Hill Climbing Etiquette
- Thread starter rsvdaz
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
The best Hill Climbing etiquette is "Know your limitations".
Go to the gym.
Warm up properly and then see how much power you can put down for a 5 minute bash on the upright bike standing up and turning the cranks at 60 rpm.
Then go home with that figure and punch some numbers into PowerCalc.xls on the CTC website.
See what speed you COULD get up various gradients based on the power you got at the gym.
Cross reference the speeds with 60 rpm on the gears your bike has.
Now you will know two things.
1/ The steepest hill you can climb on the gear you've got, &
2/ The gear you should have if you want to climb a 20% gradient ( a hill with 1 chevron ).
Go to the gym.
Warm up properly and then see how much power you can put down for a 5 minute bash on the upright bike standing up and turning the cranks at 60 rpm.
Then go home with that figure and punch some numbers into PowerCalc.xls on the CTC website.
See what speed you COULD get up various gradients based on the power you got at the gym.
Cross reference the speeds with 60 rpm on the gears your bike has.
Now you will know two things.
1/ The steepest hill you can climb on the gear you've got, &
2/ The gear you should have if you want to climb a 20% gradient ( a hill with 1 chevron ).
NorthernSky
Guru
i used to stand up for pretty much every hill i came across but recently i've tried a different technique of compressing. i hold on at the brake leavers, elbows out and get my head right down and keep the cadence up. it feels like my legs are taking less to make a full rotation too.
it seems to make for a smoother ride up the hill. any do's and don't for this way of climbing?
i'm only recreational cyclist, doing up to 35miles atm
it seems to make for a smoother ride up the hill. any do's and don't for this way of climbing?
i'm only recreational cyclist, doing up to 35miles atm
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
My hill climbing style depends on the hill. For short, sharp hill I like to power up them in a high gear, standing up if I need to maintain my cadence. On longer drags, its a lower gear and I mix it more standing and sitting and even the latter I change sometimes sitting more upright so I can use different muscles. Easier said than done, I also like to change up when I stand up or the climb eases off as I hate running out of gears. Mostly however I just ride them and tactics are variable or go out the window.
Shut Up Legs
Down Under Member
My approach is to just stay put in the saddle, which I believe is more efficient than standing up. I try to anticipate increases in gradient and change gears at the last possible moment, in order to maintain as much momentum as possible. And at all costs I try to avoid stopping (mainly due to the ignominy of it 
).
I haven't done a huge amount of hill-climbing, though: mainly the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, plus a few others*, over the last 18 months.
* Arthurs Seat, Lavers Hill, You Yangs.
).I haven't done a huge amount of hill-climbing, though: mainly the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, plus a few others*, over the last 18 months.
* Arthurs Seat, Lavers Hill, You Yangs.