Hills

[Jim_Noir]

Grind, no pain no gain... pain is just weakness leaving your body.

 

[jimboalee]

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 and your legs are burning, you are trying too hard, knackered, unfit or some combination of the three!

Shifnal Station - Shrewsbury - Llangollen - Ponderosa Cafe - Llangollen - Shrewsbury - Shifnal Station.

100 miles round, Llangollen to Ponderosa avg 4.5%, last 1.5km is 13%.

A 1970s 'training' ton. On my Pug with a 38 x 23 lowest.

 

[I am Spartacus]

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.

agreed.. I just don't see much spinning going on when the gradient starts to get above 18% and rising ...

 

[Randochap]

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.

I can't find one of those; do you know where I might buy one?

 

[ColinJ]

Shifnal Station - Shrewsbury - Llangollen - Ponderosa Cafe - Llangollen - Shrewsbury - Shifnal Station.

100 miles round, Llangollen to Ponderosa avg 4.5%, last 1.5km is 13%.

A 1970s 'training' ton. On my Pug with a 38 x 23 lowest.

Unfortunately, I have a dodgy left foot and a dodgy right hip which both give me problems when I use brute force strength to climb, rather than spinning lower gears. I might get up steeper hills using higher gears but then I'd have to pedal home using one leg and not be able to walk comfortably for days...

I did the East Chevin climb out of Otley last weekend. That's 10% for 1.6 km and I found that a bit of a slog in 39/29. Mind you, I'm still about 35 pounds overweight. I think I'd be reasonably okay on that in 39/23 if I was slim again.

I nearly always climb sitting down. When I do climb standing up, I usually change up a couple of gears.

 

[briank]

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

If you're not out of breath AND with burning legs you're not really trying.

 

[montage]

I sit and spin....as most of the world does it seems...but when if I want to make an attack I stand up - very speedy accelaration, different muscles for that split second of "fresh" feeling.

 

[Downward]

I reckon it's 300 feet from bottom to top and maybe 3/4 mile my hill. Steepest bit is 10%

 

[montage]

Definately worth practising the hills if planning to race - long hills are usually the perfect place to launch an attack....and if you don't launch one, somebody else will.

 

[buggi]

My commute consists of 3 miles of flat then a section of steep short hill into a village followed by nice downhill out of village, then i've got a 4 and 1/2 miles of constant uphill anywhere between 2 and 7%, and then its up and down constantly (with 4 hills ranging from gradients of about 7-10% for the next 10 mile on my way to work. 1 and a bit mile downhill stretch (ranging between 3 and 7%) and then pretty much flat the last 2 to 3 miles to work. Then turn around at the end of the day and come back the other way. (23 miles each way)

Its enough to do me in for the day, but i'm starting to get a strange sense of satisfaction from it (strange because i absolutely HATE hills)

especially when i come over the tops of hills and see this...

ps. photo taken on phone so not brilliant

 

[Garz]

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

LOL, and some extra!

 

[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.

I can't find one of those; do you know where I might buy one?

Come on a trip to The Vale of York.

 

[jimboalee]

Unfortunately, I have a dodgy left foot and a dodgy right hip which both give me problems when I use brute force strength to climb, rather than spinning lower gears. I might get up steeper hills using higher gears but then I'd have to pedal home using one leg and not be able to walk comfortably for days...

I did the East Chevin climb out of Otley last weekend. That's 10% for 1.6 km and I found that a bit of a slog in 39/29. Mind you, I'm still about 35 pounds overweight. I think I'd be reasonably okay on that in 39/23 if I was slim again.

I nearly always climb sitting down. When I do climb standing up, I usually change up a couple of gears.

'Back in the day', about between the end of the war and the mid eighties, a cyclist with a 'racebike' would be looked upon as "Sissy" if he was packing a 24 tooth sprocket or larger.

I just about got away with a 23 sprocket coupled with a retrofit 38 tooth ring. Mind you, I was a Junior when I went up The Horseshoe Pass. The older lads were using 53/39 with 13 x 21 5 blocks.

 

[zacklaws]

Come on a trip to The Vale of York.

I hope you mean that between where you live and the Vale of York there is some hills to pedal up to get there, as the Vale of York is flat , bordered on the West side by the Yorkshire Dales and the other the North York moors and the Wolds. Both together renowned for there hills to cycle up.

Most of my rides take me up onto the West side of the Wolds whereupon I look West across the "Vale" with all the flat land stretching away towards the Pennines with no noticable hilly features.

As Rigsby in "Rising Damp" would say, "There's nothing between this house and the Urals. You're breathing the same air as the Tartars - I should charge you extra"

 

[jimboalee]

I hope you mean that between where you live and the Vale of York there is some hills to pedal up to get there, as the Vale of York is flat , bordered on the West side by the Yorkshire Dales and the other the North York moors and the Wolds. Both together renowned for there hills to cycle up.

Most of my rides take me up onto the West side of the Wolds whereupon I look West across the "Vale" with all the flat land stretching away towards the Pennines with no noticable hilly features.

As Rigsby in "Rising Damp" would say, "There's nothing between this house and the Urals. You're breathing the same air as the Tartars - I should charge you extra"

I think RandoChap got the idea of a 'gear for 18 miles of FLAT road', as this might be difficult to find in British Columbia.
It is a situation where the 'research' is done in 'controlled' conditions. Any power or consumption evaluation should be done on a flat road.
Anyway,
I do mean that expance of flat land. Do you think there is a continuous 18 miles of it?

Like from the A19/A64 Island to Snaith.