Hills

[worcester dan]

Right I am a bit of a fatty (probs need to loose 2 stone

So hill are obviously a bit of a struggle for.

Do you think I should find it easier to spin up the hill or mashing the pedals

 

[wyno70]

Spin every time, grinding the gears will wreck your knees, specially if you aren't in tip top condition!

 

[Riverman]

Agree with the above. (although I hate spinning and cannot break the habit of grinding). Still confused myself where the line between the two starts.

 

[Wigsie]

Right I am a bit of a fatty (probs need to loose 2 stone

Dont we all? Apart from Mac Bludger, he has developed an eating disorder and is losing weight rapidly!

Sit down and spin every time.

Jimboalee will be along shortly to give you a cadence equation.

 

[ianrauk]

Spin every time, grinding the gears will wreck your knees, specially if you aren't in tip top condition!

+1 TO THAT ////

 

[MadoneRider1991]

Spin every time, grinding the gears will wreck your knees, specially if you aren't in tip top condition!

+2

 

[jimboalee]

Warm up and then get the bike to 18 mph on the flat ( on a windless day ).
Flick the bike up and down the gears ( maintaining 18 mph ) until you find a gear that is comfortable for riding at this speed for the next hour.

Work out what your cadence is.

This is the cadence you like to ride in any situation except hills steeper than 10% or so.

[Believe it or not, 18 mph last night was 82 cadence in 42 x 15 against a 5 mph headwind.]

When you come to a hill steeper than 10%, you might run out of gears. This is where strength training scores.

I rode up a 13% on 42 x 21 at 34 cadence using some of my muscles.

 

[worcester dan]

cheers folks

 

[jimboalee]

Oh BTW.

When you've found your 'favourite' cadence, 'Grinding' is lower and 'Spinning' is higher.

 

[Johnny5]

Remember to stay RELAXED when spinning up hill, if your body is tense then it'll sap a lot more energy. Just keep spinning, stay relaxed, don't look up at the top of the hill...just keep your eye a few meters in front and keep pushing! It's all in the mind. Good luck.

 

[jimboalee]

Remember to stay RELAXED when spinning up hill, if your body is tense then it'll sap a lot more energy. Just keep spinning, stay relaxed, don't look up at the top of the hill...just keep your eye a few meters in front and keep pushing! It's all in the mind. Good luck.

Remember to stay RELAXED when riding up the hill at your 'natural' cadence.
You have just assessed 'spinning' is uncomfortable.

When the hill gets to a gradient where you are riding at your 'natural' cadence on your lowest gear, how can you 'spin'?

 

[jimboalee]

And when you've been riding for a while, your gritty determination will force you to ride up the hill on a higher gear, effectively 'grinding'.

Oh it will hurt, but as your leg strength grows, the gear will get higher, as will your gritty determination.

 

[Downward]

How longs a while ?
I'm on about 8 months of same hill and still spinning.

I put this down to the length of the hill though as in some parts I change down the gears to at least 3rd !

 

[Dan B]

Agree with the above. (although I hate spinning and cannot break the habit of grinding). Still confused myself where the line between the two starts.

If you're out of breath, you're spinning. If your legs are burning, you're grinding.

 

[ColinJ]

How longs a while ?
I'm on about 8 months of same hill and still spinning.

I put this down to the length of the hill though as in some parts I change down the gears to at least 3rd !

That hill is just down the road from me. It doesn't take much of a calculation to work out that its average gradient is only about 3.3% but it does have a short section in the middle which is probably more like 7%. Still not a leg-breaker, but when you are not fit it can feel quite tough.

I went from using a 30/23 gear on that section to using a 39/19 in about 6 months, merely by riding a lot and losing about 2.5 stone in weight. My cadence was the same in both cases, I was just riding a lot faster when I was fit!

I surprised myself actually - I thought that I was on my small chainring and was just using a smaller sprocket, but once I'd cleared the steeper part of the hill and looked down, I realised that I'd been on my middle ring the whole time.

So what I'd say is - keep on riding and lose that weight, the rest will follow!

If you're out of breath, you're spinning. If your legs are burning, you're grinding.

If you're out of breath and your legs are burning, you are trying too hard, knackered, unfit or some combination of the three!