Newbie with Hill problems

[Andrew_Culture]

I have a 50/34 on the front, and 9 gears between 12-25 on the back (apologies if this sounds very layman). What you recommend putting, say a 24 or 26 on the front also? Or is that a bit of a pansy way out?

No such thing as being pansy, none at all, in my opinion cycling is about you and the machine, nuts to everyone else! Getting one big gear on the back is a neat idea, and my first road bike had just such a gear and it saved me from having to stop many times, in fact I only just got a bike without such a large 'escape gear'.

Here's the gear, it's the massive one labelled 'megarange'




P.S Sorry for using 'in' language like KOM, it's really frustrating to feel like you don't know what's going on, so sorry!

 

[Rob3rt]

I have a 50/34 on the front, and 9 gears between 12-25 on the back (apologies if this sounds very layman). What you recommend putting, say a 24 or 26 on the front also? Or is that a bit of a pansy way out?

Leave the compact chainset alone! If you really need a pussy out gear, get a cassete with a 27t big cog, 12-27 or something (although note, the larger spread of gears will mean bigger gaps, which can be counter productive on the flat). If you start messing about too much with small chainrings and extra big rear cassette's you will end up needing to replace the rear mech (assuming you have a short/med cage mech as most stock bikes come with when running the gearing you have) otherwise you will end up with either too much slack in the chain for the mech to take up, or the mech will collide with the cassette. I ride a 50/34 compact chainset and a 12-25t cassette and have yet to be defeated by a hill!

 

[billy1561]

I also ride a 50/34 compact and my cassette is a 12/28t . I regularly walk up some bigger hills, no shame in that so long as you give them a good go. To make things worse my bike only weighs 7kg, so it's definitely me that struggles!

 

[ttcycle]

It gets easier as you continue with them and practive, if you're in your lowest/lower gears then just relax into it and pedal slowly up. I'm afraid it will take some time for your engine (ie lungs and heart) and muscles to get stronger but they will do eventually! I've taken time off the bike and hills near where I am now are rinsing me out, fitness takes a while to develop but have fun doing it.

Cleats and cycling shoes will help as has been stated above.

 

[byegad]

There are two schools of thought on hill climbing. The 'I will get up here even if it kills me' school who regard hills as a chance for interval training. Then there's the 'change down and admire the view school.

I routinely climb 20% gradients and occasionally 25% or 33% but belong to the 'admire the view' school.

With low enough gears you really can climb anything you're likely to find in the UK. I stop if necessary on the really steep bits and restart when I'm ready, but then I ride a recumbent trike which makes both stopping and restarting a breeze. While climbing serious hills I admire the view, do a bit of bird watching and generally chill out. Yes I could ride the hill faster, but why should I if I don't want to?

Assuming you have the bike set up right practice and the right gearing will work in the end for either method of ascending a hill. In the meantime, you are riding for pleasure so enjoy it!

A thought:- What you describe might be caused by a saddle set too low. The best height is within a cm or so of the theoretical correct height set as follows:- Sit in your normal riding position either held up by a friend or leaning lightly againt a wall. Put your heel on the pedal. If you can do this only with your knee locked the saddle is about right, try it. (And remember the 1cm comment earlier, use this to fine tune the position after you've tried it for a few rides.) If you can only lock your knee by rolling your bum on the saddle the seat is too low, raise it.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Rob500]

Hi all

I purchased a road bike about a month ago along with a couple of mates as we were planning to get into cycling for a few weekend days out etc... However I cant believe how hard the hills are to get up, my 2 friends are also struggling but are better than me at getting up them. Fitness wise I didnt think I wad that bad, I can do a 10k run in under 50 minutes (I know thats not great but it isnt a disaster either) but I just cant get up these hills even in the lowest gear. I have checked the specs of my bike and my lowest gear is around 36 inches which I dont think is that big. My 2 friends have clip in pedals and I dont, does that make a difference? The lactic in my quads just killing me on the hills. On the flat I can keep up with them without much problem but as soon as the hills go above about 6/7% gradiant I'm really struggling, at 10%+ I'm dead. Weight wise I think I might be a bit too heavy for cycling, about 5 feet 11 tall and 14 stone 10 weight, but I work a lot and have quite a bit of muscle mass, is this my problem? My 2 friends probably weigh 1.5/2 stone less than me. Has anyone got any tips on how to improve on the hills as at the moment when choosing a route I try to avoid hills like the plague. There is a small road through a forest near us that is about half a mile long and average gradiant of 9.2% that I am using to go up and down to try and improve but I can only manage 2 reps up there at the moment before blow out.

Help would be appreciated. Is it normal to be this bad?

Cheers
Pistol

Hi Pistol. Welcome to the forum. Congrats on getting out and about on your new bike. Hills are always extremely tough when you're first starting out. Are you trying to use too high a gear at the start of the hill and tiring yourself out? Learn to spin up them in a low gear. Your knees will love you for it. Just keep getting the miles in. Enjoyment - That's the name of the game.

 

[karl61]

here's a tip i read about hill climbing,when your going up hills seated, lower your heels slightly as you peddle, this brings your leg bicep into play more. i tried it and it does seem to work.and as many ppl have stated ,spin, spin spin.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

here's a tip i read about hill climbing,when your going up hills seated, lower your heels slightly as you peddle, this brings your leg bicep into play more. i tried it and it does seem to work.and as many ppl have stated ,spin, spin spin.

Ooh, not heard that, I'll try it.

I'm in favour of shifting back in the saddle a bit to give it some grunt!

 

[Pistol]

There are two schools of thought on hill climbing. The 'I will get up here even if it kills me' school who regard hills as a chance for interval training. Then there's the 'change down and admire the view school.

I routinely climb 20% gradients and occasionally 25% or 33% but belong to the 'admire the view' school.

With low enough gears you really can climb anything you're likely to find in the UK. I stop if necessary on the really steep bits and restart when I'm ready, but then I ride a recumbent trike which makes both stopping and restarting a breeze. While climbing serious hills I admire the view, do a bit of bird watching and generally chill out. Yes I could ride the hill faster, but why should I if I don't want to?

Assuming you have the bike set up right practice and the right gearing will work in the end for either method of ascending a hill. In the meantime, you are riding for pleasure so enjoy it!

A thought:- What you describe might be caused by a saddle set too low. The best height is within a cm or so of the theoretical correct height set as follows:- Sit in your normal riding position either held up by a friend or leaning lightly againt a wall. Put your heel on the pedal. If you can do this only with your knee locked the saddle is about right, try it. (And remember the 1cm comment earlier, use this to fine tune the position after you've tried it for a few rides.) If you can only lock your knee by rolling your bum on the saddle the seat is too low, raise it.

Hope this helps and good luck.

The part about routinely climbing 20-30% climbs, whilst admiring the view, I assume is a joke I would get up about 50 metres at 20% in the lowest gear before I started rolling backwards back down again. Regarding technique- is there not an argument that you should get some momentum up before the hill and try and maintain speed as long as possible until you're forced to start flying down the gears? That has been my strategy anyway, doesn't seem to working. My fear about starting in a low gear is that your spinning hard and not going anywhere straight away and if you get knackered you're already at the lowest gears, so there is nowhere else to go.

 

[MrJamie]

Welcome

Im a few stone heavier than you (and there are plenty heavier), but I know I wouldnt be able to cope with road bike gearing for significant hills yet, luckily its relatively flat around here When I started cycling (after running) the aerobic fitness helps immensely but it does use some different leg muscles, youll probably notice your quads changing shape a little.

I found if there was a hill I struggled with, Id try to go up it as slowly as possible in the lowest gear and then speed up towards the top if i had anything left, its so incredibly easy to burn out if you hit it too hard and keep changing down and down.

 

[Pale Rider]

Saddle too low is a good thought - I see many people riding like that.

One way to think about pedalling is to pedal in circles, rather than up and down.

Lots of people pedal more slowly than at what is generally accepted to be the most efficient rpm.

About 60 on the flat is a reasonable target for a new cyclist.

Try to maintain that rpm up hills.

 

[lulubel]

Regarding technique- is there not an argument that you should get some momentum up before the hill and try and maintain speed as long as possible until you're forced to start flying down the gears? That has been my strategy anyway, doesn't seem to working. My fear about starting in a low gear is that your spinning hard and not going anywhere straight away and if you get knackered you're already at the lowest gears, so there is nowhere else to go.

No, no, no. Very, very bad strategy. Approach it nice and steady, so you're not knackered by the time you get there. Make sure you're in a comfortable gear to spin easily on the flat, and keep changing down to maintain that easy spinning as you head up the hill. You should have enough gears to keep doing that on the hills you're describing (up to 9% gradient) without having to "spin hard".

Make sure you breathe faster and harder as you're going up the hill, but keep it controlled - try to avoid gasping for breath. Your muscles will be working harder and need more oxygen, so you need to make sure you give it to them.

 

[Rob3rt]

Climbing technique depends on the "type" of hill and your riding style.

 

[Rob3rt]

Hills are hard, that's a fact. Go slowly, low gear from the start, relax, stop trying to keep up with everyone else, concentrate on breathing out. Those are all the things that have worked for me. I can get up hills now, pretty much, but I've had to accept I'll never be fast up them and I probably won't learn to love them. Hey ho. Good luck and happy cycling.

No no no........... chase those wheels for all you are worth

 

[stephen.rooke]

practice makes perfect, youll get better all the time even if you dont notice it. lsoing weight would help but alot is down to your strength. if youve got more egars available you could use them and go up slower which would make things easier. when i started i would use a high gear and attack the hills hard. legs and lungs would burn but it helped me get better and i now find them a lot easier. i started at 16stone7lbs and with a 14kg road bike