Cycling Hill Climbing

I recently did a local ride that took me into a lot of hills. There was one hill in particular that went on at a steep incline for over two miles. I passed two cyclists who had had to stop to get their breath back. It got me thinking about the best cycling climbing strategy. I've come to the conclusion that the only way to get used to cycling up hills is to spend a lot of time cycling up hills. There's no magic secret to cycling climbing, it all comes down to fitness level and training.

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Cycling up hills is hard, let's be honest, and not many of us enjoy it. We prefer to have the bike whizzing along on the straight but cycling climbing is a part of cycling we need to master. And like anything else, the only way to master it is to practice it. Hill climbing is excellent cardio vascular training and will benefit the rest of your cycling by increasing your fitness level. Regular cycling up hills will increase your fitness level dramatically but you need to have worked on your fitness level before attempting arduous hill climbs. Once you have your base fitness at a good level you should incorporate some hill climbing into your training regime, not only to improve your fitness level but to get used to climbing hills.

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Incorporate cycle hill climbing into your training by taking some time to devote just to hills. Seek out the hills and hit them hard. Look for a variety of hills, small, steep long etc. If you live in an area short on hills go up and down the same hill a few times. The great thing about hill climbing is you feel like you have had a good workout when you return and your lung capacity and overall strength will increase.

Hit the hill with determination and use your gears. If possible try to stay seated, if that's not possible then get up onto the peddles and pump them hard. Try not to stop. Your effort should be steady rather than a sprint. Later, as your fitness improves, try sprinting up small hills and even up longer hills. Once your fitness level has adapted to the new strain you have subjected it to, sprinting up hills will become the norm. Include cycle hill climbing into your normal training regime and watch your fitness improve dramatically as a result.

Cycling Hill Climbing

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Tips For Hill Climbing on a Mountain Bike

Mountain bike riding is a popular pastime and sport for many Americans. According to the National Bicycle Dealers Association, 28.5 percent of the bicycles sold by specialty bicycle shops in 2008 were mountain bikes. But it is a good bet that few of these riders consider actual mountain bike climbing to be their favorite part of the sport.

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Climbing hills, particularly steep hills, is an activity that most riders approach with dread. They know from hard, painful, sometimes humiliating experience that mountain bike climbing leads to the agony of defeat much more often than it leads to the thrill of victory. With the right strategy, however, hill climbing can be done efficiently, without causing undue hardship to the bike or to the body.

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Three Ingredients of a Successful Bike Climb

Biking enthusiast Ken Kifer says that there are three ingredients of successful mountain bike climbing:

1. Physical strength of the rider
2. Proper gear selection for the climb
3. Hill climbing strategy employed

Assuming that most people who participate in such a rugged sport as mountain biking are physically fit, the first ingredient should not pose too great an issue. If it is a problem, some rough and tumble rides up and down various hills for a few weeks should eliminate this obstacle.

Items 2 and 3, however, are not quite so easy to master. However, before these aspects are even attempted, one must choose the correct type of bike

Choosing the Correct Type of Bike

There's a vast difference between a road bike and a mountain bike and not knowing this difference-and perhaps making the wrong choice-can make mountain bike climbing nearly impossible.

In general, one can tell the difference between a road bike and a mountain bike by considering two factors-the framing and tires of the bikes.

Framing.

Because road bikes are built for speed, they typically have lighter frames than do mountain bikes. By contrast, the heavier frames of mountain bikes house suspension systems that are built to withstand the frame-jarring shocks of rough terrains.

Tires.

Road bikes have thinner, smoother tires. The tires of mountain bikes, however, are broad with a significant amount of traction to handle rough terrains.

The Final Ingredients

The final two ingredients-proper gear selection and hill climbing strategy-are indispensible parts of each other. Both are essential ingredients of successful mountain bike climbing. Both involve strategy. And the uses of both are dependent on the different types of hills.

Mountain Bike Climbing Up Different Types of Hills

Most hills or mountains fall into three categories. Each category brings its own unique set of challenges. But each different type of hill can be conquered-with the proper strategy.

1.The concave hill is steepest as the top. Such a hill appears to get taller as the rider approaches.
2. A convex hill is steepest at the bottom. This type of a hill appears to get shorter as the rider approaches.
3. An even grade hill has a sloped, even rise.

To make mountain bike climbing even more challenging, some hills can be a combination of all three types and some can be part of a series of hills. Some can even be mountains. The strategies for climbing the different types of hills must be considered in relation to whether one is climbing an isolated hill, a series of hills, or a mountain, as the strategy is different for each.

This article will address the strategy for mountain bike climbing up an isolated hill.

Climbing an Isolated Hill

An isolated hill is one that "stands alone" without any surrounding hills. The strategy employed in climbing same will depend upon whether the hill is convex or concave.

Convex Hills.

Climbing any hill takes power and speed, two components that must gradually be increased upon approaching a hill. For a convex hill (one that is steeper at the bottom), the timing and the speed of the ascent must be nearly perfect. As odd as it may sound, the way to accelerate up a convex hill is to shift down. This provides more power for the climb. But timing is everything when using this method. Downshift too soon, and exhaustion will plague the rider even before reaching the hill. Downshift too late, and climbing the hill can be too labor intensive.

Concave Hills.

Concave hills are steeper at the apex and, as such, require a different strategy than do convex hills. Two key factors to this strategy are keeping the speed steady, thus conserving energy, at the start the climb. As the hill becomes steeper, the downshifting should begin.

Another strategy to mountain bike climbing of a concave hill is to stand up on the pedals, which creates a more powerful cycle. When standing, make sure the full body is evenly distributed on both pedals. This will create sufficient power to overcome the hill.

A Few Tips for General Technique

One's pedaling technique is also an important factor in successful mountain bike climbing. The right placement of the feet can have a huge impact on the amount of effort expended while climbing the hill. The feet should be positioned properly and the heel should be kept parallel to the ground. (If the toes are pointed down, the muscular contractions of the leg are minimized which will affect the speed and the stamina of the rider.)

Another point to consider is the cadence of the ride. (Cadence is the number of times that the pedal is rotated, on either side, per minute of cycling.) Aiming for a steady cadence is a healthy goal, whether the surface is flat or is on a hill. Cycling at a cadence of 85 to 105 is an optimum level.

When mountain bike climbing, one's power to climb the hill will be increased at a higher cadence while downshifting to a lower gear. The effort on the pedal, however, should remain the same on both the upstroke and the down stroke. Maintaining the same amount of pressure throughout the whole pedaling cycle will create a more even stroke, which can help to maintain the energy level needed to climb the hill.

The View from the Top

Mountain bike climbing is not for the faint of heart. It takes strength, stamina, and good technique. But with these tips, you should be able to see the view from the top of the hill (or mountain) sooner than your friends!

Tips For Hill Climbing on a Mountain Bike

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3 Workouts to Improve Your Hill Climbing

You don't have to ride the Tour de France to want to be the best hill climber possible. One most rides, it's the hills that cause the splits in the group. Improve your hill climbing and stay at the front of the group. With the right training and getting rid of excess body weight (fat), you will optimize your power to weight ratio and develop the ability to ride up hills like you've got a motor. I'm kidding. Just like Greg Lemond said, " It doesn't get any easier, you just get faster".

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The three keys to good hill climbing on a bike are cardiovascular capacity, muscular endurance and core strength. Improve all three and you are on your way to flattening out even the biggest hills. The following workouts will help you develop the

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Medium Cadence 4X4 Intervals

4 X 4 Intervals are hard efforts of 4 minutes with 4 minutes of recovery between efforts. The effort level is 120% of your Functional Threshold Power or as hard as you can do. The first two minutes you get up to maximum cardiac output and the last two minutes you hold it there. The twist with these is that you aim for a cadence of 75-80 rpms rather than the usual 90-100 rpms. This way you are over loading both the cardiovascular system and muscular endurance of the legs.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to find a hill that takes at least 4 minutes to climb and do repeats on it. Start with 3 repeats and build to 8. Add one per week and you will see increases in fitness for both hill climbing and flat riding. You can also do these repeats indoors on your bike trainer. Just choose a gear that makes you work your butt off at the specified cadence.

Out of the saddle hill climbs

This simple workout improves both your hill climbing and core strength. You need to be outdoors for this one as the indoor trainer is stable so you don't get the core activation of riding hills outside. The workout is very simple, just ride each hill you hit out of the saddle from bottom to top. You can do repeats on a given hill or just get out of the saddle for each hill you hit. Keep the time out of the saddle to 1 minute per hill in the beginning if you have long hills and increase the time out of the saddle a little each week. On the first workout do 6 hills this way. Each week add another hill until you are doing 15-20.

Headwind Time Trialing

If you don't have long hills, you can use headwinds to simulate them. Aim your bike into the wind and start riding away. You want to do 15-20 minute repeats at your Functional Threshold, but keep your cadence about 10 rpms below what you normally ride on the flats to mimic the muscular load you get when riding uphill. Start with 1 or 2 repeats and build up to 4. You can do these on the trainer, just adhere to the load requirements. These are hard but build both cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance in the legs. Over time you will become one of those hard riders that can keep on the gas without burning out. Increasing your fatigue resistance will do wonders to your overall riding.

Overview

Getting better at hills is simple but takes a lot of work. Keep at it and before you know it you will be one of the good climbers in your group.

3 Workouts to Improve Your Hill Climbing

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