a while. Glad to see she has company.

Re the hills, YOU ARE THE MASTER! YOU ARE IN CONTROL! As the friend that got me into riding used to say "Attack, attack, attack!". It'll get easier. So much of it is a mental game. And yes, I think often that the hills that look like hills ARE easier, because our brains have registered that fact. The hills aren't going away, so we might as well wrest control.

Today on my ride I chose to focus about 3' ahead of my wheel while climbing, rather than look at the looooong stretch of hill up ahead. Mostly because I was doing some big mileage and wanted to focus on that, not the hills and mountains. And sometimes I try to trick my brain into thinking that the uphill is really downhill. Doesn't usually work,though!

Nothin' wrong with granny gear. That's why it's there!

[Kano]

Re the hills, YOU ARE THE MASTER! YOU ARE IN CONTROL! As the friend that got me into riding used to say "Attack, attack, attack!". It'll get easier. So much of it is a mental game. And yes, I think often that the hills that look like hills ARE easier, because our brains have registered that fact. The hills aren't going away, so we might as well wrest control.

Today on my ride I chose to focus about 3' ahead of my wheel while climbing, rather than look at the looooong stretch of hill up ahead. Mostly because I was doing some big mileage and wanted to focus on that, not the hills and mountains. And sometimes I try to trick my brain into thinking that the uphill is really downhill. Doesn't usually work,though!

Nothin' wrong with granny gear. That's why it's there!

It's not that I've got anything against granny gear, Yellow, I just want to be on a HILL when I'm using it, not one of those invisible hills! THOSE are the ones I need to master!


(and then there was DH, making brilliant remarks....)

Karen in Boise

[Shiraz]

Thanks for the websites Kano. I added them to my favorites. We want to help our daughter get a bike and get hooked up with other riders for support. I'll keep a watch out for rides here and close by for you also. A group of noncompetitive riders are forming organized rides out of Pocatello several days a week. I have joined up with them several times and it really is fun. My husband has joined us once and am hoping to again. Same idea "no one gets left behind". Very supportive.

I promise even the "invisible hills" will get better. I have pledged to get serious about weight lifting this winter. One of my girlfriends who storms up the hills has told me that the weight lifting makes all the difference.

I will have to send a note to Tater! How fun!

[Kano]

WHen we got up this morning, and discussed a ride, DH asked where we should ride. I said I wanted to try yesterday's again. I suggested taking the long way to the main road instead of going right into the wee hills, and that made a huge difference. When we got to yesterday's turn around, we went on, UP instead of coming back, with a couple of stops for air in our lungs, (in case anyone's wondering about the exercise asthma -- no, I recover pretty quickly when I quit abusing myself!). DH said, at the second rest stop that we should go to where the dirt road comes onto this one, at the top and rest, but amazingly, as soon as I got to the top, I was like TOTALLY fresh and ready to keep going! Cheering for myself as I rounded the curve where that stop should have been, and cruising on down the road, I was amazed at how good I felt! The hill put us in position to continue on a GREAT loop that combined yesterday's ride and one we did a couple of weeks ago (about 27 miles all together!) Some GREAT downhill runs, but DH said I wasn't to go over 20mph on them (the meanie!). The first one, we had another up at the bottom, and yes, I cheated -- got up to 24.5 before we started back up and I went back down to about five... The second one, we had to turn off onto another road partway down, so indeed I kept the speed in check. I whined profusely about keeping my speed down, because HE gets to go fast, and he said "it would be worse if you fell and got hurt..."

So, yeah, I decided not to scare him too badly after all!

At the top of one hill, we saw a sign: Wild Horse Corrals ->

Thought about following the arrow, to see if we could see any wild horses stuck inside the fences, but there was another sign on the road too, that gave us pause....

Hills were ALL much better today -- thanks for everyone's advice!

And, oh, yeah, I visited with my neighbor about her new bike this afternoon -- she's so excited! Says it made a HUGE difference changing over from the hybrid she'd been riding! Came back inside, DH said I must quit chatting with Nadine about the bikes! (his mantra: you WILL learn to like mountain biking....)

Karen in Boise, who doesn't much like shifty sand and ruts and holes in her road!

[Shiraz]

Glad to hear you had a great ride!!