Please Help on hills!!

[solidthegreat]

Hi all, not been on here for a while, one thing and another, however I wonder if anyone can help or has felt the same as I that could offer advice.
I complete 5 sportives over the year and train 3-4 times a week either on the bike, spinner or running. Over 90 miles on the bike I am fine and energy and fitness isn't the problem, the problem is no matter what I seam to do the minute I hit an incline of 5% plus after a short time the muscles in my legs tire very quickly and I have to stop for a minute before they are ok to carry on. I'm not out of breath and cardio wise I'm fine, it's my legs that don't seem to be able to maintain a prolonged effort of a full 1 mile long climb. I look on as rider after rider of all builds pass me on the hills and wonder what it is I'm doing wrong. Don't get me wrong I'm aware of the fact that all riders are different but I can't seem to improve the muscle endurance. As I say cardio is fine.
Any advice

 

[Hacienda71]

If you are carrying any extra weight lose it. It is the biggest factor when climbing hills. You can mask it it on the flat, but on a gradient you can't get away from power to weight. You can work on technique change your kit but the biggest single factor is weight.

 

[ColinJ]

What gear ratio do you use? (Number of teeth on the chainring at the front/number of teeth on the sprocket at the back.)

 

[slowmotion]

I'm rubbish on hills and, like you, I find it pretty dispiriting when everybody sails past me. It's doubly so if you are standing at the side of the road. My advice would be to get some really low gearing so that at least you can get up your hills without stopping. That will be a major boost to your confidence and will do wonders for getting rid of a dread of hills.

Good luck.

Edit: cross-post with Colin above.

 

[dee.jay]

I too am rubbish at pretty much any sort of incline. I end up in the lowest gears I can but I still manage to make it up. I am about 6 stone (if not a little more) overweight though so once I've been doing this a while I'm just going to work on the assumption that the weight loss and the gradual build up/toning of muscles in the legs will power me up a lot quicker later on: )

 

[Trull]

If you don't have one…get a cycle computer that has cadence on it. Now cycle up the nearest hill - if your cadence drops below 60 then change down a gear. If you run out of gears then get a triple or similar until you can maintain an efficient cadence.

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

As has been suggested. Get panting up those hills!

If your heart and lungs are ok, but your legs are tiring, then drop down at least 2 or 3 gears and spin much faster, so that more of the effort is being put on your cardio-vascular system, rather than your legs.

 

[solidthegreat]

Hi all, apologies as I just got in from work and logged in. Thanks for the great advice. A few add on's to the OP as I typed it on a phone which may help with what I am asking.
I am around the 16.5 st mark and riding a triple group set, front 50,39,30 and a 11,30 at the back.
I generally very quickly get down to the 30-30 to climb and manage to get up short hills around 7% spinning around 60rpm and around 5-6mph. Problem is when it gets a little steeper and longer, say about 3/4 mile long, I'm out of gears and turning about 40 rpm and crawling at 2-3mph at best before my legs give out. A stop of a minute and I'm good to go again but not for long before the need to stop returns. Not mentally I hasten to add, just deep muscle burn and no energy to push. Surely a gearing of 30 plus on the back of a triple isn't right, not that it would embarrass in any way as I don't care as long as I'm climbing ok, but I can't ever recall anyone riding that gearing.
I will of course try all of the above but I just wanted to make sure it is not something I am doing wrong with training and riding or maybe there is a underlying medical condition I need to look into.
Sorry if this sounds really stupid and obvious fix but it really is starting to get to me, as on the flats and smaller hills I have the legs and energy to keep up with 90rpm and 20mph for quiet some time.
Thanks as ever.

 

[ColinJ]

Well, when I was 16.5 stone I was using a 26/28 gear on many hills. Now I am just over 12 stone I am generally riding higher gears on climbs but I still use that 26/28 or a 28/29 on my other bike on steep stuff (say >10% for more than a few hundred metres).

I think you just need to lose a bit of weight and keep getting the miles in and you will soon be getting up those climbs more easily. I am enjoying climbs now that used to half kill me 15-20 years ago.

 

[solidthegreat]

Well, when I was 16.5 stone I was using a 26/28 gear on many hills. Now I am just over 12 stone I am generally riding higher gears on climbs but I still use that 26/28 or a 28/29 on my other bike on steep stuff (say >10% for more than a few hundred metres).

I think you just need to lose a bit of weight and keep getting the miles in and you will soon be getting up those climbs more easily. I am enjoying climbs now that used to half kill me 15-20 years ago.

Thank you and chapeau! I need to follow you in the trimming down for sure. The weight you have lost is amazing and you should be so proud of it. Did you incorporate a commercial diet plan?

 

[ColinJ]

Thank you and chapeau! I need to follow you in the trimming down for sure. The weight you have lost is amazing and you should be so proud of it. Did you incorporate a commercial diet plan?

No - I got very seriously ill in summer 2012 and lost a lot of weight before I began to heal. I eventually started to put weight back on but decided that I needed to take my health more seriously so I gave up alcohol, which had been the main reason I got fat in the first place (4-5 pints a night, most nights!). I haven't had any booze since August 2012.

Then I watched the Horizon documentary where doctor Michael Mosley tried what has now become known as 'the 5:2 diet' - see this thread. It made sense to me so I started eating to that pattern - as much healthy food as I liked 5 days a week, and restricted healthy food 2 days a week. I do allow myself treats like chocolate and cake, but only on the 5 'normal' days. If you ignore the sceptics posting in that thread, you will see that a lot of us have found that 5:2 works really well. I intend to stick to it for life.

I reckon another half a stone will do me so it will not be long before I have to start eating more on my normal eating days to avoid becoming underweight, (There are supposed to be lots of health benefits to having a couple of days a week where you don't eat much, so I want to stick with those.)

 

[ColinJ]

I should add that I am not a fanatic about the 5:2 thing. I stick to it most weeks, but if I am on holiday or have family visiting, I relax for a few days, eat what I want, and then settle back into the pattern again afterwards.

 

[KneesUp]

Surely a gearing of 30 plus on the back of a triple isn't right, not that it would embarrass in any way as I don't care as long as I'm climbing ok, but I can't ever recall anyone riding that gearing.

I have 22 front / 28 back as my lowest gear, and I'm almost 5 stone lighter than you.

I'm working on the idea that I try and exhaust either my legs or my lungs every ride. It's just a case of keeping at it. It's hills all directions from here so it's easy to practice. It sounds that like me your legs just aren't that strong, but it will come. When I did weights as a vain youngster nothing seemed to happen and then seemingly over the course of a few weeks muscles sprouted everywhere after not much happening for months. I'm hoping cycling will be the same - it feels a tiny bit easier every time I suppose, but it's still damn hard work, so it feels like you're making progress, and then one day you'll ride a ride you've done before and marvel at how easy it was.

 

[Big_Dave]

I'm a fair bit heavier than you are, I run a 30/42/52front 11-32cassette, my legs are good on nearly any climb whatever the distance, if I do stop then it's on a 20-25%ers due to high heart rate/being out of breath, I am slow but my legs are never a problem, do you eat during your ride and stay hydrated properly, and on the climbs do long slow deep breaths to get the maximum amount of oxygen into your blood? Maybe you just need a smaller chainset to build your leg muscles with easier gearing, @Nigelnaturist is running a 26/38/50 if I remember correctly and is a pretty good compromise, and it's possible to run 32t on the rear with that chainset, and for winter training I'm hoping to have similar gearing to do 25% hills on.

 

[slowmotion]

I have a bike with 50/39/28 on the front and 12-28 on the back. I think that's a 26 inch gear. I have another with 50/34 on the front and 13-29 on the cassette. ( about 30 inch lowest). The steepest hills still defeat me , even on the "hamster cadence" triple but it got me up a few hills that seemed impossible once. It was a big psychological boost.

Low gears, I love 'em.