Hills.... any shame in walking up them?....

[mjr]

Having said that, I don't like to admit defeat and will endure almost any pain and distress to avoid having to walk

It's when the world starts to dim and the head starts to pound that I think I've overdone it and should have walked Only done that once: learned my lesson - it's only slightly better than riding fast through a blizzard when suffering from a cold and then collapsing inside the front door, scaring the other tenants You'd never know I'm ill, would you?

 

[ColinJ]

It's when the world starts to dim and the head starts to pound that I think I've overdone it and should have walked Only done that once: learned my lesson - it's only slightly better than riding fast through a blizzard when suffering from a cold and then collapsing inside the front door, scaring the other tenants You'd never know I'm ill, would you?

I had a similar problem on a local hill once. I'd had a very heavy cold for about a week and got back on my bike too soon after 'recovering'. In fact I was still very weak. I went into severe distress when trying to ride up the hill and realised that I was about to collapse so I dismounted, put my bike over a dry stone wall and then fell over the wall and collapsed unconscious into a pile of leaves on the other side! I woke up some time later drenched in sweat and shivering violently. I went home and back to bed. I left it a couple of weeks before trying again ...

 

[TheDoctor]

Walk if you need to, or if you want to, or even if you just fancy a change. It's supposed to be fun, after all

 

[slowmotion]

No shame in it, they're not called push bikes for nothing!

Absolutely! I handed @thegreenman my camera at the top of Ditchling Beacon about three years ago, my first successful attempt after a lifetime of failures. I wanted a piccie of my giant grin, and I thank you for capturing one of the happiest moments of my life.

 

[TheDoctor]

Chapeau! It's long gone, thankfully, but Aperitif got one of me after I'd grovelled my way up Ditching. It was about 6 am, I'd run out of water two hours earlier and had lost the will to live. The photo was... not pretty.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I met a hell of a hill yesterday. It was one of those i call a 4 mph hill, meaning that's the speed i struggle up it. Cycling at 4 mph is knackering to me after about 300 yards, so i either walk up the hill (pretending i have a puncture ) or turn back.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Stopping on a climb is failure. It's defeated you. Everyone's different, some people accept failure better than others.

I don't know if you're being serious but if you are then in my opinion it's better to accept defeat and retreat gracefully than end up dead like this fellow.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4viqf-qL9I

 

[summerdays]

I went looking for an article about pushing bikes and found this one, I'm not sure it's the one I remembered but it makes the point: for cycling to become ordinary and normal it should be not be noteworthy to get off and walk!

 

[Subotai72]

.....I don't think so! If you give a hill your best and it defeats you, so what? Keep trying and you eventually get better at the hills, or at least thats my thought on the subject.

No doubt this will open a can of worms! What do others think?

I'm going to say 'No' but I can remember on occasion doing it and when I heard a car coming pretending that I had a punture or some sort of mechanical! I also recall sitting down on a grass bank taking a casual drink as if it was the most common thing in the World to do half way up a steep(ish) hill!

 

[Tail End Charlie]

No shame at all in walking up the odd hill. And to those who think there is, by the same logic are you ashamed when overtaken by another rider?

@Accy cyclist that's a distressing video, but very relevant. I suppose an equivalent is the strava rider who died trying to beat his best time.

 

[Racing roadkill]

@Accy cyclist that's a distressing video, but very relevant. I suppose an equivalent is the strava rider who died trying to beat his best time.[/QUOTE]
if it's that video of Tom Simpson, it bears no real relevance ( he was off his head on amphetamines and brandy). I've got no problems with stopping on a hill, but walking your bike up, is not something I'll ever do, if I'm on my bike, I'll ride up, if I wanted to walk up, I wouldn't bring my bike.

 

[Oldfentiger]

There are a few hills in my home area on which I sometimes grind to a halt. If it happens I hurriedly unclip and get a foot down. I'll rest until breathing somewhere near normal, then crest the hill, doing a very passable impression of Contador .
I got diagnosed mild asthma or COPD last week, so now have more motivation to improve fitness to compensate.
I find it almost as difficult to walk up pushing the bike anyway, so use the rest and cycle method.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I find it almost as difficult to walk up pushing the bike anyway, so use the rest and cycle method.

Absolutely

 

[Citius]

I don't know if you're being serious but if you are then in my opinion it's better to accept defeat and retreat gracefully than end up dead like this fellow.

As above - completely irrelevant.

 

[bpsmith]

Personally, I will never give in on a hill. Absolutely no way I am stopping or pushing.

Do I judge anyone else for their choice?

Hell no. Have no opinion on whether others do or not. Everyone has their own reason for doing so.