Hill Training

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Bennai

Regular
I have been cycling now for about 3 weeks, my aim is the same as most really to shed a few excess pounds and get fitter.
My eventual goal is start commuting to work 18 miles each way.

I went for a bit of hill training last night, I don't have many good hills where I am so I found a small loop I could and ht a few hill repeats on it, I started out in the saddle spinning, next loop I changed to big gear out of the saddle, next loop i stayed in saddle powering the gear I just used out of the saddle.

Don't that for a couple of goes around then tried to stay in the saddle the whole time and use a bigger gear on each loop.

The hill isnt that steep at all nor is it long but I hit the loop about 15 times and clocked up about 10 miles in total.

My legs were shot afterwards.

So what hill training do you all do?
 

wealthysoup

Active Member
Location
Belfast
I do very little specific hill training as I live at the top of 3 big hills, each time I cycle home I have to do them. Apart from that I either go up and down one of the less steep hills a few times (If I don't have much time) or cycle on a rolling route.

Commuting 18 miles isn't bad, I've been doing it myself a couple of times a week for the past few weeks. Although, I wouldn't fancy doing it every day
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
I live in a flat area. At the end of the day there's not much difference between climbing & riding on the flat at a given power, the main one is you will tend to ride 1 or 2 sprockets higher for the same speed & technique uphill. So how I train is over gear by a sprocket or two & aim for a specific power or effort level. My training works as when I go the Alps I'm constantly competitive despite being rather heavy for a climber.
 

Kiwiavenger

im a little tea pot
I live in Cornwall so every day I do "hill training" :sad:

me too

my commute into work has a 330 ft climb almost straight out the gates for 2 miles! then a bit of downhill and then uphill again all in the space of 5 miles!! i just sit and spin. i did replace my rear casette for an 11-28, but have ditched the 28 and swapped to the standard 26 tooth casette and chucked the 11 toth lowest cog on too!

hills are fun!!!!
 

fossala

Guru
Location
Cornwall
I'm in St. Austell and work in Tregony. I've got to go on the A390 hitting 2 big hills coming out of St. Austell. When I turn of at Andrew Toms garage it's all up and down till I get to work.

Sometimes I go the Mevagissey way, but that's just as bad from Pentewen onwards.
 
'Hill training' is a bit of a red herring, IMO. Aerobic fitness and power output are what gets people up hills - and you can work on that anywhere, like GrasB says.
 
OP
OP
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Bennai

Regular
Thanks gents,
I like the idea of just riding a couple of gears to big on a flat instead of actively looking for hills to climb.
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
It's not just a case of over gearing. It's also a case of putting in the power you will be at climbing effort levels. The latter is a case of discipline as it's all to easy to let the effort level drop bellow what you would be riding at if you were going up hill.
 

amaferanga

Veteran
Location
Bolton
If you've only been cycling for 3 weeks I'd forget about 'training' (cycling up hills a bit doesn't really count as hill training anyway) and just ride your bike until you can do a 3 hour plus ride comfortably. Then worry about getting faster and/or better at hills.
 
OP
OP
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Bennai

Regular
I am going to attempt 50 miles on Saturday, been out recently doing around 20ish so am targeting the 50, could be too big a step but I'm up for it!
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
I am going to attempt 50 miles on Saturday, been out recently doing around 20ish so am targeting the 50, could be too big a step but I'm up for it!

20 miles to 50 miles isn't to much to contemplate at all. Get on with it.

I would recommend a circular route around your home rather than an out and back route, that way if you NEED to bail you can limp home the short way.
 
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