Uphill performance lacking?

[Ming the Merciless]

P.S. Not sure where you got 23% from, it’s max gradient is 16%

 

[ColinJ]

According to BMI nearly all proffessional rugby players are overweight with some obese .

PS there are some very discrete electric assisted bikes out there now.

That makes a good point about BMI and fat vs muscle but most huge very muscular rugby players couldn't sprint up a long hard climb on a bike!

 

[rogerzilla]

Pacing. Start slower than you think you ought to be going. You can always speed up a bit later but, if you go too fast and get into oxygen debt, you will be far slower overall as you will need to REALLY ease off.

You won't climb in the saddle like the pros unless you also have a pigeon chest and little dinosaur arms. Assuming you have more upper body bulk than them, get out of the saddle and use it.

 

[PaulSB]

Look up Ermin Way / Birdlip hill. Just to clarify I'm about 5'8 so 11 stone puts me into the chubbier side of normal I suppose! Question is then I guess would a different bike setup make a difference? Besides obviously having a 30t or 34t cog. In terms of frame I don't think there's any other bike that would've made a huge difference. It's about 8 kg as is.

I can't quote BMIs etc. and what they mean but I don't think 11st is on the chubbier side. I'm 4" shorter and far from chubby. Yes I'd like to shift a bit off my waist but I'm talking vanity not necessity!

If you are carrying a lot of this weight around your waist then yes it is chubbier. If not your fine. If it is on your waist burn the fat off and turn in to leg strength and muscle.

Again for vanity I'd love to drop from 69.5kg but it's very difficult. Don't get too hung up on it.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Just got overtaken on a 23% gradient which goes on for about a mile

https://www.climbbybike.com/climb/Birdlip-Hill/8995

P.S. Not sure where you got 23% from, it’s max gradient is 16%

I thought Birdlip was just a random thrown in without comment by Dave. Is there any climb in UK with a mile long section at 23%? Can't think of one. Bushcombe Lane up from Bishop's Cleeve is 15% for half a mile.
I was pleased to get up

Bwlch Y Groes

Gwynedd

385m

11%

3.5 km

25%

last summer (at 252km) in one go, in the wet.

 

[figbat]

I thought Birdlip was just a random thrown in without comment by Dave.

Look up Ermin Way / Birdlip hill.

OP told us to look up Birdlip, so somebody did. The inference is that this is the hill in question. The outcome is that it isn’t the slope that was originally claimed.

Nonetheless, unless you’re picking up Grand Tour KOMs, there’s always someone quicker up the hills than you. If you don’t like it, work at it.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

According to BMI nearly all proffessional rugby players are

And they'd all be really crap at cycling fast up steep hills. What's your point?

 

[Banjo]

And they'd all be really crap at cycling fast up steep hills. What's your point?

I would hazard a guess that an 18 stone pro rugby player 6ft tall would cycle up a hill better than an 18 stone 6ft couch potato.The point was quite simply that BMI has its limitations.

 

[boydj]

As somebody else mentioned, that cyclist may well have been a pro or top amateur stuck at home and training on his own.

Coming home on my local cycling track the other day, I was surprised at how long it took me to reel in a 'jogger' - as I passed I realised it was Callum Hawkins, international marathon runner, doing what looked like some fast efforts.

 

[PaulSB]

I'm local to that. So up Stonygate Lane then turn left at the top of JH and down the long descent past the golf club? Then back to Ribchester or turn left earlier on the Hurst Green road?

Agree with others, 23% is almost 1:4 in old money and I can't think of a hill that steep or long in Britain. I doubt you'd find one in Europe either as Alpine cols were generally built for military purposes and much longer but gentler - 6% to 8%.

Yes up Stonygate Lane to the top, left in the sharp dip and then climb to the real top of JH and drop down past the golf course. When I do more than one circuit I usually mix it up by doing Gallows Lane/Clitheroe Road/Stonygate or Gallows Lane/Huntingdon Hall Lane/Higher Road/Stonygate but always to the top of JH and past the golf course.

I designed this when I was training for the 312. It's the closet to home I could find with a long climb followed by lots of descent. The intention was to replicate, as best one can in Lancashire, what I would find in Majorca. Hence riding the loop 3 or 4 times, sometimes 6.

 

[Drago]

I would hazard a guess that an 18 stone pro rugby player 6ft tall would cycle up a hill better than an 18 stone 6ft couch potato.The point was quite simply that BMI has its limitations.

I'm heavier than the average lions player and I do fine. My one KoM is on an uphill, and the next 10 people behind me are either competitive cyclists, or sport cycling coaches - being racing snakes hasn't helped any of them get it back (yet) so I'd be inclined to keep mass in mind, but not to get too hung up on it.

 

[Globalti]

I'm 64 and about average at 180 cms and 76 kgs. All through my cycling "career" I've finished competitive events positioned at about 30-35 in 100 competitors, which is a pretty reliable indication of my athletic ability. I have to accept that I'm not going to get any better but I take comfort from thinking that if 100 middle-aged blokes were selected randomly from a crowd and made to race up a hill I'd still stand a good chance of getting there first.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I'm 64 and about average at 180 cms and 76 kgs. All through my cycling "career" I've finished competitive events positioned at about 30-35 in 100 competitors, which is a pretty reliable indication of my athletic ability. I have to accept that I'm not going to get any better but I take comfort from thinking that if 100 middle-aged blokes were selected randomly from a crowd and made to race up a hill I'd still stand a good chance of getting there first.

Then getting the round in, in the pub at the top...

 

[Banjo]

Then getting the round in, in the pub at the top...

Globalati's wallet would be quite safe at the moment sadly.

 

[Globalti]

Once I retire I'll be pleased to offer warm and generous hospitality to anybody who happens to walk or cycle past!

(I'll be needing the company!)