Hi all
I purchased a road bike about a month ago along with a couple of mates as we were planning to get into cycling for a few weekend days out etc... However I cant believe how hard the hills are to get up, my 2 friends are also struggling but are better than me at getting up them. Fitness wise I didnt think I wad that bad, I can do a 10k run in under 50 minutes (I know thats not great but it isnt a disaster either) but I just cant get up these hills even in the lowest gear. I have checked the specs of my bike and my lowest gear is around 36 inches which I dont think is that big. My 2 friends have clip in pedals and I dont, does that make a difference? The lactic in my quads just killing me on the hills. On the flat I can keep up with them without much problem but as soon as the hills go above about 6/7% gradiant I'm really struggling, at 10%+ I'm dead. Weight wise I think I might be a bit too heavy for cycling, about 5 feet 11 tall and 14 stone 10 weight, but I work a lot and have quite a bit of muscle mass, is this my problem? My 2 friends probably weigh 1.5/2 stone less than me. Has anyone got any tips on how to improve on the hills as at the moment when choosing a route I try to avoid hills like the plague. There is a small road through a forest near us that is about half a mile long and average gradiant of 9.2% that I am using to go up and down to try and improve but I can only manage 2 reps up there at the moment before blow out.
Help would be appreciated. Is it normal to be this bad?
Cheers
Pistol
I purchased a road bike about a month ago along with a couple of mates as we were planning to get into cycling for a few weekend days out etc... However I cant believe how hard the hills are to get up, my 2 friends are also struggling but are better than me at getting up them. Fitness wise I didnt think I wad that bad, I can do a 10k run in under 50 minutes (I know thats not great but it isnt a disaster either) but I just cant get up these hills even in the lowest gear. I have checked the specs of my bike and my lowest gear is around 36 inches which I dont think is that big. My 2 friends have clip in pedals and I dont, does that make a difference? The lactic in my quads just killing me on the hills. On the flat I can keep up with them without much problem but as soon as the hills go above about 6/7% gradiant I'm really struggling, at 10%+ I'm dead. Weight wise I think I might be a bit too heavy for cycling, about 5 feet 11 tall and 14 stone 10 weight, but I work a lot and have quite a bit of muscle mass, is this my problem? My 2 friends probably weigh 1.5/2 stone less than me. Has anyone got any tips on how to improve on the hills as at the moment when choosing a route I try to avoid hills like the plague. There is a small road through a forest near us that is about half a mile long and average gradiant of 9.2% that I am using to go up and down to try and improve but I can only manage 2 reps up there at the moment before blow out.
Help would be appreciated. Is it normal to be this bad?
Cheers
Pistol