# Hills are my nemesis!!!!



## Scrappy (2 Jun 2012)

With my new found joy of cycling I’ve been trying to figure out routes to maybe get into a routine and test to see what I can do and have been trying different routes.

I started out at a country park to practice on Monday (to see if I’m even capable of riding a bike nowadays) but I found it was too much stop and start and the place is like a maze and with my memory could follow the same route.

Yesterday I tried a route on the road which was good fun but lots of pot holes and must cause unnecessary wear and tear on the bike, but even more concerning……..the bike was covered in cow s**t from where the farmers have left presents on the road for me.

After a jet wash and clean last night I tried a new route, and it had a hill that went on and on and on and on and on!. For a lazy beginner like myself my legs we’re tired at the bottom of the thing!!!!

This is where it started to get steep....






Around the corner....





Around the next corner....





Around the next corner....





Around the next corner....





Around the next corner....





Bearing in mind I'm new to this route and this must of gone on for well over a mile so each corner I was thinking IS THIS EVER GOING TO END!!!!!. Not a bad way to start the day though at 5:30am


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## smokeysmoo (2 Jun 2012)

Keep riding the same route from time to time and you'll be surprised how quickly your performance improves.

You'll suddenly realise your half way up, of even at the top and while you'll still be puffing and panting you'll feel much better, your recovery will be faster and you might even find yourself seeking hills out as a challenge! My mate prefers going uphill to anything else, nutter 

PS: don't jetwash your bike, it can cause more trouble than it's worth!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Andrew_Culture (2 Jun 2012)

It does get better / easier, I promise.

I really want to see your photos but taptalk is crapping out.


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## Red Light (2 Jun 2012)

Andrew_Culture said:


> It does get better / easier, I promise.



"It never gets easier, you just go faster" - Greg Lemond


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## Andrew_Culture (2 Jun 2012)

Red Light said:


> "It never gets easier, you just go faster" - Greg Lemond



That's much better!


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## PpPete (2 Jun 2012)

I can't see the pictures either...
but I'm crap at going uphill too. Maybe slightly less crap than I was last year, but still very much at the brown end of the sh1t league table.


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## wakou (2 Jun 2012)

You have only just started, don't worry, it does get better! A year or so ago my local hill, I could not get up it, even on a mountain bike, I had to stop twice on the way up. Now I approach it without fear, I even seek it out (I left the club run last Saturday to go up it) In fact last Saturday I went up it three times, no sweat. (that is I lie, it still makes me sweat a bit, but you get the picture...) (I did not get the picture in your post... You could give us a google map ref we could have a look)


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## Nearly there (2 Jun 2012)

Hills play havoc with my average


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## soulful dog (2 Jun 2012)

I'm still completely rubbish at hills, and probably always will be, but it's amazing to go back up what I thought were hills (admittedly small) when I first started cycling and think now, that's not even a hill!


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## Scrappy (2 Jun 2012)

Oh that’s good to hear, to be honest I quite like that route and I think that hill will be a good training feature.

How do I put a location as a link so you can see the road?. As I was looking again on google trying to figure it out, I noticed its labelled ‘Pen yr allt’ which translates to English as Top of the hill


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## Scrappy (2 Jun 2012)

aha I got it!

53.287128,-4.49019 if you try that and head north on that road it should work... I think


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## Shut Up Legs (3 Jun 2012)

What the others said. If you want to ride up hills, just keep practicing and it'll get easier.

6 months ago, after months of planning ahead, I moved to a carefully-selected hilly suburb of Melbourne, just for its proximity to mountains, because I like cycling up hills. Haven't regretted it, and my hill-climbing has improved a lot .


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## Scrappy (4 Jun 2012)

I went on the same route today and it did seem easier, but I guess its hard to say with using different gears etc, I’m still getting used to it all.

But 5 mins after I got back from my usual 3.5 route I went out again and did another 3 miles around a forest type place


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## Andrew_P (4 Jun 2012)

I have a few hills on my commute, one inparticualr when I first started I had to walk, no choice neither legs nor lungs would let me get past half way.

I now go up it with relative ease, well compared to the lung blow outs. http://app.strava.com/segments/1443984 and there it is and there is little old me nestled in 16th out of 92. 

It really is a case of the more you do the easier they become, in 24 months I have gone form dreading it, and hating the walk of shame puffing and panting to taking it in my stride, sometimes it is harder than others but I don't dread it anymore.


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## Glover Fan (4 Jun 2012)

I love a South East based cyclists definition of a hill! Lol ^

The only way to get better up hills is to keep doing them. On my 80 mile ride today I was climbing 100ft/mile for the first 27 miles! The rest was pretty flat and now I am pretty fit, I hate the flat.

Chevrons on an OS Map are my best friend! <<<


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## marzjennings (4 Jun 2012)

Glover Fan said:


> I love a South East based cyclists definition of a hill! Lol ^
> 
> The only way to get better up hills is to keep doing them. On my 80 mile ride today I was climbing 100ft/mile for the first 27 miles! The rest was pretty flat and now I am pretty fit, I hate the flat.
> 
> Chevrons on an OS Map are my best friend! <<<


 
I find it interesting you think 100ft/mile is even climbing.


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## Glover Fan (4 Jun 2012)

Well it is not one constant hill over 27 miles, but continual up and downs. I regard 100ft/mile average to be a hilly ride. The Dartmoor Devil audax, which is one of the hillier 60 mile audaxes climbs about 7,000 feet over the course, so just a shade over 100ft/mile. Trust me when I say that it is a hilly ride. In the UK climbs are rarely shallow and progressive.


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## marzjennings (4 Jun 2012)

Glover Fan said:


> Well it is not one constant hill over 27 miles, but continual up and downs. I regard 100ft/mile average to be a hilly ride. The Dartmoor Devil audax, which is one of the hillier 60 mile audaxes climbs about 7,000 feet over the course, so just a shade over 100ft/mile. Trust me when I say that it is a hilly ride. In the UK climbs are rarely shallow and progressive.


I get where you're coming from, but 100ft/mile doesn't tell me anything more than I'm going to end my ride a few feet higher than where I started. Now tell me I've got a few cat 1 and 2 climbs over 60 miles and I'll have a better idea of what's in store.


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## Monsieur Remings (5 Jun 2012)

I recently found that I'm not that great on hills when it comes to competition (to put it mildly).

However, what others have said is true, you will get better and whilst there will always be those who are better climbers than others, it is your own improvement that counts. You can't be good at all aspects of cycling and many different aspects there are.

I'm not a natural climber either but I've come on leaps and bounds by my own standard because I've kept at it and not shied away. Each climb has its own particulars and whichever poster recommended doing the same route is right. You'll even begin to remember which gear for which part of the climb and as you get stronger turn a higher gear, which is symptomatic itself of improvement.

Despite not being a natural climber I'm doing the Etape in July, taking in four Category 1 climbs in the Pyrenees and of course it's going to be tough. But, despite this I've learnt to relax a lot more whilst training (something you can't do in a race) and I'll take each and every mountain in my own stride, concentrating on breathing and a steady rhythm. I know, despite, the length of the climbs that there will not be anything steeper than what I am used to here in the Mendips (the Mendips have the slower, gradual climbs like Cheddar Gorge and Burrington Coombe but also many other far steeper affairs like Ebbor Gorge with gradients far surpassing anything in the Pyrenees) and so the game becomes one of endurance more than anything else and getting used to dealing with lesser gradients over a far longer period of time. Huffing, puffing, giving it your all in the first few hundred yards isn't going to work when you've got another 19km to go to the top, so I can't stress enough how important 'relaxing' is. And yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, relaxing? But it will come.

Start in a lower gear than you think at first, don't think because you could push a bigger gear that you should, find a position on your bars that suits you best and take it steady - you are not racing! You are gradually improving your fitness and your ability all the time. Don't be scared to get out of your saddle when it feels right and don't even think that you need to do the whole hill in such a position, sit back in as low a gear as possible if you need to, and grind away. It will get easier.

If you're on a double, I heartily recommend an 11-28 ratio cassette. Best of luck pal.


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## cycleruk (5 Jun 2012)

the first time i went up a hill round where i live i got to the top, i was sick and then collapsed! after a few weeks i could feel i was gettting beter and fitter and now i go up most hills and dont even realise ive gone up them till im speeding down the other side. Dont be afraid to use the granny gears and before you know it, you will have a smile going up hills just as much as going down them.


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## Zofo (6 Jun 2012)

An 11-28 cassette combined with a compact chain set 50-34 should get you up most climbs ok. On climbs of over 100 yds or so you are best staying seated, although you can get more power down by standing up you will spike your heart rate and have to slow down on longer climbs.
A tactic I use on decent length climbs of 5 mins or so, is to take it relatively easy on the first 2/3 rds - assuming you know where the top is!- then accelerate up and over the last 1/3 rd. You can make up loads of time on other riders, who have usually gone too hard too early.


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