Hi!
Have a couple more beginner questions! I am trying to improve strength and endurance and have lots of hills around me to climb..however am not sure if I should be aiming to stand up on the bike when going up hill...which I can only do for very brief period due to incredible pain in the thighs!! or if I should be aiming to do the climb sitting down which is what I currently do..slowly! I have tried standing up part way at the steepest bits and found this can be useful until legs hurt to much but then sitting back down the burning pain gets worse!
Also should I use the easiest gear? I don't like this as much because of the amount of time you turn the pedals I find harder stamina wise, I prefer to have something to push against as I don't have to turn wheels so often and seem to go a bit faster..though is harder on leg muscles.
Any help advice appreciated.. I don't seem to be improving..the one I climb several times a week does not seem to be getting any easier
loops
Everyone thinks differently about hills, so do not be surprised to see conflicting replies. Among them you will see something that fits your pistol.
My disconnected and rambling advice as follows:
1. Hill never, ever get any easier. You just get faster. They will always hurt a little if you really have a go at them.
2. As you are trying to improve your strength and endurance, you are likely to be having a go. Therefore hills will always be tough.
3. Very few people will be out of the saddle all the way up a significant hill. Some people spend about 10% of their time standing, some 20%... it depends on you and what you want. There are hills that I have to come out of the saddle for, because the gearing on my fixie just doesn't let me sit down. these are hills I do not like.
4. Do not let your head talk you out of using the easier gears. At all times be in the gear that feels best. One of my children always keeps 'one gear in reserve as a psychological boost'. I admire his fortitude, but I wish he'd just click all the way down... If you have a triple chainring, you will have a gear low enough for everything except brick walls.
5. If you are climbing several times a week, you are improving. It may not show in the times just yet, but you are improving. Keep at it.
6. Other techniques: If you have clipless pedals (which are wonderful when climbing) try to do a few turns of each foot concentrating on parts of the pedalling motion other than the 'push down'. So maybe six turns of the pedal just lifting.... then change legs.... then a few turns just sliding the foot across the top of the stroke, then change legs.... then the 'shoe wiping' motion at the bottom of the stroke. These things are best done when pedalling more slowly than you normally would... a steep climb is a good place to experiment with this.
7. When I'm really dying on a climb, I often slide back on the saddle a couple of inches. It can be a real boon. Just stay like that for a minute or so, then slip forward again and it's like a second wind.
8. If you do stand, remember to cog it up a gear or two.... standing on the pedals allows you comfortably to use a higher gear. if you don't change up, it can feel a little wobbly and thrashy.
9. When climbing, relax everything you don't need to get the climbing done: Arms, hands, shoulders, face even. Sounds silly, but it all helps.
10. Remind yourself that you know you will win and the hill will lose. Every time you really hit the hill hard and crest it in one piece, you are further encouraged to hit it even harder the next time.
11. If it is really doing you in, introduce a little riding that excludes climbs.
I hope this helps. Remember, no-one finds climbing easy. But it does bring results the more you do it.
