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

[tordis]

Hills don't get easier, but you get fitter. When I started riding to work, there was one hill that I thought of as a pain in the neck. Now I barely notice it. Practice, practice, practice - that's all it takes

 

[jimboalee]

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.

This is why I chose the A30 from Land's End to Okehampton rather than the country lanes.

 

[yello]

Yes, I did a similar thing just last weekend. I opted for the main departmental road through a town rather than the take the communal back roads around it. Yes, the main road was (relatively) busy but it was a smooth as and gently rolling - and I was feeling too knackered to deal with the zig-zagging, undulating, rougher surfaced back roads!

With regard to the OP's question, has nobody mentioned the Greg Lemond quote yet... "It never gets easier, you just go faster"

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Nope, you just get used to them and go up them faster.

 

[jimboalee]

Nope, you just get used to them and go up them faster.

Replace "get used to them" with "build strong muscles".

 

[lukesdad]

Or get lighter and go up them faster

 

[ColinJ]

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.

The gradient along the contours is always zero! If you mean where roads go up perpendicular to the contours - bring 'em on (in a very low gear)!

This is why I chose the A30 from Land's End to Okehampton rather than the country lanes.

+1 Why I choose to ride on all the major trunk roads when I done the LeJog.

-1

If I ever do a LeJog, I will use the minimum length of A-road possible and will meander across the country to take in parts of Wales, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales (stopping off at home overnight on the way?). Every big hill in sight and probably not a stretch of smooth flat tarmac! It would lengthen the ride by perhaps 200 miles and thousands of feet of climbing but that would just add to the challenge.

I adopted that approach for the North-West Passage audax in 2007. It's an early season 200 from Rochdale which is a real A-road fest. I took advantage of an unseasonably nice day to get off 65 km of fast A-roads like the A65 and A6 and do 75 km over meandering hilly country lanes instead. When I arrived at the checkpoint at Kirkby Lonsdale the people there had almost given up on me and asked why I was so slow. I told them what I was doing and they looked at me gobsmacked. One man called out "What's up - isn't it hard enough for you!"

I don't want my rides to be like time trials. I want to experience the best countryside on offer, away from heavy traffic.

 

[jimboalee]

Or get lighter and go up them faster

"Build strong muscles" PROPERLY, and "get lighter" is a by-product of the process along with hill climbing ability.

A lot of newbies buy a bike to "get lighter", find they "build semi-strong muscles" as a consequence but forever have the niggling question of "Do hills get easier?"

Having said this, the training course for 'hill climbing ability' is climbing hills, so go out and do it and answer that niggling question.

 

[jimboalee]

The gradient along the contours is always zero! If you mean where roads go up perpendicular to the contours - bring 'em on (in a very low gear)!




-1

If I ever do a LeJog, I will use the minimum length of A-road possible and will meander across the country to take in parts of Wales, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales (stopping off at home overnight on the way?). Every big hill in sight and probably not a stretch of smooth flat tarmac! It would lengthen the ride by perhaps 200 miles and thousands of feet of climbing but that would just add to the challenge.

I adopted that approach for the North-West Passage audax in 2007. It's an early season 200 from Rochdale which is a real A-road fest. I took advantage of an unseasonably nice day to get off 65 km of fast A-roads like the A65 and A6 and do 75 km over meandering hilly country lanes instead. When I arrived at the checkpoint at Kirkby Lonsdale the people there had almost given up on me and asked why I was so slow. I told them what I was doing and they looked at me gobsmacked. One man called out "What's up - isn't it hard enough for you!"

I don't want my rides to be like time trials. I want to experience the best countryside on offer, away from heavy traffic.

Another reason to take the 'Main road' on a long tour or Audax is...

If anything unexpected happens to muscle, ligament, cartiledge, bowels during the ride, a Paramedic can find you easier sitting beside an A road rather than a secluded country single track lane somewhere where it is difficult to describe your position.

 

[ColinJ]

Another reason to take the 'Main road' on a long tour or Audax is...

If anything unexpected happens to muscle, ligament, cartiledge, bowels during the ride, a Paramedic can find you easier sitting beside an A road rather than a secluded country single track lane somewhere where it is difficult to describe your position.

Safer still - stay at home, sat within reach of a landline phone. You can never be sure that you'd get a signal on your mobile out in the countryside!

As for describing where I was - I'd give them a Grid reference off my GPS and they could look it up on a map!

Actually, I don't normally carry a phone with me. We managed perfectly well without them until 10 or 15 years ago so why bother now? Mind you - we also managed perfectly well without tarmac roads and bicycles 200 years ago so that probably isn't a great argument...

 

[Mark_Robson]

Actually, I don't normally carry a phone with me. We managed perfectly well without them until 10 or 15 years ago so why bother now? Mind you - we also managed perfectly well without tarmac roads and bicycles 200 years ago so that probably isn't a great argument...

You sound like my dad and he's 71.

 

[Randochap]

What was the question again?

Oh yeah, hills. We got 'em; we ride 'em.

Low gears are nice to have and use.

 

[ColinJ]

You sound like my dad and he's 71.

I'm 54 and I think that email is super, the (World Wide) Web is fantastic, I don't pine for vinyl records and life wasn't necessarily brilliant back in the 50s/60s/70s.

However, I ride my bike to get away from the stresses of everyday life not to take them with me and one of the big stresses of modern living is not having a moment's peace and quiet to do your own thing and think your own thoughts. Well I actually like being out of touch. If you are on a ride with me - let's talk, or let's ride along together without talking, but if you are not on the ride with me, you can wait until I get home!

Email is fine - I'll check it when I feel like it (usually fairly frequently). PMs here are okay too - I check for them fairly frequently too.

Mobile phones are intrusive and they are turning us into the equivalent of high-tech ants, always in touch with the rest of the colony. I stand against this - I am not a (phone) number - I am a free man!

 

[GrasB]

Do hills get easier... I'll rescind my previous answer & replace it with a new one: hell yes! They suddenly get really easy when not only do you drop the guy on the electric bike but the said guy is out of breath & you're only hurting a little bit

 

[lukesdad]

They only get easier if you want them to. If you want to get really good at them they never get easier.