Hill Training

[MaccyD]

Hello! Im new here, but have recently decided that cycling is the thing for me - I'm 24 and dont really exercise but do enjoy cycling I have to say. This has lead to, amongst other things, competition with friends. I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me climbing hills.

I have a dual suspension mountain bike from when I was 18 that has been barely used but really struggle, I was wondering if there were technique tips or if it really is a case of just keep going out there every few days and hitting a few in the evenings?

Thanks!

Thomas

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

You have a bike - ride it more.

 

[DaveyM]

I have found that they just get a bit easier as time goes by. Get into the low gear early and pedal like crazy .

 

[Typhon]

Welcome to the forum Maccy.

I think the trick with hills is just to take them slowly and steadily and keep your cadence (rpm) high. As you have a mountain bike you should have some very low gears to help you get up the hills.

If your calves or hamstrings start to ache, shift backwards in the seat to use your quads and vice versa. If you're puffing and panting and can feel your heart rate going up and up it's just a question of improving your fitness but if you keep going out more and more often on your bike that will soon improve.

Before you know it what you thought of as a hill soon becomes an incline, then a gentle slope, then you barely notice it at all!

 

[Brommyboy]

The best way to get good at hills is to ride them! Any bike with suspension will be hard work unless you can pedal absolutely smoothly, so as not to bob up and down. Using a lower gear helps in this. Bobbing your bike's suspension merely uses up energy.

 

[baldycyclist]

get a new bike if you are to be sticking to roads or paths.
cadence is the answer to most questions in the universe!

 

[MaccyD]

This bobbing technique explains why my friend on his fixed bike can do the whole stand up and stamp your way up hills thing, and when I do it I just go wobbly!

And I was considering a new bike - is it really that much of a difference?

 

[Eribiste]

Typhon tells it true, you do more hills, you get better at 'em. I don't think they get any easier, you just get up 'em faster(ish)!

I got beat by the hill at Little Malvern Priory, the really steep bit on the road from Welland to British Camp a couple of weeks ago on my old Pashley, but then I've only got five gears to play with, and in my defence it did come after twenty something miles. Still smarts though!
I shall follow Velominati rule 5 and be back to nail it one of the weekends!

 

[Markymark13]

On my full suspension mtb, you can tighten / stiffen the rear suspension fully. This reduces the amount of power lost through it. Still not as fast as my road bike, but well worth thinking about as it will make things easier. Apart from that, practice.

 

[GentlyBenevolent]

From a newbie, yep, it's just getting out and riding up them. Pick a hill as your yardstick and then keep trying to get to the top a little faster each time. Every now and then give it a good effort, pour everything in and see how you get on. If you're not on it already, Strava is great for keeping track of your times and giving you some extra motivation.

 

[RiflemanSmith]

I only just learnt about using my gears properly.
I always ground along in top gear, only just found out to stay on the second chain ring.
Here's a good read.
http://bicycletutor.com/gear-shifting/

 

[MaccyD]

Thanks everyone - great advice! And the stravia thing looks interesting, I'm finally getting a new smart phone soon so that should become an option!

And good article Rifleman, thanks.

 

[NickJ95GB]

the best way i improve going up hills is when you absolutely need to stop, don't. there's a huge hill 8 miles from my home, 4 weeks ago, i had to stop 3 times, and was practically dead at the top, last week, i made it up easy, without stopping, then went down at 40mph, just don't stop when you feel you have too

 

[Rob3rt]

This question keeps coming up time and time again. The most universal answer I can give is to increase your sustainable threshold power output, it doesn't matter if you do this in the hills or on the flat. This is going to be the most important thing you can do, there is undoubtedly some "technique" to climbing, which is worth practising, but without adequate sustainable power output, you won't go up the hills much if at all faster even if you nail the "technique" aspect.

Additionally, learn to suffer!

 

[VamP]

Riding up hills is also a function of working against gravity. Any weight you can shed either on bike or yourself?

A road bike might be in the region of 18 lbs, a full susser can be easily double that. How much does your bike weigh? How about you?