Cycling technique advice - it worked!!

[Lazy-Commuter]

Hmmmm, triathlon, let's see now ..

Cycling: OK, if a little slow.
Swimming: Not bad.
Running: urgh! yeuk!

Bit of an issue there for me.

 

[Auntie Helen]

Near where I live (when I cycle into town) there's a big hill. Well it's not very big really but it looms larger in my imagination whenever I consider it. If I've got a spare extra 10 minutes I go an alternative scenic (and much flatter) route which cuts out this hill, but last night in the dark I realised I wanted to take the most direct route home and so Beehive Hill it was.

I'm not going to be unable to cycle up it (with the trike in its lowest gear I could pedal up most things as my lowest gear is VERY low) and I actually do this hill on the lowest gear in the middle chainring. The issue is that I'm trundling along at 4mph for a couple of minutes with cars whizzing up behind me up the twisty hill. I worry that they'll be surprised how slowly I'm going and miscalculate their overtake. Is this a genuine thing to fear, d'you think? And does anyone else feel a bit of an idiot with their legs going round really fast but the bike going soooooo slowly...

 

[Fab Foodie]

Cheers guys...

45 and at least 2 stone overweight here too! What is it with us youngsters and weight eh?

Also second gbb's advice to start slowish for the first 5 miles, in fact the older I get the more imporstant this becomes (especially with a dodgy ticker).

Regarding hills on a fixie, I used to do Ditchling with a 73" gear and a full saddle-bag... very slowly and standing-up, just imagining myself using the drive system like a winch and concentrating on the next metre of road, the next turn of the cranks... I seem to find it harder these days on my lightweight triple... maybe it's the extra 2 stone and the lack of fags!

 

[Maizie]

Cycling: OK, if a little slow.
Swimming: Not bad.
Running: urgh! yeuk!

Yup, that just about sums up how I feel about it all

Horrid Hill was done this morning thinking "relax relax relax", and while my legs were still like jelly at the top, I could actually breathe. Mind you, I was super-slow on the way in this morning, I think in part due to an actual-honest-not-making-it-up head-wind, and giving blood last night...that's my excuse, anyway!

 

[Apeman]

What do you do when you do spin up a hill only to find that you run out of gears and your legs are screaming for you to stop but pride refuses to let and you dont want to get off and walk and you cant get your feet unclipped anyway so you just land in a big stupid heap and cry yourself to sleep?

 

[colly]

Relaxing on a climb certainly does help but on some really steep hills even if you aren't out of the saddle I find I have to hold on reasonably tight to the bars so as not to lose my position on the bike.
I don't mean slipping off the back of the saddle ( the hills round here aren't THAT steep)

 

[Chris James]

There are lots of different types of hills and they demand different methods of getting up them. And the method can change depending on how tired you are!

The Fab Foodie method is similar to what I mostly do around here were there are a lot of long reasonably steep hills. I find it takes less effort to settle into climbing them rather than trying to attack them.

However, if the hill is short then I will just try to pile over it ASAP. Very steep hills tend to respond better to getting out of the saddle.

 

[asterix]

Hills really do differ, that's what I like about them. One thing I learnt is always to plan to keep the effort going until well over the top. All too often what seems to be the summit is just a short respite! Not only that, but if I suddenly relax the effort I find cramp is more likely.

 

[Fab Foodie]

There are lots of different types of hills and they demand different methods of getting up them. And the method can change depending on how tired you are!

The Fab Foodie method is similar to what I mostly do around here were there are a lot of long reasonably steep hills. I find it takes less effort to settle into climbing them rather than trying to attack them.

However, if the hill is short then I will just try to pile over it ASAP. Very steep hills tend to respond better to getting out of the saddle.

I ride much the sme way, however the likes of you and I have probably had a lot of practice. I'd agree that there is no one right method, I'll do what feels good on the day, but for newbies I think learning to relax and pace yourself is the best start.

 

[summerdays]

Well I used the technique today on 2 different hills - failed on Redcatch Road and had to get off and walk ... but for the first time in my life made it up Park Street. This has always been a mental block for me... as I have got up worse hills, just that I know which shops I usually get off at ... so I didn't look and made it. So I went to the shops and treated myself - and the nice lady behind the counter offered to look after my red Ortlieb pannier for me - and turned out she had nice yellow Ortlieb panniers - so a fellow cyclist.

 

[soulful dog]

Ha, I call anything with a vaguely upward incline which is hard work a hill.

Me too! The 'hills' I've tackled so far are probably wee toaty ones to most, but after taking the advice to select a low gear and spin (and try to relax) I've managed ones that I failed on previously. I can't remember the website that gives you elevation data, and though it won't be much to some, I was delighted to head home from the city centre in Glasgow along the length of Royston Rd recently. I'd tried the 1st hill a couple of times before without reaching the top but not only managed it without too much bother last month, but the couple further on too. It's probably a routine commute home for a number of folk but made me feel good at the time!

And does anyone else feel a bit of an idiot with their legs going round really fast but the bike going soooooo slowly...

Yes, especially when some joker whizzes past in his car and shouts "hurry up ya boot" as someone did to me today. Yep you guessed it, it was a young guy in a sporty wee Corsa.

 

[inaperfectworld]

it's also a good idea to be a bit more upright and move your elbows out as your rib cage can then expand more fully to take in air.
twiddling works well , i'm just puzzled why i saw so many people in the alps making life hard and painful with racing doubles and clearly struggling. i chatted to a couple of dutch lads who were struggling and envying me on a triple

 

[colly]

Me too! The 'hills' I've tackled so far are probably wee toaty ones to most, but after taking the advice to select a low gear and spin (and try to relax) I've managed ones that I failed on previously. I can't remember the website that gives you elevation data, and though it won't be much to some, I was delighted to head home from the city centre in Glasgow along the length of Royston Rd recently. I'd tried the 1st hill a couple of times before without reaching the top but not only managed it without too much bother last month, but the couple further on too. It's probably a routine commute home for a number of folk but made me feel good at the time!


Yes, especially when some joker whizzes past in his car and shouts "hurry up ya boot" as someone did to me today. Yep you guessed it, it was a young guy in a sporty wee Corsa.

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php

 

[ASC1951]

What do you do when you do spin up a hill only to find that you run out of gears and your legs are screaming for you to stop but pride refuses to let and you dont want to get off and walk and you cant get your feet unclipped anyway so you just land in a big stupid heap and cry yourself to sleep?

Wake up?

Actually, a few years ago I was winching my way up the top end of Pateley Bridge High Street* when a bow legged pensioner with a stick tottered out of a house on the left, all creaky leather shoes and Sunday weskit, and started to overtake me. I just about had time to wobble to the verge, unclip and adopt the pose of Hillclimbing Supremo Looking Back For Imaginary Companions before he was off round the corner.

*the road over Bishopdale Moor to Masham, for those who know it. Tracklogs only gives it three single < , so I must have a duff copy.

 

[gwhite]

There's something dodgy going on here. On Wednesday I returned to cycle in an area for the first time in nearly thirty years and what do I find? Some sneaky swine had been tampering with the gradient of the hills that previously had given me no problems at all. This is completely unacceptable and a disgustingly underhanded practice.