how do i improve my hills?

[screenman]

let me guess the boston hills aren't very steep?
Cheers Ed

Steep enough to give you nose bleeds.

 

[nickyboy]

Very long hills (18+ minutes): improve threshold, reduce weight
Long hills (10+ minute): improve threshold + power at VO2 max, reduce weight
Short hills (3-8 minute): improve power at VO2 max, reduce weight
Very short hills (<1.5 mins): improve anaerobic power, upper body and core strength, reduce weight

I climb lots of different types of hills. As a muscular build 13.5 stones on the v short hills I can get in the top 10% on strava presumably down to decent anaerobic power and upper body strength. But as the climbs get longer and longer my performance compared to others reduces. Long hills (like Cat and Fiddle, Snake, Long Hill etc) my relative performance is much weaker, down about half way on the leaderboards.
I could starve myself to lose a stone or so which would no doubt help but what training regime would you suggest regarding threshold improvement? 95% of my cycling is just ordinary, hard hilly cycling without specific targets

 

[gavroche]

Lol I was going to post this too. I am sure that "useless" as he is Cav would still show a clean pair of heels to almost any club rider in hill climbing.

And he certainly would not with his professional peer climbers which is the context it is meant to be. Be real man!

 

[totallyfixed]

Don't be fooled peeps, Slimzoe is better than she makes out. OH here, at work as usual.
Yes an improvement in the hills would be an advantage but all other aspects of her riding are spot on and coming along nicely.
She can quite happily cruse at 18+ on the flat without over stretching herself.
Technique with gear selection and controlling cadence are one of the areas we are working on.
Oh and the biggest hurdle is self confidence Zoe does not believe she is as good as she is. Do you Hunni?
So far we have two good rides planned this year. nightrider 100k in June and 100 miler from Nuneaton to Skeggness. We are also considering the Shakespeare ride in Aug either 100k or 100 miles, but the 100 miler looks like a very hilly second half.

Sounds good, you are both very welcome to come over to Rutland [just brilliant cycling country] and ride with us anytime, you are about 40 mins away.

 

[young Ed]

Sorry ED I seem to have you mixed up with someone else who averages 12mph for a ride. Clearly that can't be you as that person wouldn't be blasting up any sort of incline at 15-18 mph never mind real steep ones at 6-8 mph - length no problem to use your words.

sorry tactics change from post to post here!
a few days ago i was taking it slow and steady and then i tried spinning up to a decent speed and keeping it and really liked it so that is what i am doing
at least for the next few rides! it gives a good workout i find better than slow and steady
Cheers Ed

 

[young Ed]

oh and stamina has never been an issue anywhere in life that is the one part i win on
Cheers Ed

 

[gavroche]

Given that no-one on cyclechat is likely to be anywhere near to their physiological limits as a pro rider like Mark Cavendish is, your whole "Well Cav is crap in the mountains" justification for your cobblers is a load of old balls.

However humouring you for a moment:

1) He is a lot better in the hills as it stands than he would be had he followed your proposed philosophy and avoided them and any sort of suffering like the plague
2) His climbing ability has not been maximised. He would be able to improve his ability in the mountains beyond his current ability if he chose to focus on this and lost some weight. However, given that he excels as a sprinter and will never be the best climber, he quite rightly focusses his efforts on this, a discipline which tends to run contrary to sprinting, if he was to concentrate on improving his climbing his sprint would most likely suffer!

In short, even those not particularly suited to hill climbing can improve their ability to climb considerably and.you are talking rubbish!

Sometimes, I like "talking rubbish" as it triggers expert like you to react on something which is trivial to the rest of us who have no ambition to be good climbers, but just mere cyclists who enjoy a good ride without worrying about hills. No offence to the OP .

 

[Doyleyburger]

I also enjoy hills now. Hated them when I started riding.
Living here in Wales can really test you sometimes on the hills.
Yes, keep attempting them and slowly you will get better. I'm no expert by any means, in fact I am very much still a beginner but I found that I used to be very tense when going up hills which seemed to drain a lot of energy. These days I am much more relaxed, I don't grip the bars to hard any more which I used to do. Perhaps break the climbs into sections and mentally complete them a step at a time. .......works for me anyway.
Good luck

 

[400bhp]

Sometimes, I like "talking rubbish"

Sometimes..............

 

[Slimzoe]

Hill climbing - mind over matter.

That's about it.

Oh and man up.

I love this reply lol succinct and to the point!

 

[Cuchilo]

oh and stamina has never been an issue anywhere in life that is the one part i win on
Cheers Ed

 

[50000tears]

And he certainly would not with his professional peer climbers which is the context it is meant to be. Be real man!

My reply was just fine, you were using Cav as an example that not everyone is a good climber. The fact that he could trounce 99%+ of all riders in the world up a climb makes your statement incorrect. I agree that at the level he rides at he is against the <1% that he cannot better, or often even look competent against, but to suggest he is not a good climber as a result is simply not accurate.

 

[JoeyB]

Sometimes, I like "talking rubbish" as it triggers expert like you to react on something which is trivial to the rest of us who have no ambition to be good climbers, but just mere cyclists who enjoy a good ride without worrying about hills. No offence to the OP .

Well I am quite literally an average Joe (certainly not an expert) and I find your attitude a bit defeatist and not very ambitious. If the OP was looking for comfort in the fact that she was fed up by hills and going to avoid them at all costs then maybe your comments may have had their place…but in this instance the OP is asking for positive advice on how to up her game and get over them, so with that in mind I don't think your input was very relevant or helpful.

I don't particularly enjoy the thought of cycling up hills, but I'm still going to plan some hilly circuits and attack them head on….You can't beat that feeling when you get to the top, absolutely knackered, and then get to freewheel down the other side whilst you sort yourself out, almost falling off whilst you regain your senses lol

 

[50000tears]

You also can't beat that feeling of having a hill that you used to dread getting to that you can now attack with relish, as it is now only about how fast you want to go up it, rather than the suffering you used to do.

 

[jay clock]

As a hefty bloke, I will agree that weight matters. The main other thing to cope with is the mental approach.Be proud of yourself for having got fit and done a load of long rides I have done two Ironmans, and for the last 3-4 years have done several long rides each year (100 miles+), mainly in training for the Ironmans or Half IMs, and I STILL convince myself I am crap at hills. I am in fact ok, and I although slower than the small group of friends I ride with. "As I put it on my weekly ride email I aim for an overall 23kmh in training, and in races I manage 28kmh so I must be doing something right."