Please tell me....hills get easier??

[j66]

Ok, so I've only been riding for a couple of months, gradually extended to what's now 30 miles every other day. Ms66 came home about six months ago with a second-hand Raleigh Boulder 15 speed for me - at the time I was recovering from a nasty operation and bedridden in extreme pain for about 8 weeks [lost 2 stone and I wasn't fat] and merely chuckled weakly at the bike. However, now I love it!

Anyway, I live at the top of a 13% hill and never thought I'd cycle up it - it's exhausting enough to walk it - yet other people seemed to manage so, with some tips gleaned from this forum I have now done it, ooh, at least 6 times. Now, there's a mini-roundabout at the bottom [sea-level] and the other day some well-muscled lycra wearing [my padded shorts are under my jeans since I've never been proud of my legs] fella entered the roundabout just ahead of me, like a car shouldn't, and took off up the hill with me inches behind him. Now, I'm not sure of the etiquette and to my surprise I felt that I could've overtaken him but didn't as I probably wasn't able to pull away afterwards, cars were behind, and sections were horribly pitted. If I'd slowed and lost momentum I felt I would've had to stop so was stuck an inch behind all the way up until he peeled off a side turning halfway up. Wanted to say 'nice bike' or similar [think it was a Genesis Aether] but didn't have the breath. He looked at me but didn't say a thing - hard to tell what he was thinking tbh. I was able to do the rest of the hill a bit quicker after that.

Only when I reached the top did I realise that I hadn't been in as low a gear as usual! So yes, I think hills do get easier...

Sorry about the long post - I'm a bit out of practice with forums.

 

[Davidc]

I have to stop and rest on steep hills, and always will have to because of some of the drugs I have to take. I didn't when youger. I just put it down to getting older and less healthy and use the time to enjoy the views.

 

[GrasB]

They do get easier in my opinion. I almost chuckle at the ease with which I ride hills that I dreaded when I first did them, not that long ago. Perhaps there is an optimum point after which there is no improvement!

For me hills haven't got easier in a long time... however the speed at which I climb them (I find I climb with my heart rate at around 170-180bpm no matter what the hill is) & the amount of energy I have at the top is ever so slowly increasing.

 

[JtB]

For those who asked I ride a Carrera Kraken.

I think much of your problem is that you are using a mountain bike on the road. My regular ride is a leisurely 11 miles long and I once road it on a mountain bike - it was a killer, especially going up the hills. You can put slic tyres on a mountain bike and it will be a bit easier, but you're just not going to get anywhere near the same performance as with a road bike. Personally I hate riding a mountain bike on the road because so much of the effort seems to get wasted and no matter how hard you try you just never seem to move much.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Hills are about the following...

Practice:
Accept no substitute. The more you do, the better you get.

Technique:
Find what works for you, spinning or grinding your way up. BUT, the 1 big bit of advice is to relax your upper body, in fact relax everything that is not working to drive you up the hill. Personally I like to sit back on the saddle and drive from my lower back, my arms simply rest droopily on the bars and my legs grind away. Find a nice rhythmn and judge your effort. You see so many novices trying to wrestle their bikes up hills, such people are doomed to fail.

Mentality:
Many are psyched-out before they even hit the nursery slopes.
Take each hill yards at a time, don't think about the top, just the next 10 metres, think about something other than the hill... Oh, and relax your mind as well, tense mind, tense body and that's just wasting effort.

 

[buggi]

Yes and No.

What happens is a couple of things.

1. you get used to the feeling of exertion (when your heart rate is at its max) and realise you won't die
2. you get fitter and stronger

The fitter and stronger you become, and the more used to the feeling of exertion, just means that you will get up the hill quicker and in a harder gear. So yes, in that respect, they get easier.

But because you are fitter and stronger, and used to the feeling of exertion, and therefore able to push a harder gear, you will still try to get to the top as quick as possible. So in that respect No, it does not get easier... you just push yourself harder and get there quicker, but you will always feel knackered at the top.

it's the feeling of exertion that you become used to that makes it seem easier.

 

[Davidc]

Hills are about the following...

Practice:

Technique:

Mentality:

Absolutely right FF

 

[johnr]

Try it without the weight. I think you'll be amazed at the difference.

I've been up the same hill on my commute for 5 years. I spent weeks walking up the top half before I made it. I'm now using 4th or 5th gear and moving up one before the summit.

Extra weight, tyre pressure, state of the chain/bike maintenance, wind direction all still make a big difference though and you feel like Bradley Wiggins when you sort them out!

Good luck with it. It does get easier.

 

[RyanW]

Personally hills (Humping up them) Hurts me just the same now as when i started cycling, the difference now is it takes me 2 minutes to recover (I get up hill as fast as i can then just go slower when im at the top, rather then cycling up them slower) rather then still feeling shattered from it 10minutes later when i get home.

I must admit though, the past few weeks i have found myself getting faster and faster. Annoyingly the hill i climb (Although not big by any means) is one of the ones that is shallow, steep, then shallow, all going up. I don't know why, but they take far more out of me then just a steep hill would going to the same height,

Just me?

 

[PK99]

Only when I reached the top did I realise that I hadn't been in as low a gear as usual! So yes, I think hills do get easier...

.

Ahhhhh!

The psychological benefit of grabbing a wheel! Even when going too slowly for there to be any drafting benefit following a wheel infront always makes the hill easier!

 

[jimboalee]

Hills don't get easier. They do if there's been an earthquake, but if there has, they might have got more difficult.

The amount of exertion you must give is dependant on your total mass. Lose weight and you won't need to exert as much.

The amount of exertion for any particular hill might be a low proportion of your potential or a high proportion of all the power you can muster.
The former is the desired situation.
To get into this situation, you MUST force yourself to become stronger by Hypertrophy and capillarised by performing MORE work in LESS time than previously.

 

[Jambon]

i dont think they get that much easier, you just learn to recover quicker.

 

[Ujamaflip]

Mentality:
Many are psyched-out before they even hit the nursery slopes.
Take each hill yards at a time, don't think about the top, just the next 10 metres, think about something other than the hill... Oh, and relax your mind as well, tense mind, tense body and that's just wasting effort.

Good point. There have been times when I've been climbing a hill and turned a hairpoint bend just to find another long, steep, seemingly endless hill unravel before me. Those moments used to knock all the motivation out of me, a couple of times I just thought screw it, that's enough, and turned back down the hill. But now I just look a few metres ahead and pick it off bit-by-bit, or I watch the scenery, or dream about the descent, anything but the distant crest.

 

[lukesdad]

Hills are about the following...

Practice:
Accept no substitute. The more you do, the better you get.

Technique:
Find what works for you, spinning or grinding your way up. BUT, the 1 big bit of advice is to relax your upper body, in fact relax everything that is not working to drive you up the hill. Personally I like to sit back on the saddle and drive from my lower back, my arms simply rest droopily on the bars and my legs grind away. Find a nice rhythmn and judge your effort. You see so many novices trying to wrestle their bikes up hills, such people are doomed to fail.

Mentality:
Many are psyched-out before they even hit the nursery slopes.
Take each hill yards at a time, don't think about the top, just the next 10 metres, think about something other than the hill... Oh, and relax your mind as well, tense mind, tense body and that's just wasting effort.

Knew there was something wrong with me Hills ah!.....Mountains...even better. Even after all these years,still get a tingle in the back of the neck, and the pulse starts to race. " nows the time, my time, lets get out of the saddle and put the hurt on"..... Mentality......climbers are always "one brick short of a load"

 

[Globalti]

A well-engineered gradient on a modern A road or a turnpike road that's consistent is always better than an old tarmacced cart road where the gradient follows the contours. These can give you nightmares.