Hills!
bgreer
Posts: 10
in General Chat
Just thought I'd post a query regarding hill work on the bike.
I haven't done much hill work to be honest but have attempted a 2.5 km hill climb with an incline of 5-10% which took me just under 7 minutes, and hurt! I think I was around the bottom few gears (20 speed) but felt like I was going nowhere. Should I have been in a slightly higher gear, and, is it better to get as much momentum/speed built up before hitting it? Also, I only had a 2 km warm up before hitting it, should this have been more? I take it the only way to improve is to build more strength by tackling more hills?
Also, I seem to have been getting some muscle strains in my thighs that I never had before so I presume this is from the cycling. Is it better to cycle for a while to warm up and then stretch out
Thanks in advanvce
I haven't done much hill work to be honest but have attempted a 2.5 km hill climb with an incline of 5-10% which took me just under 7 minutes, and hurt! I think I was around the bottom few gears (20 speed) but felt like I was going nowhere. Should I have been in a slightly higher gear, and, is it better to get as much momentum/speed built up before hitting it? Also, I only had a 2 km warm up before hitting it, should this have been more? I take it the only way to improve is to build more strength by tackling more hills?
Also, I seem to have been getting some muscle strains in my thighs that I never had before so I presume this is from the cycling. Is it better to cycle for a while to warm up and then stretch out
Thanks in advanvce
0
Comments
Hill climbing ability varies from cyclist to cyclist. In general, I would start by establishing a good fitness base: Ride long, hilly/bumpy routes for two to three hours a couple of times a week if you can. Once you've got that base, start incorporating bike hill repeats: basically, climb a hill as quickly as possible, glide back down to the base and repeat several times. This doesn't need to be a really long hill like you've described. Something (much) shorter to start with and build up to longer hills.
Whatever the profile of a hill (steep/gentle/long or short), you have two basic strategies: Hammer up the hill fast and hard, or drop a few gears and use smooth cadence and technique.
Low-cadence, high-gear climbing can be great to get you up short hills -and is great for training too. Hard pedaling in a low gear is tough work though and takes it out of you (imagine if you have another 20 plus miles to do and a few more hills AND you've got to run off the bike after that ). For longer hills, drop a few gears at the start of the ascent and get yourself into a good rhythm. Spinning at a high cadence (around 80-90rpm if you can). When your cadence starts to drop (as it will) shift to a lower gear.
A good tip: stay in the saddle. Standing and pedaling raises your heart rate, lowers your cadence and also causes you to slow down (not fun for the person coming up behind you ). If you do need a burst of power before you come to a complete standstill though, getting out of the saddle is obviously a necessity!
With regards your muscle strains, you can also help yourself a lot over the winter by hitting the gym focusing on core and muscles below the waist: quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and hips. Single-leg exercises like lunges, single-leg squats and split-squats.
Hope this helps a bit.
With having a young family, no-one to cycle with at present, and the nights becoming dark, 2-3 hrs is a bit of a stretch. However I could stretch my current 45 min ride to around 1.5 hrs and there are plenty of hilly routes around Belfast.
Incidentally, how long would you generally warm up for before trying hill repeats? There's a pretty good one near me which would take me 10-15 mins to cycle to.
You've got to work with what time you have, so 15 minutes will have to do. If you get to your hill and you don't feel warmed up yet, there's nothing wrong with doubling back to your home or getting there 'the long way'. Just get warmed up properly before any hard efforts to avoid injury.