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Tips for climbing
I'm looking for some tips on climbing hills. Im riding Cascades 4 gates at the moment to build fitness. I find on the Quarry track hill that I'm changing down the the lowest gear at about 1/2 way. I tend to stay in the saddle the entire way up the climb; trying to spin harder at the erosion bumps. I just dont have the leg strength to keep it up though. I have tried standing up but tend to get the back wheel spinning under load.
I'm riding a 2010 Giant Trance X2 and the lockout does help.
Any tips?
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Are you saying you can't get up because you lose traction or do you run out of legs eg, burn like hell and you can't push any more.
1. Point bicycle UP hill (this is very important for climbing)
2. Pedal
I hope this helps!
Seriously, do you mean lock out on fork or pro-pedal on rear shock? They say when you stand up your heart rate jumps, mine does. I find I will stand up on the last little section of a hill (near the crest) if I know there is a break at the top. I run a single ring up front, but to explain things.. i'd be in granny for the sit down bit (if there is good traction) and middle for the standing up bit. If I'm going to stand up, well it's nice to lock stuff out for that if you be bothered, more so if it's smoother/good traction.
With my single front ring I like to jump about 2-3 rings smaller (9 speed) on the back when I get out of the saddle for a climb.
It's its a long long continuing climb, well I'd just stay seated as once you get up, that heart rate won't be coming back down till you get a rest in.
If a hill is really massive and I feel tired, conservative, I might zig-zag a bit to and concentrate on my breathing (long deep slow breaths) to get the heart rate back down.
At the top of the hill my legs are gone so standing isn't an option. The gradient isn't as steep nor the bumps as large so not as much need anyway.
At the bottom of the hill though I've got the legs to either spin or stand. Should I work on getting out of the saddle and technique required not to spin the back wheel; or should I just focus on strength and endurance so I can spin hard the entire way up?
The short steep hill at Manly Dam is another good example; spin hard or stand and slog it out.
I have ended up on my arse, facing back down the hill when I first got back on the bike. First time riding clipless, got the front wheel up, and over I went. So not as silly as it sounds.
Re the comments; lockout on front and pro pedel on rear. Love that it kills the bobbing.
I guess while I know I have work to do on leg strength and endurance I figure there no better time to work on technique than when I'm not feeling strong. That way when the strength comes the technique will just add to ability to climb quickly.
Heart break hill manly.
I think about it coming up. Try to get the heart rate down before the left-hander into the start. Pick a gear, sit and spin up. I'll stand up just before I crest some of those water bars, and will sit just after I crest it. As I come down to sit I pump/thust the bike forward to get a bit more out of the water bar. I'll pump the water bar and ride it horizontally (turning left or right for a couple of meters), and use those 2-3 seconds as a rest. If the heart rate is shooting up too much, I'll zig zag a bit too as I spin up. You can see a common line that people take, (almost straight up) but the whole thing is mostly so smooth you can pick your own line. I use a heart rate monitor that is set conservatively for me. My goal is to try and clear stuff without it going off. The fitter I get the less it goes off. Ive cleaned it last few times with it going off for a couple seconds and then I get my heart rate down very quickly by breathing and technique.
Sounds like your spinning like mad. That might be better for overall fitness, but it's not my riding style. I cruise and stuff around, I'm not training for any particular event or anything, but I'm getting fitter and fitter just from enjoying all the riding.
Getting your body weight down low, seat high, leaning shoulders right down helps me on climbs. Moving forward on the seat, holding the bars as wide as I can. Flats, so I will shift foot position closer to toes for climbs. I'm so focused on my heart rate, I don't notice my legs being sore. Heat (head and torso) gets me before leg pain on that hill at Manly.
I don't monitor cadence. Should we be aiming for something like 80-85 cadence on a hill like that?
And nice bike!
I've found since I've switched to a 1 x 9 setup, which forces a higher gear (my lowest is 36f-32r), that my climbing is a lot better. The higher gears means you break traction less and also means the hill is over sooner. Up the Cascades quarry and Manly Dam HH I'm seated for most of the time but may stand to crest the water bars. If you use a gear or two higher and keep an even stroke, not stamping down, it helps with traction and then just slide back and forth on the saddle to find the balance between slipping and the front steering wandering.
At the Jet Black 24 on the weekend there was a pinch on the climb that had a bit of a bite to it. I passed a lot of people over the race who were spinning furiously but going quite slowly which strikes me as inefficient. My teammate was on a single-speed running 2:1 gearing so he had to power up that hill even faster which was making up a lot of time for him (he got slaughtered on the flat roads mind you but still managed 23 min laps)
Higher cadence will get you up easier & to maintain a high cadence you need good cardio fitness, coupled with technique & correct gear choice.
Obviously strong leg muscles will help but i think improving your cardio fitness will be very beneficial.
I find hills i cannot get up is because i'm out of puff/high heart rate as opposed to legs giving up.
The muscles need oxygen so breathe slow rather than panting as such, easier said than done though.
Inhale through your nose & exhale through your mouth.
This will slow down your heart rate , therefore increasing your cardio fitness & your muscles will function more efficiently.
You will be able to climb really well with enough k's through the legs on the road bike.
...but besides that I think that technique is the answer. I used to brute force hills like that and make it up but be gone at the top. Now I almost always stay seated (really only getting out of the saddle if there is a step up on the hill), get down low with the chest towards the handlebars and move towards the front of the seat, wrists cocked so that my elbows are pointing down rather than out and shoulders hunched in a little (getting this right probably made the biggest difference apart from fitness). This seems to get my weight in the right position so that I can stick with middle/middle get plenty of power but still spin.
BTW, I also own a 2010 Trance X2.
that Quarry track is a tricky one, lots of loose rocks with a bit of steep thrown in for good measure. I find it the trickiest of all the climbs at Cascades, so much so that the last 2 times I've been there, I've done 5 gates, i.e. Quarry 2x and the second time (both times) I haven't been able to ride it as it's just got the better of me and I've run out of puff AND leg strength. Then of course there is the slog back out to Ralston after.......
Re heartbreak hill, there was a time not too long ago, I didn't think I could ride that hill at all, now it's just a lung buster as I try to get it over and done with as fast as possible (which isn't really that fast, just faster than I use to be able to!!)
Sounds like you need to join our low cadence hill repeats training rides @TH
Watch what your HR does by the time you get to climb 4 or 5
Hawkeye, do you have your profile from Sunday?
... to Garmin Connect yet.
@daveh has it right - slide waay forward on the seat so the point is fair up your clacker, upper body weight/shoulders forward over the handlebars, elbows bent and in, and most important of all hands relaxed - in fact I often rest my hands in a vertical blade-type position on top of the bars to make sure I do not clench the bars hard. Clenching will tend to push your weight back and you will risk losing traction and a backwards flip
of course this is for seated climbing not standing.
Also useful (if you run clip-in shoes)is to concentrate on pulling during the up-stroke of the pedal cycle instead of pushing down, as this tends to throw your weight forward and spread the load on your leg muscles.
When I bought my trusty new steed I was 'fitted' to the bike. Seems I was too low and too forward on my old rig. The new riding position has given me heaps more power / leverage and I am able to clear the climbs (HH @ MD) with seemingly less suffering. I also agree with the other comments on a road bike to help build leg strength.
The clue here is that you are changing half way up, sounds like you are starting out too strong.
Try taking it easy in granny gear from the very bottom and work on maintaining an even, steady pace that is about 8ish out of 10.
Then you will have a little power in reserve for when you need it - i.e. those water bars, which can be done seated but are all power.
Then recover after each one, go reeeaallly slowly till you have controlled your breathing etc and keep going.
Then do repeats as suggested below - do it 4 times.
Weekend prior:
Last weekend:
For some silly reason I hit the stop timer button instead of the lap button at the top of climb one and missed a kilometre. Duh.