Cycling UK Forum

Oh my gosh, I experienced a lot of pain today as I walked up some hills I could not cycle up in the Great Western Sportive. 4 or so in total I just could not keep my legs going round on

Do people have tips on training for steep hills? I have been told today that I need to switch to SPDs for an instant boost but that will not be enough. There are very few steep hills near me, so I'm looking for alternative training methods.

Tips appreciated!

Is your gearing right? ie can you cycle 'low' enough?

You can only really train for hills by riding up them.

A turbo trainer might help with the resistance training, but you won't be angled on those. Plus it's psychological too, looking up that big hill ahead of you.

Standing up a lot will give you a big workout as you're supporting yourself as well as pedalling the bike.

If you cannot turn your legs at all, it probably means you are over-geared. Apart from that, less weight = faster uphill. Unless you really just pootle, climbing always hurts, it's just that the fitter you are, the faster you go in return for suffering. Try not to think about the top or to look at it. Just look at the road in front of you and concentrate on trying hard. Then try a bit harder. It's best to sit down and pedal as your main climbing style because standing on the pedals is so wasteful of energy, but the occasional bit out of the saddle can help. Don't fall into the habit of stopping at the top of every hill for a breather (not even disguised as admiring the view or taking photos ) Don't be put off by anybody else - they are probably suffering even more than you.

So the short answer to the question is ride as hard as you can up as many as you can as often as you can.

thirdcrank wrote: It's best to sit down and pedal as your main climbing style because standing on the pedals is so wasteful of energy,

This is an impression many people have, but I don't think it's true. Some people train more standing up, some don't. Virenque used to climb in the TDF standing up nearly all the way. He won the polka dot jersey several times. I myself seldom stand up, except now and again to relieve my back.

I presumed the OP was not interested in cheating. (My comment about being wasteful of energy was based on the point that for each downward stroke of the pedals you are lifting your bodyweight twice - once on the other pedal to prepare for the downstroke and once on the actual movement up the hill. I've no doubt that this can produce a concentrated burst of work, useful if you find youself slightly over-geared and don't want to change down, but most people cannot ride far like that.)

In reply to questions.

I ride a specialised dolce 10, which has a triple .... I should not be overgeared but it feels like I am I hit my bottom gear and boom ... its too hard. I tend to climb hills by "spinning", keeping a high cadence, when I cannot do that I tend to blow up. The White Horse hill today was one example.

I'm fine on long hills which are not so steep where I can keep a high cadence. I guess I need to lose more weight and need to find a steep hill to train on For the weight side I have lost 1.5 stone since Christmas, so if I keep that up, I guess the hills become steadily easier?

Thank you for the advice.

thirdcrank wrote:I presumed the OP was not interested in cheating.

You are right. I'm absolutely not into cheating. I feel a bit of a cheat as it is walking up steep hills. Anything to stop that happening is good to me

Have a read at my thread from some time back .........
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4944
Sorry, but it's a bit long!

Hills are wonderful things. Gear the bike and yourself right, take your time, don't worry, and you'll get up there ok. I like to rest at the bottom, and get relaxed and take a drink, then off you go!

Don't attack a hill, enjoy it and take your time.

Build up slowly. Do some long climbs at a steady pace then next time go out and do some shorter hill sprints.
Ensure you rest and recover.
Don't go all out every time and take heart beat close to max.
Also weight train. There are several leg exercises one can so as well as squats. Also include some core and upper body exercises. This can mirror you're cycling. Use light weights one day and do 3 sets of 20 reps to include about 10 exercises.
Next time, after recovery, do 3 sets of 8 reps with heavy weights, to include about 5 exercises.
Cycle one day, weights the next, then recovery day then restart cycle.
But build up slowly and if you get a cold or injury, restart at 50% where you stopped. Ensure you eat properly including protein and fats.
This is how I used to do it.
jonty

You can get used to riding hills by riding them.

How fast are you trying to turn the pedals, I note you mention spinning, how fast are you spinning. Spin too fast and this in it self can be exhausting as you over spin and rapidly build up lactic acid.

It is not cheating to walk hills, walking can be just as hard as attempting to ride them.

JennyAdcock wrote:... There are very few steep hills near me, so I'm looking for alternative training methods ...

[My bold]

Perhaps you could load up a bike with panniers to make it heavy, and train on the hills you can find.

I'm not exactly an uber-cyclist so imma prolly not quailified to ansa this ...

but what I would say is be careful using SPD pedals on hills if ur not used to the pedals or the hills .. what has happened to me is I've pedalled like a nutter until i'm in granny gear and my legs are knackered and got slower and slower until I've stopped moving and not had the energy left to twist my feet outta the pedals .. result is splattage

If you only have a shallow hill, you could make it more challenging by sprinting up it instead. If you use a stopwatch, you can give yourself a target to beat (but that's true regardless of how steep the hill is).

Edit: Is you only... -> If you only

PS you don't tend to see me sprinting on anything but down hills.

Hi,
I was in a similar position to you a few months ago feeling very unfit. But after practice I've just been on the Newbury Magnificat 81 miler. I live in Newbury so I could practice on the first 3 hills.

I am 54 and weigh just under 14st so I'm no super fit spring chicken.

At first my lungs felt that they would burst and I had to walk up the hills. So I bought and fitted a 12-34 rear freewheel to replace my 11-28. I have a 30-40-53 triple on the front.

With this I managed the first two hills and on the second attempt I managed all 3 hills. I did this a fortnight apart. In between I did 30-40miles on relatively flat routes.
I then put the 11-28 freewheel back on and then managed all three hills with this.

This improvment was over 5 months although I could only manage the hills for the last 8 weeks.
I now feel that with a little more practice I could get up the hills without the inner ring on the triple.
What let me down was general fitness. My legs weren't the problem, they never stopped me. I was the breathing and all that stuff that let me down.

Now I wonder why they called it the "Scorpion's tail".