# I suck at climbing



## thedago (Sep 30, 2009)

any on or off bike tips to help improve


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## Sojourneyman (Jun 22, 2007)

off the bike - lose some weight

on the bike - get more power overall, churn out a comfortable cadence while climbing.

edit - losing weight isn't a slight by any means.


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

Steady, You make any climb at a steady speed and practice. You will get better and faster. 

I putt into a climb at 13-14 mph and get passed by folks at the beginning. The difference. I can keep that pace to the top of anything around here. Practice, practice. 
You will get better.


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## Touch0Gray (May 29, 2003)

spin don't mash.....and never look at the top before you get there.

I like hills.................


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## crashtestdummy (Apr 11, 2007)

Try to find a mile long hill at something like 5 or 6% and do it 3 to 5 times in a row. If you do that every week or 2, it will help a lot. Might even enjoy it after a while. Big Might


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

All good advice. Just keep riding and getting stronger. Train on hills whenever you can and you will get stronger- it might take awhile, but it will happen
Also make sure you have a reasonable cassette and crank setup if there is lots of climbing in your area.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Negative splits*



thedago said:


> any on or off bike tips to help improve


Consider starting the hill at a relatively easy pace for the first third, then a steady sustainable pace for the middle third, and then at your limit for the final surge to the top. Of course, you have to consider any changes in slope and the total length of the hill, but many have good success with this approach for both training and as a way to demoralize those people who pass you near the bottom


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## worst_shot_ever (Jul 27, 2009)

I suck on climbs, too, and have made improvement there my primary goal for next season. I hesitate to offer anything, but here are some of the tips I've heard from others:


obviously, practice, a lot, esp. hill repeats;
sit, don't stand;
raise your cadence, don't try to mash a big gear;
contrarily, practice in your big chainring;
break the hill down into a series of much shorter segments with specific goals or tactics for each;
start the hill at an easier pace than you normally would, then crank it up at the middle/end.


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## Hooben (Aug 22, 2004)

Climbing stinks, and I suck too...but to improve you have got to do climbing a whole lot. 
Practice makes perfect. It's painful but it works.


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## Nielly (Sep 21, 2009)

Be smooth and steady. Settle into your pace for the climb at the beginning. Don't try to mash the start just to blow up in the middle. Climbing is as much a mental challenge as a physical one, try to keep a positive perspective and enjoy it. I like to mix it up as far as sitting or standing.


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

I hate to say it but I am much better climber because of mountain biking. I love the road but my mountain bike taught me to climb.


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## Mtn2RoadConvert (Aug 28, 2006)

I live in an area that has a lot of hills and mountains with great climbs. Originally my bike came with a standard crankset and when I switched it out to a compact my climbing began to improve. Prior to the installing the compact crank I would have to get out of the saddle in the lowest gear on anything steeper than about 7% grade. Now I can comfortable spin while seated and keep a good cadence. The comment about losing weight has validity...when I dropped about 5-6 pounds I noticed a difference in my climbing.


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## czacharyasz (Dec 24, 2009)

A from Il said:


> I hate to say it but I am much better climber because of mountain biking. I love the road but my mountain bike taught me to climb.


+1 on that...i dont hate to say it tho because mountain biking is my passion, road biking always comes second to me. but after chugging up a long/steep hill in your granny gear on a 30 pound plus bike, you will quickly appreciate how much quicker and easier it is to get to the top on a 18 pound road bike. 

A year ago I thought that i would never be good at climbing...but after a lot of time in the saddle I really actually enjoy some of the climbs now....im still not "good" at it but im starting to like it a lot more.


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## thedago (Sep 30, 2009)

thanks all for the tips- there are quite a few good hills here so at least i have lots of space to practice - and i can get back on my mountain bike



Sojourneyman said:


> off the bike - lose some weight.


 Mom?


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## Hank Stamper (Sep 9, 2009)

I seemed to improve when I started concentrating on lifting my back foot (upstroke I guess you'd call it) instead of just thinking about pushing down with the front foot.


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

my two cents

+1 on the back foot scenario. first get your ass in the back of the saddle at the base of the climb. then pull, up up up on the pedals, dont mash. steady cadence and rhytym, sustain a familiar pace. once you get towards the top, go on and bust it, out of the saddle and over the crest


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## mandasol (Sep 10, 2007)

Don't look at the top of the climb. Just focus out about 10-15 feet ahead. Either keep constant focus at that range, or pick a spot in the road ahead and reel yourself to that point then find another point 10-15 ft ahead again. 
Alternate seated and standing techniques from one climb to the next, or use both on long climbs to rest different muscle sets. 
Use your weight. 
When you're seated don't rest your weight on your hands, use your body weight to help your legs push on the down stroke. 
You can actually climb all day standing. While out of the saddle lift your body near the top of the pedal stroke and straighten the leg you are going to push with, then let your weight push the pedal down (with your forward leg straight). Then rise again for the other leg and do it again. You need the right gearing, it needs to be hard enough to give good resistance to your weight. 
Go easier at the base of the hill, and harder at the top.


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## DalyCityDad (Oct 11, 2009)

*I used to think I was pretty good at climbing...*

...until I bought a bike computer. Today I rode up a hill I've ridden dozens of times before and I couldn't get out of the 6-8mph range and my cadence was down around 60. I'm sure I've improved so it makes me wonder what the numbers were like 6 months ago.


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## csh8428 (Aug 2, 2007)

Depends on how specific you want to get. Check bikmag's website for many many on the bike training regimens. Everyone has their own opinion on how to get better at hills. The easy answer is ride hills more if you do not plan on racing or have a specific goal to meet. You will get better over time. If you're body adapts quickly you will see significant improvement from just riding them after a couple weeks without any of the specific do x many hill repeats at x% grade, x times/week for x weeks. 
Off the bike is somewhat the same, but a more specific goals is needed. You want to develop more power. There's a myriad of exercises that are great for this. Olympic power lifts are good: deadlifts, squats, squat cleans. You want to mix in explosive with more endurance oriented stuff like weighted walking lunges and box jumps. Again everyone has different formulas for what works best. The only advice I can give for the formula is do it hard and vary the routine. If you do decide to incorporate those off bike exercises you are better off doing them in the "off season." When you start combining things like that along with your regular cycling regimen you will see less than optimal gains from both regimens because your body is not capable of fully recovering from both activities. I would only worry about that if you're racing though.


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

*I try to differentiate hills and flats by rhythm.*

It's probably the most dumbed-down way to see things. 

It wouldn't hurt to play with what gearing _feels _ best - not what's fastest - to get a sense of your hill-climbing rhythm, which will have inevitably-slower cadence than on the flats. Getting faster is a matter of mastering the current ratio until you're entirely comfortable and improving your cadence. Changing into a different gear isn't necessarily something to be ruled out, but it's more of a long shot until you've really developed your legs. And as Kerry said, increasing effort near the peak is effective. Wasting the energy early will make for a miserable ride - perhaps counter productive because it may make the remainder of the climb unsustainable depending on how badly you wasted the effort.

While moving your body around will expend extra energy, it doesn't hurt to discover changes in your saddle/handlebar positions that can benefit you. Getting along with an off-saddle riding style is an idea. Can be hard at first, but it really pays off once you get it.



DalyCityDad said:


> ...until I bought a bike computer. Today I rode up a hill I've ridden dozens of times before and I couldn't get out of the 6-8mph range and my cadence was down around 60. I'm sure I've improved so it makes me wonder what the numbers were like 6 months ago.


Judging by your user name, that hill wouldn't happen to be San Bruno Mtn, would it? =


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## DalyCityDad (Oct 11, 2009)

Judging by your user name said:


> Yup. It's a pretty decent sized hill/mountain. Especially considering the top is 5 miles from my front door and 1,000 feet higher.
> 
> I actually don't feel too bad about my climbing abilities. I think I just spent a little too much time on the Northern California board listening to people talk about how fast they climbed this hill or that hill.


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

DalyCityDad said:


> Yup. It's a pretty decent sized hill/mountain. Especially considering the top is 5 miles from my front door and 1,000 feet higher.


If you happen to be there this weekend, don't mind the doof who's riding in casual clothes...he's testing things. rrr:


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## Andy69 (Jun 14, 2008)

I harbor no illusions that at 43 years old I'm going to be competing with the pros, so this advice is not geared toward those who are competing at that level. It's more geared toward just being better/faster than you already are - being able to ride with the A group rather than the B or C during your local LBS ride.

First and foremost, ride hills. You get better at something by doing that something. Up down up down up down up down. Do this until you feel like you're about to hack up a lung and your legs feel like rubber. Do it often. On your regular rides, try to push yourself on the hills. Use them as a sprint. If you're like me you recover quickly on the downhill, ready for the next one. That's helped a lot.

Second, something that might help you is stronger legs. I say might because I don't think it helps everyone, hence the debate. Yeah yeah yeah I've seen and participated in the debate regarding weight lifting and bike riding, that if it actually helped you'd have power lifters winning the Tour, yadda yadda yadda. I can tell you what has worked for me regarding strength training. Lifting alone will not turn you into a good climber. But, having strong legs has helped me climb better and faster. I think the only guys who say it doesn't matter are the skinny 120 lb guys with wispy legs. Bigger guys will I think tell you something else. At least the ones I know do. Having the strength in my legs enables me to spin a high gear up hills, enabling me to go faster. I pass a lot of those 120 lb wispy leg guys while doing it, who always ask me, how do you DO that? I can do it because the wispy leg guys don't have the strength or power in their legs to spin that high of a gear at that low of a rate. Think of it as a tug boat vs a bass boat. There's a reason the engine in a tug boat spins at 1200 rpm not 6000. 

Now of course, since endurance trumps strength, there are little wispy legged guys who can drop me in a heartbeat on the flats. Riding fast because you're spinning a high gear is one thing, but keeping it up for 80 miles is another, and that's something lifting weights will NOT help you with. That's why you ride lots of miles if you want to get better at riding lots of miles.


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