Climbing Hills

[hozn]

I am sure there is no shortage of advice, as this is a forum! . I don’t know the hills you mention, but I did notice my rear wheel slipping on some short steep climbs today. Which brings me to my advice: have (and use) a gear where you can remain seated while climbing — primarily to keep the weight over the back wheel but also staying seated is generally more efficient. My 44:36 gear ratio is fine when it’s just me, but, when pulling the trailer, that ratio requires me to stand up, which does me no favors when the ground is wet and strewn with leaves.

My other advice would be to periodically not remain seated — I.e. stand on the pedals — to keep blood flowing and change up the muscles briefly.

[DismalScientist]

Gear down and man up.

[Subby]

Just put an easy climbing gear on your bike (34/28) when you go for really long rides with big climbs. Otherwise just ride fixed or singlespeed and stand up a lot.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Even if your fitness isn’t great, a low gear, smooth pedal stroke, and minimization of extraneous body movement will help make sure you’re putting the maximum potential energy into moving upward.

[huskerdont]

And if it’s really steep such that you may not be able to get up it or are about to fall sideways b/c your speed is too slow, remember that you can effectively lessen the grade by zigzagging, cutting across the grade at say a 45-degree angle (traffic/obstacles permitting, of course).

[jrenaut]

Learn to spin faster. I was forced to do this by 1) buying a longtail to haul the kids and 2) buying a fixed gear bike. Both of these things got me used to a faster cadence, and hill climbing skill increased naturally.

Also when you’re used to climbing a hill with 110 pounds of child + who knows what else on the back of an already heavy bike, climbing the hill without all that feels like a breeze.

If you need some children to borrow, you can have mine. They don’t fight that much on the back of the bike.

[Steve O]

So to summarize: stay seated, but stand up.
:p
@hozn 146740 wrote:

… remain seated while climbing …- I.e. stand on the pedals

And then there’s always this option:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12508[/ATTACH]

[Emm]

drop gears BEFORE you get to the hill. Otherwise you just wasted a whole bunch of energy beginning a climb in a tougher gear than you should be in. Plus it’s not as easy to drop gears under load, esp in the front.

Honestly, learning that one tip made climbing hills 10x easier for me…otherwise just get good at spinning. There’s some painful hills by my house, and learning how to pace myself and control my breathing during the climb really helped me get to the top without feeling like I was about to faint.

[hozn]

@Steve O 146767 wrote:

So to summarize: stay seated, but stand up.
[emoji14]

Yes, do both, but do the former much more (and the latter strictly for diversity).

[Judd]

@BobCochran 146739 wrote:

Does anyone have advice for getting up steep hills like, say, Gapland Road

It depends on whether you want to merely survive a hill or TOTALLY DOMINATE ALL HILLS FOR ALL TIME. If it’s the former, then switch to low gears early, stay in the saddle as much as possible, stay as relaxed as possible and ride a bike with lower gearing.

If it’s the latter: ride the heaviest bike you can, ride fixed gear, attack every single hill, stay in the highest gear you possibly can throughout the climb, stay in the saddle as much as possible, ride every single hill you possibly can and go on 600k bike rides in the mountains with Subby, Eric and Caleb.

I personally attempt to adhere to Rule 90: http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#90

This has led to others leveraging such personal attacks as being called a “pedal masher”.

[Judd]

@Judd 146774 wrote:

stay in the saddle as much as possible

*Unless you’re an advanced rider like wheels&wings, who has also mastered the power/weight ratio element of climbing.

[Steve O]

@Judd 146775 wrote:

*Unless you’re an advanced rider like wheels&wings, who has also mastered the power/weight ratio element of climbing.

She has an unfair advantage in the denominator.

[Steve O]

@Judd 146774 wrote:

I personally attempt to adhere to Rule 90: http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#90

Easy to do if you only have one ring. Just sayin’.

[ewilliams0305]

BREATH! it’s all in the breathing

you can be strong as hell, have all the gears in the world, but if you aren’t breathing… YOU WILL DIE!

[Judd]

@Steve O 146784 wrote:

Easy to do if you only have one ring. Just sayin’.

Rule 90, Part A: only have one ring.

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