Go Faster Hills

[GrumpyGregry]

I don't like it when it hurts R x

I don't think anyone likes it. I think it was LeMond who said "It never stops hurting, you just get faster"

 

[HLaB]

This involves 'feathering the throttle' and is trickier than you imply for a beginner.
Many a beginner have come to a halt after crunching the gears attempting to change down when climbing.

Shimano, I know, allow a 3 sprocket downshift to allow for the speed loss when 'loosening the torque'.

Yip that why I said first

easier said than done,

and

if you can

 

[Rob3rt]

I don't think this would be suitable for everyone. It's one way of doing it but that gearing sounds too high for everyone. I can't even push 85" and it'd be the highest gear on my bike yet I'm all right on hills.

Im not suggesting pushing 85" but agree'ing that pushing a gear that is hard on the flat so that it requires you to become stronger rather than pushing a gear that is easy as a good approach. Choice of gearing is dependant on available ratio's and rider.

 

[jimboalee]

Yip that why I said first and

I must be dyslexic today. I'm hurriedly reading these posts between doing a bit of work.

I will have to tone the work down a bit.

 

[HLaB]

I must be dyslexic today. I'm hurriedly reading these posts between doing a bit of work.

No problem I think we've all had days like that (me more than anybody else )

 

[GrasB]

I don't think anyone likes it. I think it was LeMond who said "It never stops hurting, you just get faster"

Depends how you ride hills & who with.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't think anyone likes it. I think it was LeMond who said "It never stops hurting, you just get faster"

Unfortunately, the opposite isn't true. As I've got fatter and less fit, I've gone slower and slower on tough hills but I'm now at the speed where I can't go any slower without falling off so they just hurt more and more!

 

[Fiona N]

Unfortunately, the opposite isn't true. As I've got fatter and less fit, I've gone slower and slower on tough hills but I'm now at the speed where I can't go any slower without falling off so they just hurt more and more!

Ah that's because you're past your peak Colin I know the feeling
I've actually had a small revelation re training for hills. Round here, I don't train for the hills as such, seeing as how it's hard to ride beyond the end of the drive without hitting a significant gradient, but my attitude has changed recently. I used to gear down and patiently (sort of ) spin up the hills as this is what you have to do on a recumbent so, increasingly, it was what I did on the upright too.

The road bike I've been riding up 'til recently has a triple and a 30inch granny gear which allows comfortable spinning up most things (Wrynose excepted). But the new bike has a compact and a significantly higher bottom gear which I anyway tend to 'reserve' for when things get hard. Consequently I'm getting up short hills on 70-80 inch gears (largest sprockets I use with the big chain ring) and longer ones on 54-44.

I've got a lot fitter quite quickly and the extra effort is being absorbed without leaving me knackered at the end of the outing. And, needless to say, riding like this is a lot quicker and I've seen hilly ride average speeds increase from 20-21 kmph to 24-25 kmph, which I'm quite happy with given that I'm no spring chicken and a good deal heavier than racing weight Perhaps more importantly, I feel like I'm meeting the challenge of the hills, riding more aggressively rather than just pootling.

 

[jimboalee]

Ah that's because you're past your peak Colin I know the feeling
I've actually had a small revelation re training for hills. Round here, I don't train for the hills as such, seeing as how it's hard to ride beyond the end of the drive without hitting a significant gradient, but my attitude has changed recently. I used to gear down and patiently (sort of ) spin up the hills as this is what you have to do on a recumbent so, increasingly, it was what I did on the upright too.

The road bike I've been riding up 'til recently has a triple and a 30inch granny gear which allows comfortable spinning up most things (Wrynose excepted). But the new bike has a compact and a significantly higher bottom gear which I anyway tend to 'reserve' for when things get hard. Consequently I'm getting up short hills on 70-80 inch gears (largest sprockets I use with the big chain ring) and longer ones on 54-44.

I've got a lot fitter quite quickly and the extra effort is being absorbed without leaving me knackered at the end of the outing. And, needless to say, riding like this is a lot quicker and I've seen hilly ride average speeds increase from 20-21 kmph to 24-25 kmph, which I'm quite happy with given that I'm no spring chicken and a good deal heavier than racing weight Perhaps more importantly, I feel like I'm meeting the challenge of the hills, riding more aggressively rather than just pootling.

Hmmmm..... I'm lost for words.

 

[Moodyman]

Hmmmm..... I'm lost for words.

Impressed me too. I had to re-read to make sure that I read right.

 

[jimboalee]

I've been riding in this style for forty years.

I tried to emulate Eddy Merckx.

 

[ColinJ]

Actually, the problem is that I put loads of weight on, don't ride my bike enough, then I go and do an 85 mile ride over the Pennines and wonder why it hurts!

I spend another week off the bike moaning about my lack of fitness, and then try and do it again...

I'm going back to basics - lots of rides of 20-30 miles rather than a few much longer ones.

I also need to get back to a sensible size. I bumped into an old man that I know out walking with his daughter and their dogs at the weekend. He took one look at me and said "Blimey, have you put on weight!"

 

[jimboalee]

Actually, the problem is that I put loads of weight on, don't ride my bike enough, then I go and do an 85 mile ride over the Pennines and wonder why it hurts!

I spend another week off the bike moaning about my lack of fitness, and then try and do it again...

I'm going back to basics - lots of rides of 20-30 miles rather than a few much longer ones.

I also need to get back to a sensible size. I bumped into an old man that I know out walking with his daughter and their dogs at the weekend. He took one look at me and said "Blimey, have you put on weight!"

After the last two years being a total washout regarding the weather, and having set myself a goal of earning a 20 x 100km Brevet 2000 from AUK, my aim has become one of...
"Keep fit enough to do a 100km permanent AUK TOMORROW". Not tomorrow in the calendar sense, tomorrow as in "It looks like good weather tomorrow".

 

[Fiona N]

Hmmmm..... I'm lost for words.

Impressed me too. I had to re-read to make sure that I read right.

I'm not - I used to race in the Alps with bottom gear of 39 x 23 (46 inch), or 25 (42 inch) if it was going to be a long day but that was more than 10 years and 12 kg ago

 

[jimboalee]

I'm not - I used to race in the Alps with bottom gear of 39 x 23 (46 inch), or 25 (42 inch) if it was going to be a long day but that was more than 10 years and 12 kg ago

Rode my SWorks to work today. Used 53 x 19 up the 10%. Its usually 42 x 17 on my Dawes Giro 500.

I'm out of training somewhat.

53 x 19 at 50ish rpm 'cus the speedo said 11 mph.