Training for hills when you don't have any?

[cyclingsheep]

In a moment of madness I have signed up to to Etape du Tour Act 2 next year to celebrate my 40th. My issue is that it is a very long and hilly course but I have nothing you'd call a decent hill to train on (Box Hill is about as good as it gets and having cycled Alpe d'Huez previously I know that won't really cut it). So my question is, how do I train for hills if I don't have any to train on? I have a turbo trainer and am just expecting to get miles in over winter, occasional trips to Nth Wales will let me know how I'm progressing but really don't have a clue what I should be doing. Any help greatfully appreciated.

 

[lukesdad]

Put the front wheel up on a block and wind up the resistance.

Or mtb through the winter you ve got some great stuff on your doorstep. Even the outside loop of richmond park would be better than the road.

 

[BrumJim]

How about a day or weekend away to somewhere seriously hilly, such as Mid Wales, Snowdonia, Devon/Cornwall, Lake District?

 

[Telemark]

The strong headwind will be your friend

T

 

[Steve H]

Act2 looks really tough! Huge amount of climbing involved. Respect for signing up for a great challenge.

Definitely need a few trips to some hilly areas to tackle some of the steep stuff on a regular basis. Also just think you need to do some long sustained efforts. Even if you only have flat roads. Go for long bouts at pretty high effort levels will demand the higher levels of power you'll need for those mountains.

 

[avsd]

Take a look at:


http://www.mammothlifestyle.co.uk/Downloads/marmotte_guide.pdf


It is about training for the Marmotte but most of the advice will carry across to the L'Etape.

Best of luck,

 

[HLaB]

I don't know if a sufferfest hill climb dvd may help

 

[Ghost Donkey]

Good man :-) I'm in the same boat with IM70.3 next June which is pretty hilly compared to where I live. Ok, not quite the same boat or anywhere near the same league but I have similar concerns.The nearest hills to me are far away so I can ride over on a Sunday morning but I'll have to do some hill specific turbo sessions in the build up to the race in the evenings where time is short.

 

[PK99]

Or mtb through the winter you ve got some great stuff on your doorstep. Even the outside loop of richmond park would be better than the road.

I disagree on that, the Tamisn trail is a doddle compared to the road round the park

 

[marzjennings]

Hill climbing is just more resistance, so add some more resistance to you normal flat land riding, i.e. ride faster in a higher gear.

If you normally ride around at 14-15mph, knock it up to 16-17mph. You need to increase your flat land speed until you feel like you're hill climbing and then hold it there, easy.

Pedaling is pedaling regardless of angle of slope.

 

[Crankarm]

There are some steep hills around London ride each of them say 10 times in succession or until you can ride no more. The Chilterns have some very steep but very short climbs. Just ride them lots of times. How about the Devil's Staircase or the mountain roads around Machynlleth some seriously steep ones here.

 

[fossyant]

You are going to have to find hills, simple. Hill climbing is not like riding on the flat with more resistance (big gears/tyres) - there is a technique too.

Circuits of that bump called Box hill might help.

 

[ColinJ]

Hill climbing is just more resistance, so add some more resistance to you normal flat land riding, i.e. ride faster in a higher gear.

It isn't, actually, unless you ride fixed, because you can't freewheel on a climb to relax your muscles if they start to tense up. I discovered that when I went to Spain and tackled a 1,000m climb.

I do lots of 300 metre climbs round here and sometimes find that my back muscles start to go into spasm after about 250 metres of climbing. That's not too bad when you only have to climb another 50 metres to the summit where you can relax and stretch your back. It's a different thing altogether if it happens when you are only 25% of the way up the climb!

That Spanish mountain wrecked my back every time I climbed it. In the end, I had to treat it as 4 consecutive 250 metre climbs and stop 3 or 4 times on the way up to stretch my back.

There is also the issue of the angle of the bike. It probably doesn't make much difference on shallow climbs, but on the steep stuff, your weight distribution is very different to normal.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

There are some steep hills around London ride each of them say 10 times in succession or until you can ride no more. The Chilterns have some very steep but very short climbs. Just ride them lots of times. How about the Devil's Staircase or the mountain roads around Machynlleth some seriously steep ones here.

+1

The way I used to train for hillclimbing was very similar to this. I would get out early in the morning and ride the incredibly steep short road up the bank of the Tyne to North Shields, again and again and again. I would also do particular challenges like riding it without standing up, riding it on a bigger gear than I felt comfortable with, riding it as intervals (fast, slow, fast etc.). I would do this for a 30 minutes every other day before commuting to work.

 

[lukesdad]

+1

The way I used to train for hillclimbing was very similar to this. I would get out early in the morning and ride the incredibly steep short road up the bank of the Tyne to North Shields, again and again and again. I would also do particular challenges like riding it without standing up, riding it on a bigger gear than I felt comfortable with, riding it as intervals (fast, slow, fast etc.). I would do this for a 30 minutes every other day before commuting to work.

This is good advice if your stuck to one location or one discipline.

I have a 3 mile loop around my house 600 ft elevation gain/drop from top to bottom. Although we have many hills here in wales. This ride is far the best for me for hill training. 5 laps of this done at pace and I know Ive worked hard but ive only done 15 miles.