Climbing Club

[Trekhawk]

Im hoping some of you wonderful ladies here at TE will be able to help keep me motivated to ride hills this year. I dont particularly like hills and Im not very good at them but I do like the way I feel when I have managed to complete a hilly ride. As I was chugga lugging my way up a hill today I thought maybe we could start a climbing club here at TE.

My idea was that each month we could start a thread and state what our goals are for that month. The girls with altimeters could state an amount in feet or metres that they wish to have gained by the end of the month. The girls without altimeters could perhaps state how many times throughout the month they would like to complete a hilly route or a certain hill. This would not be a competition just a way to compete against yourself to see if you can complete your goal for the month. At the end of the month we come back and see what we managed. As we get fitter and better at those nasty old hills our goals will change that is why I thought a goal for each month would be good.

I know this would help to keep me motivated to choose those hilly routes rather than the flat ones when I ride on my own (yep Im a slacker).

What do you think?? Anyone interested??

[maillotpois]

Sure.

And you know SK will be in.

[GLC1968]

Sign me up!

Though I'm probably a 'cheater' as I have already set my first cycling goal this year to complete a mountain century in May. Riding tons of hills between now and then is a must for me anyway.

But I'd love to mooch off my fellow TE'ers for motivation!

[RoadRaven]

Oh yes... this is such I good idea Trek

I completely suck on hills in a race situation, and racing is what I train for at the moment

While I could get by and sometimes still get placed in the beginning grade in my club, now I have moved up I get dropped on every hilly course.

I have goals for times on specific local inclines I train on... and am trying to build in regular hill reps in each training week...

I'd have to post in kilometres or time spent on hills, or number of hilly courses as I dont have an altimetre (yet... *cue wistful look on face* ) but this is an absolutely cool idea

[Trekhawk]

LOL - looks like my evil plan to inflict pain is working.

RoadRaven it doesnt matter how you decide to record it as long as it makes sense to you.

Aahhh looks like I wont be avoiding those hills for much longer - Thanks girls.

[Veronica]

We need to plan a ride up Diablo for you Trekhawk. And up Tam... And up Hamilton... but that may be too far to drive.

V.

[Lenusik]

I love hills, so please keep me posted. I will have a very certain goal this year. After having a baby I need to get back in my riding shape very quickly. I love to climb but really want to climb faster. I really want to learn to descent without being afraid - that's my challenge. I would like to participate in one of our local tours in October (baby is due in March). This tour has 3-4 very nice long hills.

[Eden]

One of the goals I've set for my year is 5 min off of my time at the Mt. Baker Hillclimb. It's not until September, so it'll be a bit of a wait to see if I can make that goal, but if I remember or you remind me I'll let you know if I make it.

[Fredwina]

Or you could come down here and do Glendora Mountain Road or Onyx Summit....
I would be in.
You can use Routeslip.com or something like it to get gain figures in the US ( SK - Yes, i know apps like Routeslip overstate gain)

[cindysue]

Im hoping some of you wonderful ladies here at TE will be able to help keep me motivated to ride hills this year. I dont particularly like hills and Im not very good at them but I do like the way I feel when I have managed to complete a hilly ride. As I was chugga lugging my way up a hill today I thought maybe we could start a climbing club here at TE.

Hey Trek -

I know you have a long drive to get here, but I wanted to let you know that I'm planning on putting together a LUNA Chix Hills series sometime around April. Suggestions are welcome while details are being worked out - but you can expect to see Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tam, Mt. Ham, and Kings Mtn. on the list.....

This will be a progressive series working our way up to the steepest climb......

[Trekhawk]

Hey Trek -

I know you have a long drive to get here, but I wanted to let you know that I'm planning on putting together a LUNA Chix Hills series sometime around April. Suggestions are welcome while details are being worked out - but you can expect to see Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tam, Mt. Ham, and Kings Mtn. on the list.....

This will be a progressive series working our way up to the steepest climb......

Thanks Cindy - I would be interested even if I can only get to a few of the rides. April is pretty busy (well at least for my husband on babysitting duties) as Im registered for Party Pardee, BAB and SLOB Wildflower rides.
Could you post a link to the info when you have a plan and hopefully I will be able to get to a couple of them.

Thanks again for letting me know.

Leslie

[SadieKate]

I'm definitely going to join you in this climbing club. I just haven't figured out what my goals are for the year. The primary one is a certain nemesis hill in Colorado that skunked me 9 years ago, but I hadn't done any real hill training and . . . and . . . and . . .

I'm going after it this year. It better be whimpering and cowering when I get there.

[Trekhawk]

I'm definitely going to join you in this climbing club. I just haven't figured out what my goals are for the year. The primary one is a certain nemesis hill in Colorado that skunked me 9 years ago, but I hadn't done any real hill training and . . . and . . . and . . .

I'm going after it this year. It better be whimpering and cowering when I get there.

LOL - Im sure you will blitz it.....I think I can hear it cowering as we speak.

[cindysue]

Could you post a link to the info when you have a plan and hopefully I will be able to get to a couple of them. Leslie

sure thing!

[jobob]

The girls with altimeters could state an amount in feet or metres that they wish to have gained by the end of the month. The girls without altimeters could perhaps state how many times throughout the month they would like to complete a hilly route or a certain hill.

Actually, if you don't have an altimeter, Bikely does a reasonably good job of estimating the amount of climbing on a route.

Here's the elevation profile for a ride in Marin that I had mapped out on Bikely (the route itself is here ):

And here's the elevation profile from my bike computer when I rode that route:

Bikely estimated about 3200 ft of climbing and my computer registered about 3500 ft. - which is pretty good agreement, methinks.