My nemesis

[RobR]

There's a small hill near me. When I say a hill, it's barely that. It's a small lump in the road - the infant child of a real hill.

Here's it's segment on Strava - you see what I mean? It's not even called a hill, just a bump.

Anyway, since I started cycling (again - last time was when I had a paper round) my regular route included this hill, his lump, this postule on the face of sunny Northamptonshire. Pretty soon I came to hate it, and I still do. It doesn't seem to matter how I attack it - fast approach, spin in a low gear, grind in a high gear, anything it always ends up the same. Puffing and panting at 4mph in Granny Gear.

My Garmin tells me the people I follow on Strava have finished the segment before I've even started! My all time PR is 3:49 with an average speed of 7.9mph. The KOM has done it in 1:05 at 25.7mph. What the actual? I hardly ever do that downhill!

Other hills / bumps I manage fine on. It's just this one. I know it's a mental block, and I will overcome it. My goal is to hit 3:30 by April 29th. Hopefully this thread will be a record of either my achievement or dismal failure.

Not looking for anything other than the chance to vent!

 

[vickster]

There's a small hill near me. When I say a hill, it's barely that. It's a small lump in the road - the infant child of a real hill.

Here's it's segment on Strava - you see what I mean? It's not even called a hill, just a bump.

View attachment 575880

Anyway, since I started cycling (again - last time was when I had a paper round) my regular route included this hill, his lump, this postule on the face of sunny Northamptonshire. Pretty soon I came to hate it, and I still do. It doesn't seem to matter how I attack it - fast approach, spin in a low gear, grind in a high gear, anything it always ends up the same. Puffing and panting at 4mph in Granny Gear.

My Garmin tells me the people I follow on Strava have finished the segment before I've even started! My all time PR is 3:49 with an average speed of 7.9mph. The KOM has done it in 1:05 at 25.7mph. What the actual? I hardly ever do that downhill!

Other hills / bumps I manage fine on. It's just this one. I know it's a mental block, and I will overcome it. My goal is to hit 3:30 by April 29th. Hopefully this thread will be a record of either my achievement or dismal failure.

Not looking for anything other than the chance to vent!

The KOM was probably in a car

 

[RobR]

The KOM was probably in a car

Yeah! That'll be it. See, I knew it wasn't me

 

[ColinJ]

Are you, er, 'quite heavy'?

I was happy to ride around flat roads at 27-32 kph (17-20 mph) when I weighed 115 kg (18st 2 lbs) but at the first sign of a climb I nearly ground to a halt! It is MUCH easier at my current weight of 88 kg (13 st 12 lbs) and was easier still when I was 10% lighter than that.

 

[RobR]

Are you, er, 'quite heavy'?

Maybe...

 

[ColinJ]

Maybe...

Well, unless you are also short, that doesn't sound huge... My waist was over 25 cms (10 inches) bigger than that!

Keep trying - it does get easier.

 

[Milkfloat]

Firstly, whoever named the segment missed a trick, sure Halse Hump is better. However, overlooking that issue then I think the solution is to find a really nasty long hill somewhere and hurt yourself repeatedly on that. That way when you return to Halse Hump then it will seem easy.

In all honesty, I think everyone has a hill they dread - mine is Burton Dassett, it is not particularly steep or long but every time I go up it I dread it and am slower that the rest of the group despite beating them on a lot of the other hills. It is all in my head. I have never once planned a route to take me up the hill, I actively avoid it.

 

[RobR]

Keep trying - it does get easier.

Oh, definitely. My first effort back in December was 7:09, with 2, maybe 3 stops for breath on the way.

 

[RobR]

Firstly, whoever named the segment missed a trick, sure Halse Hump is better. However, overlooking that issue then I think the solution is to find a really nasty long hill somewhere and hurt yourself repeatedly on that. That way when you return to Halse Hump then it will seem easy.

In all honesty, I think everyone has a hill they dread - mine is Burton Dassett, it is not particularly steep or long but every time I go up it I dread it and am slower that the rest of the group despite beating them on a lot of the other hills. It is all in my head. I have never once planned a route to take me up the hill, I actively avoid it.

Sounds like a plan.

Love Burton Dassett, but I'm not sure I'm ready to bike there just yet.

 

[ColinJ]

My local challenge climb is from Mytholmroyd up through Cragg Vale to Blackstone Edge. It averages around 3.4% but there is a short ramp in the middle. Here's the profile...

(The little dips aren't really there - the road has drop-offs to the right so any lateral error in the plotted route can produce a big vertical error.)

My record for that is about 23-24 minutes. I hope one day to do it 20 minutes. I think the official record is around 14 minutes, but there are rumours that Bradley Wiggins did it in 13-something in training!

In all honesty, I think everyone has a hill they dread - mine is Burton Dassett, it is not particularly steep or long but every time I go up it I dread it and am slower that the rest of the group despite beating them on a lot of the other hills. It is all in my head. I have never once planned a route to take me up the hill, I actively avoid it.

Into the country park? I did that a couple of times on the Cotswold Challenge and I thought that it was fairly tough!

 

[Dan77]

That does sound a little on the slow side but you're always going to be slower uphill. I don't think 8mph/13kph is all that slow. There is 100m+ in the middle though that is clearly significantly above the average gradient. Hitting the bottom fast won't help as you'll have lost that momentum by the time you meet the steeper bit.

Best bet is to find the right gears and just put in a good level of power and cadence, especially on that middle bit. If you have enough gears you should be able to ride it like you ride on the flat, although it's always worth giving it a bit extra when attacking a hill/bump. Use the most effort on the steepest part and then see how long you can keep it going. If you can get over the top at that effort you'll smash your best time.

 

[nickyboy]

If you want to climb this quicker you need to hit the bottom as fast as you can. It looks like it's a slight downhill before the hill so, with a decent tailwind you should be able to approach it at 20mph. The first bit is only 2-3%, keep it in the big ring. When you get to the 6% bit you'll need to go into the small ring. But it's short so get out of the saddle and push hard. After that it flattens out again to 2.5%. When you're fit you'll be able to pop it back into the big ring and ratchet the speed up. For now, just spin out to the end of the segment

These short, not too steep climbs are all about hitting the bottom of the hill hard. You need to put hard effort into the 200m before the climb starts

 

[mjr]

I think everyone has a bogey hill. For a lot of riders around here, it's Donkey Pond Hill towards Sandringham. It's nothing, just 50 metres of climbing, split into three ramps, max 6%, spread over a mile and a half with a half-mile near-flat before the last ramp — it's not even the steepest climb to Sandringham! — but it usually comes either early in a ride out from King's Lynn almost before you're warmed up, or after you've been crossing the flat flat fens, and the third and final ramp is the longest and steepens noticeably in the last 20m or so, so you think you've got it cracked and then you die on your pedals and flop over the brow into the waiting passing place to try to regain your breath... sorry, I mean to regroup with your fellow riders ... or near-coast down the long slightly-downhill drive to the visitor centre.

I don't worry what anyone else does on it as long as I keep breathing - but then I'm a lazy guy usually on some old bike anyway, so never going to set the fastest time.

 

[RobR]

Thanks all.

But it's short so get out of the saddle and push hard.

Yeah, definitely something I need to learn to do.

Just been watching Emma Pooley. She makes it look so easy!

 

[pawl]

Which ever way I come back into my village is climb The route i a use most frequently has a hill like yours .I have named it Death Hill because it goes past the cemetery.

There is a reasonable fast decent leading into the hill No matter how fast I descend I’m reaching for the smallest chain ring and the largest rear cog before I’m quarter of the way up.The only time I got a PB was when I had a strong tail wind