Which fails first for YOU on a hill-your legs or breathing capacity?

[fossyant]

I depends on whether you're trying to set a new pb each time. If its just to get up, set gearing where you can spin over 80rpm without going into the red with heart rate or breathing. So many external factors can affect your riding like others have mentioned.

I have strong legs and have gearing to allow me to keep in my comfort zone for any type of hill or mountain climb.

Comfort Zone...tisk tisk.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If you push a bigger gear lower cadence then it’s your muscular endurance being tested and you heart rate will be lower for a given uphill speed than a lower gear spun at high cadence. Thus you can shift the pressure from cardio to muscular or vice versa, depending on how things are going.

 

[a.twiddler]

Since I am by any measure not an athlete, I aim to just get up the next hill. After many years of riding upright bikes with the intent of staying in the saddle I have transferred to riding a recumbent where there is no choice. I don't know about legs vs breathing but I find that if I heat up too much that becomes a decisive factor for me. Therefore, low gears, moderate cadence have been my companions. It was always a point of honour to somehow get up hills without walking. Nowadays I look at it like this.
Everybody has a certain number of shots in their magazine. The stronger and fitter (and probably younger, too) that you are, the more shots you will have. So if you have a long hilly route you have to pace yourself or you will run out of ammo. I can tolerate a certain number of climbs but after a certain point it becomes much harder to get up them. On reflection it's the legs, definitely the legs. I've even considered the wisdom of stopping to rest on some of the early hills, or even walking part way up them, to conserve resources for later. When I was younger some part of my inner self would scream, "Heresy!" and start looking for a match to light the bonfire, at such ideas.
The ideal is to arrive at your destination with some to spare, in case you come across some monster climb that you hadn't bargained for just before you get there.
But then, I don't take part in competitions. I ride to please myself, and the pleasure (and the pain) is all mine.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Legs first and after legs are conditioned after a few rides , lungs capacity is the next challenge.

 

[Joffey]

Breathing or Heart Rate - both linked I suppose. But they always give up first.

 

[roadrash]

Always breathing for me, a former smoker....

 

[oldwheels]

Both together mostly.
As ColinJ suggests take it slowly in a low gear. I discovered this by accident when climbing and chatting to somebody on foot and I hardly noticed the effort.
At least you have the option of getting off and walking as my generation were brought up to accept this.
On my trike I have very nearly come to a halt by not being able to turn the pedals any more on a steep hill. Not a good idea on a single track road with too much traffic.
This was with 22 front to 32 rear on 20 inch wheels and 152 cranks.

 

[mustang1]

Ah breathing, always the breathing. Gotta lose weight.

 

[iandg]

I can go for miles but I'm not very strong so use low gears. If the hill's too steep for my lowest gear then I have to get off and push. So I suppose it's my legs.

 

[Mike_P]

Legs I suppose but generally I watch the speed, if it's heading to walking pace why bother cycling up a hill that is miles from home and the energy saved will be useful later in the ride. Certainly those hills I have walked up I have far faster Strava times than many others.

 

[CXRAndy]

My goal is always to get up to the top without stopping. I have no interest in the time it takes. I always go up 'this' hill in my lowest gear. Maybe I should try going up in 2nd and see what effect it has? I can always drop it back down near the top of the hill if need be?

I learnt what gearing meant when I first went to Tenerife, I nearly collapsed from exhaustion trying to get up the slopes of mount Teide.

I was pretty fit but just didn't have low enough gearing for a at the time 100kg rider to spin a 34t and 32t cog. The next year I returned with a bike that now had a 28t chainring and 40t cog. I could now spin over 85rpm and be in Z2/Z3 for heart rate for a climb which took over 3.5 hours to complete. Since then I've further developed my bike to have triple chainset. There is no incline that evens concerns me these days.

Other riders scoffed at my setup, but were all impressed when I arrived at the top of mountains without looking like I was going to keel over.

Ive climbed Mont Ventoux, Galibier, Glandon, Alpe D Huez, Mt Teide.

as for UK hills-pah piddly little bumps

Im not the quickest being a 'Clydesdale' rider, but I can do it in comfort, enjoy the effort.

Alter your gearing so you can maintain a high cadence with low-ish effort

 

[FrothNinja]

Lungs, never had the legs go so far. I do feel it in the inner thigh sometimes - especially if I have done a reasonable amount of hills already

 

[Fredo76]

When I started cycling again, I had to re-learn using gears to avoid the worst of the gasping, as my legs were made for grinding! I once rode up the back side of Gate's Pass in a 52x15, sitting down, mind you! That was nearly 50 years ago, but some leg strength remains, enough to tire out my lungs, at least.

 

[Illaveago]

I've never given it much thought .
If I try to do a high cadence I soon become exhausted and stop. Yet if I keep plodding on at walking pace gradually pushing the pedals round I can keep climbing . So I assume that it must be my legs yet I will be gasping at the end . Once the hill has leveled out it would be a slow recovery before normal pace was resumed .

 

[numbnuts]

The battery