The joy of hill climbing

[Ming the Merciless]

I enjoy doing hill climbs as part of my keeping fit on the bike. I seek out the steepest, nearest ones, and try and ride them at least once or twice a week. . My hill loops typically take two hours door to door. The rest of the local hills then seem much easier when out with others.

Anyone else like hills for keeping fit.

 

[numbnuts]

When I was young and stupid I use to do that,
but now I'm a old fart with a wonky right knee I don't.
The moral of this story if you want to climb hills sit and spin or get an ebike

 

[Heltor Chasca]

They are my weakness. So the obviously dumb thing to do was to embark on a RRTY AAA challenge. Thats a Randonneurs Round the Year Audax Altitude Award. It’s complicated even amongst audaxers but simply put, it is a daft/silly/perilous amount of climbing within a certain distance. You need to do one AAA point rated event every month for a year.

The upshot is that I have become better at hills.

 

[Sharky]

I quite like hills, although I have to be on the right bike with the right gears for some of them. One of my loops (down here in Kent) takes in a couple of climbs that have been used by local clubs for their end of season hill climbs and on a visit to my old training ground a couple of years ago, actually choose to take on Billinge Bump.

 

[derrick]

I don't mind hills. though i struggle up the short steep ones, i rather like a long drag, They suit me better.

 

[Stompier]

'Keeping fit' is a pretty subjective term and it's going to mean different things to different people. In general, I aim for flatter loops when out riding and only hit the hills if I have to or if I can't avoid them. I don't feel I would be any 'fitter' for not doing that.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

I absolutely love hills, though I'm not at all quick up em.

Swiss Hill is my nearest venue for proper masochism.

https://cyclinguphill.com/100-climbs/swiss-hill/

Maybe a thread on "your favourite hill climb of 2019" could be coming on. Or maybe least favourite. Or perhaps both...

 

[Slick]

To coin a phrase, I hate hills. Actually, not strictly true as I actually love hills, but only on the downslope.

I ride with someone who really does love them and will ride repeats as I'm blowing out my ass but I'm happy to accept I'm at an age where the only real improvement would come with dropping weight, and unfortunately I don't mean from the bike.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Best scenery is often in the hilly country. So I do plenty. My gears are getting smaller and smaller tho'.

Edit to say I don't do training, I just ride my bike.

 

[Soltydog]

Over the last few years I've worked hard on climbing, tough going when it's flat as a pancake for miles round here, about 25/30 miles to any decent hills. I like the challenge of them, there's usually fantastic scenery where there's hills & they are all different

Swiss Hill is my nearest venue for proper masochism.
Maybe a thread on "your favourite hill climb of 2019" could be coming on. Or maybe least favourite. Or perhaps both...

I attempted Swiss Hill earlier this year & failed, it had been damp & drizzly most of the day & when I arrived there the cobbles were quite slippy, so much so that my rear wheel kept spinning & I was just getting slower & slower, until eventually I had to stop on the end of a driveway. I used their tarmac drive to get some momentum again, but it was all in vain When it goes left & climbs again I had to quit & turn right So on that basis it gets my vote for least favourite of 2019

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Over the last few years I've worked hard on climbing, tough going when it's flat as a pancake for miles round here, about 25/30 miles to any decent hills. I like the challenge of them, there's usually fantastic scenery where there's hills & they are all different

I attempted Swiss Hill earlier this year & failed, it had been damp & drizzly most of the day & when I arrived there the cobbles were quite slippy, so much so that my rear wheel kept spinning & I was just getting slower & slower, until eventually I had to stop on the end of a driveway. I used their tarmac drive to get some momentum again, but it was all in vain When it goes left & climbs again I had to quit & turn right So on that basis it gets my vote for least favourite of 2019

Ha! It's not the longest or steepest, but it is damn hard to stay upright.

It is possible in the wet, if you fancy trying again my advice:

1. Stay seated. Keep your weight back, forearms horizontal on the hoods.
2. Try to keep even pressure all round your pedal stroke.
3. Keep right. The left hand cobbles are much more uneven.
4. If you've made it as far as the left turn, you'll be fine. The last bit is nowhere near as bad.

I'll start the thread for you!

 

[Soltydog]

It is possible in the wet, if you fancy trying again my advice:

It's a bit of a trek for me, but I'll maybe head over again next year sometime on a dry day My tyres probably didn't help, they are quite a hard compound & can be a little slippy on greasy surfaces, I'm in the process of sorting a 2nd set of wheels which will have better rubber on & I now have a lighter carbon bike which is likely to be used for hilly rides

 

[Rusty Nails]

The most scenic rides around my area are the hilly ones, so I have to ride them now and again.

I don't do it to get fitter or stronger, in fact the easier I can make it the better. I have fitted a triple chainset and a bigger cassette on my road bike so that I can spin along without getting out of the saddle as much as possible.

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm... Living around here, I either have to ride up and down the local valley A-roads all the time, or I leave those to go up the more interesting and quieter roads on the hills.

The profile below shows the second least hilly route that I do regularly.

The first 11 kms on are on the A646, then I turn onto a much nicer road to climb up through Cragg Vale. A quick 4 km descent to Littleborough on the A58, then an undulating 9 kms home on the A6033. That is a nice challenge on my singlespeed bike. I'd love to do it in an hour but it usually takes me more like an hour and a half.

The profile below is for a more challenging route - a hilly 101 km ride that I did in the summer. Definitely NOT one for singlespeed!

Even though I am not very good at climbing hills, I ride up a lot of them and enjoy them - in a "Thank God that's finished" kind of way!

 

[HLaB]

I'm loving hills again. The only problem round here there isn't any