How to make climbing easier...

[Bicycle]

1. I live in a slightly hilly area with some walloping big hills dotted around the place.

2. My daughter (17) is keen to get fitter and as she cycles anyway, she will be using local climbs to help her get there.

3. I offer guidance sometimes, but I bet there's better advice out there. I'm looking for some that I can hand on to her.

4. She doesn't want to race or be competition fit, just to use climbing to get herself fitter.

5. She rides a fairly standard smallish road bike with 39/53 chainrings and the usual 12-21 (I think) 9-speed groupset. SPD pedals.

6. She normally rides at around 90-95 rpm, but there are hills out our way that drop her to 50-ish for 10 minutes at a time. I'm not going the triple-chainring route...

7. Stuff I already told her:

a). Concentrating on working all the way round the pedal stroke - push down, wipe dog poo off shoe, lift foot, shove foot forward. Working on each segment of the pedal stroke in turn for a few turns of the pedal.

b). Pop up out of the saddle every so often to change the rhythm and the muscles she's working.

c). Slide to the back of the saddle for a bit to change slightly the muscles used (may be BS, but it works wonders for me).

d). Lots of Mumbo-Jumbo about looking for a rhythm and trying to settle into it.

e). Rudimentary ankling technique.

So.. Here's the question. Given the facyt that climbing is never easy, what advice might members give a teenager that will make it less difficult.

I'd be very glad to read anything other members can add...

 

[corshamjim]

6. She normally rides at around 90-95 rpm, but there are hills out our way that drop her to 50-ish for 10 minutes at a time. I'm not going the triple-chainring route...

Why not?

 

[rockyraccoon]

So.. Here's the question. Given the facyt that climbing is never easy, what advice might members give a teenager that will make it less difficult.

Replace the cassette for 12-25 or 12-27. It will give her lower gears therefore climbing will be easier.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I'd also go for dropping the gearing, 39x21 not great for a teenager on hilly terrain (and I grew-up on Sturmey 3 speeds in hilly Devon). Spinning is a much more accepted technique and 39x21 is going to be a tricky spin (unless whe wants monster thighs). Go for a bigger cassette or a compact 50/34 set-up. There's no prizes for a tough gearing set-up.
Other than that, my top-tip is simply to relax the whole upper body, arms everything you don't need for climbing and be calm mentally.

 

[Herzog]

The things you mentioned can no doubt help, but the best thing is repetition (no necessarily hill repeats).

In other words climb more and you'll get better at it. Easy advice to give, perhaps harder to follow. You could also race her to the top

 

[MacB]

With the others here, the statements:-

she doesn't want to race or be competition fit

coupled with

39/53 and 12-21

and

walloping big hills

I'm afraid that just doesn't compute, if she(rather than you on her behalf) wants to be fit enough to ride those gears then it's tough it out and get the miles in. However if she'd like to just enjoy riding as an allround fun activity, without having to reach great fitness levels first, then a new cassette is the very least required.

 

[Mac66]

+1 on all advice so far.

For hills, lighter = easier. You can make the bike or the rider lighter, and we all know which of those is easier on the wallet though not necessarily the easiest!

It may also help if your daughter has a specific goal in terms of her fitness and when this is reached perhaps some form of reward.

 

[zexel]

My advice is to get the poor girl a compact/bigger cassette.

Her poor knees!

 

[pepecat]

I don't know what all the 39/53 and 12-21 stuff means, but I'd tell her that it does get easier the more she does it.
If she's anything like me when i was that age, I wanted instant results - as in, being able to go up the hill easily first time - but it doesn't work like that.
So tell her it gets easier the fitter she gets.

 

[monkeypony]

So tell her it gets easier the fitter she gets.

No, it still hurts just as much. It just hurts for less time as you get to the top quicker

 

[HLaB]

5. She rides a fairly standard smallish road bike with 39/53 chainrings and the usual 12-21 (I think) 9-speed groupset. SPD pedals.

That's not fairly standard unless you are racing and even the pros fit something larger on the back if its bumpy.

My Bianchi is a 39/53 but with a 12-25 on the back, I've took it up some fair climbs and it has never let me down. I'd suggest putting a larger cassette (a 12-25 or 12-27) on your daughter's bike. If she is still struggling you may then go the more costly route of putting something smaller on the front (maybe a compact 34/50). I'd rather improve with practice than spend myself ;-) Good Luck :-)

 

[Fab Foodie]

53/39 with either a 21, 23 or 25T rear used to be pretty standard for road bikes except for tourers.
IIRC it only really changed maybe 10 or so years ago when Giant started putting triples on their Compact road frames and latterly the compact-chainset has become the current trend on road bikes. When it happened road-bikes with anything other than the old 53/39 set-ups were sneered-at, but ....
Times and thinking have changed and the modern road-bike is far more versitile and flexible than it ever was.

 

[Bicycle]

Apologies for both my typing and my lack of knowledge of my daughter's bicycle.

I'd meant to type 12-26 (which I thought it was)

I ought to have typed 13-26 (which it is).

In error I typed 12-21, which you all realised was slightly wrong.

I can now confirm it is 12-26 with the usual 39-53 big-wheel thingies at the front.

So I was overstating the gearing. Apologies for the misinformation.

It's an eBay job from a couple of years ago (a mid-2000s low-end Pinarello with Campag fiddly bits).

I am way too tight to go triple .

She has an MTB with an absurd range of gears for spinning her way up hills if she wants to, but she's doing this burst of climbing to get in shape for a forthcoming charity ride she organised herself.

Disregarding for a moment my grotesque lack of accuracy, all and any further advice would be most welcome.

Thanks for what's there already!

 

[Globalti]

Have a look at the new SRAM Apex gears on here: Amazing gear range these would get up up those hills!

 

[Bokonon]

Now that the gearing setup has been confirmed, it still looks like it is a little too long. HLab has suggested a 34/50 compact chain set which looks like a good way of bringing the bottom gear down and will also shorten the top gear which is currently way too long, especially for a teenage rider.

From your point number 6 it looks like your daughter is riding pretty well already, and your advise in point 7 is mostly good.

The way to get good at anything is to keep doing it! However, it would be tedious and sometimes demoralising to spend all your time riding up hills. Get plenty of distance in on the flat as well to build up base fitness.

When it comes to climbing, try to ride in to hills quickly, but not so fast that you are warn out before you start climbing. Don't start off the climb in bottom gear - it is always nice to know you can change down as the going gets tough. Do change down before you really need to, though; a lot of momentum can be lost in a poor gear change, especially when you don't want it! When you reach the top, try to change up and keep pedalling.

For long climbs it is all about getting into a rhythm. When it is long and steep, or just very steep, it becomes a psychological challenge; don't look for the end of the climb but instead concentrate on reaching targets a few 10s of meters ahead - aim to reach road markings, drain covers, interesting things at the side of the road, then select a new target further up the road as each one is reached.