When will I be strong enough to get up hills?

[BrumJim]

and LOL I will put pics up if I reach my goal, as I suspect I would look pretty damn hot if I had a toned enough body to make it up that hill. Honestly, I was panting for breath and feeling like I was going to faint just APPROACHING it!! I definitely won't look up - I was so doing that, hadn't thought of it putting me off.

thanks again!!

#

Probably most of your problem here. I used to struggle getting up one major hill on my fitness route. I've recently joined a casual social cycling group on Saturday morning. First time out we were paced by a keen and experienced cyclists, and I did two big hills without any problems (although a lot of puffing and panting). Next time we did it, sadly we burnt out a newbie, who had to stop for a breath half way up.

Anyway, what did I learn?

Make sure you have plenty in the tank when you start the hill. Unless it is a small rise, your momentum (speed) won't help you much anyway, so you are just wasting energy by getting speed up before the slope starts. You want to be comfortable at the bottom, such that you could hold a conversation with your passenger or fellow cyclist. Change up early, and be prepared to loose speed rather than peddle furiously to keep it. Its when the hill hits the steepest part that you need to be working the hardest, but again, enough to leave some in reserve for the rest of the hill.

And as with any exercise - your fitness improves dramatically the first few times, so you will be MUCH better next time out. So don't let the failure get you down.

 

[Globalti]

Just how steep IS this hill? Can you tell us where it is or link us to it on a map?

My son is 11 now but I well remember the child seat and then the tag-along. It got worse as he grew; we tried stopping his food but social services threatened to take him away from us (that was a joke btw).

Best advice I can give is to make sure you're in a low gear and not mashing your knees by forcing the pedals around. Your fitness would also improve if you could get some fast riding with a pal to egg you on.

 

[Moodyman]

Relax your upper body and keep calm.

I agree. Don't clamp grip the handlebars or grit your teeth. That will use up valuable effort that you can otherwsise transfer to your legs.

The milestones that others mentioned are great. One of my hills is like mount Everest - it goes from the bottom of a deep valley to the summit. I conquered it by setting milestones and gradually moved higher. Now I climb it without thinking.

 

[Arch]

In fact while I am here... might as well ask.. going TO town isn't as hard hillwise but to be honest the downhill slope is all road with driveways along it, and I go SO FAST on the bike down it, it is a truly terrifying experience. Is it common for people to go over handlebars or does it just feel like it?

thanks again!!

You can always moderate your speed with a little on-off braking - just don't get to the point where you jam the brakes on, that's what cause you to go over the bars or skid. Keep your brakes covered, in any case, and look well ahead and anticipate. Expect the unexpected. I'm pretty chicken at going down hill myself.

Also, I don't know of course, but how far out from the kerb are you riding? Many newbies hug the gutter, thinking that's what you should do, but you shouldn't for a few reasons:

1. The gutter is full of crap - glass, grit, etc, so the surface is bad for your tyres, and less predictable.

2. Riding further out makes you more visible to motorists, who sometimes develop tunnel vision directly in front of them, but less to the sides of the road.

3. Being a little further out gives you more time to react to a car nosing out of one of those driveways. Only a split second perhaps, but that can be enough to turn a panicky swerve into a controlled jink outwards. Also, you have more space to jink left if some one passes too close.

 

[jimboalee]

This calls for a bit of witchcraft... bibbetty, bobbetty boo.

Firstly weigh the bike WITH its passenger.

Divide 1 by the number of lbs you measured. ( reciprocal of weight )

Multiply the 1/lb by 1000.

This is the INCH gear you ought to have to climb a 10% hill.


Shazzam.

 

[ColinJ]

This calls for a bit of witchcraft... bibbetty, bobbetty boo.

Firstly weigh the bike WITH its passenger.

Divide 1 by the number of lbs you measured. ( reciprocal of weight )

Multiply the 1/lb by 1000.

This is the INCH gear you ought to have to climb a 10% hill.


Shazzam.

I think you are being a tad pessimistic there jimbo - try multiplying by 10,000 and you get a more realistic figure!

 

[Arch]

or......

Just keep practicing.

By the way, jim, may I introduce you to a new magic word, courtesy of my 2 year old nephew?

Abraca-zebra!

 

[tyred]

You will get there with practice if you persist.

Maybe you know this already or the shop where you bought the bike sorted this out for you but ensure that you have your saddle high enough. Many beginners, including myself, set the saddle too low and this will make it more difficult to climb hills and potentially hurt your knees in the long term. If you can touch the ground with your feet, it's too low.

 

[jimboalee]

I think you are being a tad pessimistic there jimbo - try multiplying by 10,000 and you get a more realistic figure!

At a guess, a three year old might be just over 2 stone or 30 lb. The bike and kiddy seat might be 35 lb. That's 65lb all up weight.

1/65 = 0.0154.

0.0154 x 1000 = 15.4 INCHES gear. A 20 ring to 36 sprocket will do it.

 

[jimboalee]

or......

Just keep practicing.

By the way, jim, may I introduce you to a new magic word, courtesy of my 2 year old nephew?

Abraca-zebra!

The oldest 'Magic word' ( or words ) is "Simsim" or lately "ZimZim".

If it is said correctly into a frequency analyser, there are two instances of a specific tone at a specific time spacing.

This was the 'voice activated door' signal which opened Ali Baba's magic cave ( hidden transport craft ) in the old story.

If you look up on urbandictionary.com, you will find "Zim zim" means "let's get going" or 'Depart'.
This is what the occupants of Ali Baba's hidden transport craft intended to do.


PS. A Zebra is merely a donkey with a bar-code.

 

[jimboalee]

Did I tell you the one about Aladin's 'magic' lamp?

When he touches it in a special way, it lights up and someone speaks to him.

It was a mobile phone.

 

[Arch]

You will get there with practice if you persist.

Maybe you know this already or the shop where you bought the bike sorted this out for you but ensure that you have your saddle high enough. Many beginners, including myself, set the saddle too low and this will make it more difficult to climb hills and potentially hurt your knees in the long term. If you can touch the ground with your feet, it's too low.

That's a bit general. It depends on the geometry of the bike, and the height of the bottom bracket.

I think maybe you mean if you can touch the floor with both feet flat on the floor. Most people can get one foot down while in the saddle. I can get one toe down on one of my bikes, on the others I really need to come off the saddle to be comfortable for more than few seconds.

The best gauge is that with the ball of the foot on the pedal, there should be a slight bend in the knee. I think it equates to a straight leg with the hell on the pedal. Whether you can reach the ground after that, depends.

 

[jimboalee]

That's a bit general. It depends on the geometry of the bike, and the height of the bottom bracket.

I think maybe you mean if you can touch the floor with both feet flat on the floor. Most people can get one foot down while in the saddle. I can get one toe down on one of my bikes, on the others I really need to come off the saddle to be comfortable for more than few seconds.

The best gauge is that with the ball of the foot on the pedal, there should be a slight bend in the knee. I think it equates to a straight leg with the hell on the pedal. Whether you can reach the ground after that, depends.

Yup, although you should have your heel on the pedal wearing the shoes for those pedals.

If you do the calc method of 0.883 x leg length, you MUST have the correct crank length for your hip height.

 

[Newbietocycling]

This is all very interesting.....!Am learning a lot, cheers to you all for sharing your wisdom!

I think it is actually quite a steep hill. Put it this way - the lady in the bike shop said that when she used to cycle that route to town (she lives close to me) she used to get off her bike and push it to do the downhill run as she was just too scared......! Which worries me. I am very vigilant though, always expecting the unexpected, especially as a non driver - we assume the worst.

Will try and get you a link to it but not sure how i will find the gradient.. there is another way to go, slightly shorter distance(though still steep) but it's full of traffic which I am just not ready for yet with a baby in tow.

The bike it a perfect height for me and I have a good leg extension on it, it fits me well at 17 inches. (I'm 5'4'') I can barely touch the floor even with my tiptoes but I prefer to be comfortable when riding so i keep the saddle high.

Regarding keeping away from the kerb - thanks Arch, I kind of do this naturally but I didn't realise it was recommended. I'm scared of bumping into the kerb as I did this on a previous bike and fell off it, very embarrassing..

Ok am off for a cycle in the sun to the polling station... am so glad I joined this forum... :-) don't think i will manage the hills the way my legs are aching but i'll keep you posted.. !

 

[Newbietocycling]

ah here we go. it's lour road in forfar... it's on googlemaps. i just went down it "virtually" but it looks shamefully unhilly. don't be fooled!!