Useful Tips for climbing
Pedal stroke
On the flats a poor pedal stroke will be somewhat covered up by momentum which will carry us through dead spots. Gravity however is merciless. As soon as there is a dead spot the rider will decelerate, necessitating an acceleration uphill to maintain tempo. This will happen twice a revolution and the greater the total rider/bike weight the worse the effect. If you can maintain a smooth pedal stroke by applying power all around the stroke with both legs you can minimize the effect and roll up the hill smoothly rather than exhausting yourself clawing your way up the hill. Work on lifting your legs as much as if not more than pushing them down. Don’t mash the pedal to a stop at the bottom of the stroke; keep it going around by pulling back.
Cadence
Take the hard work of getting yourself up the hill and break it up into manageable efforts by using a reasonable gear and maintaining a cadence of around 80 rpm. On long hills don’t speed up and exhaust yourself taking a run at the hill, don’t dump into a super low gear and lose all of your momentum and don’t stay in a big gear until you crawl to a halt. Get into a rhythm at the bottom and use your gears to maintain it. Roll up steadily by shifting to a lower gear whenever necessary to maintain your cadence. What is important is keeping your leg speed and avoiding overloading your muscles, not maintaining your rolling speed. If the hill levels out, shift to a harder gear as necessary to maintain your rhythm and a steady effort.
Gears
Most people have gearing that makes it impossible for them to climb effectively. You have to be able to maintain an aerobic, non muscular effort at a cadence that does not dip below 70 rpm for more than a few seconds at a time on all the hills you tackle. If you cannot do this worrying about technique is useless, have your gearing changed. Today there are many more options to get reliable, useable low gearing than there were a few years ago.
Breathing
Getting your breathing under control is vital for sustained hill efforts. Concentrate on deep, regular breaths. Get into rhythm with your cadence. If you breathe too rapidly you are expelling O2 before it has a chance to be absorbed. You will do better hanging on to what you have in your lungs rather than waiting for the next breath to try and get some more.
Pacing
Pacing is crucial for hills. We have limits to how long we can hold certain levels of effort. Go beyond these and you will have to struggle to continue even at a much slower pace.
If you go all out you have about 10 seconds
If you go hard enough to start breathing in a forced manner you have 30-90 seconds.
If you stay at a level just a bit above where conversation is possible you can maintain for over 30 minutes
The difficult part is that the body is slow to catch up with the workload we give it. You may feel like you are going at a hard but perfectly sustainable pace at the bottom of a long hill but go into the red and blow up even though you never increased the pace or effort. You actually were going into the red right from the beginning and by the time your breathing and heart rate caught up it was too late to back up, the damage was done. Lactic acid had flooded your muscles and jammed them up. On a long hill it is much better to start at a slower pace and after a couple of minutes when breathing and heart rate have stabilized see if you can gradually pick it up. You should aim to be strong over the top of the hill rather than being strong at the bottom and struggling over the top. Not only will you get up faster that way, you will be able to ride strongly right away rather than needing to stop and recover.
If you go all out you have about 10 seconds
If you go hard enough to start breathing in a forced manner you have 30-90 seconds.
If you stay at a level just a bit above where conversation is possible you can maintain for over 30 minutes
The difficult part is that the body is slow to catch up with the workload we give it. You may feel like you are going at a hard but perfectly sustainable pace at the bottom of a long hill but go into the red and blow up even though you never increased the pace or effort. You actually were going into the red right from the beginning and by the time your breathing and heart rate caught up it was too late to back up, the damage was done. Lactic acid had flooded your muscles and jammed them up. On a long hill it is much better to start at a slower pace and after a couple of minutes when breathing and heart rate have stabilized see if you can gradually pick it up. You should aim to be strong over the top of the hill rather than being strong at the bottom and struggling over the top. Not only will you get up faster that way, you will be able to ride strongly right away rather than needing to stop and recover.
Seated Climbing
Hands on the hoods is good, on the tops of the bars is better. Elbows out and dropped to open the chest and make breathing easier. Sit up enough to avoid compressing the diaphragm (see breathing!). Keep the upper body, including your neck and face relaxed. Concentrate on spinning nice circles. If you need to push a bit harder, slide back on the saddle. This allows you to recruit back and gluteus muscles. To generate even more power, drop your heel as you come across the top of the pedal stroke.
Standing Climbing
Advantage: Allows you to generate more power as you can bring more muscles and your body weight into action.
Disadvantage: Consumes more O2. The bigger the rider the greater the O2 penalty. Each rider has an optimal percentage of time spent standing and seated on a long climb. Bigger riders who generate more power sitting will sit more than smaller riders who need to stand to get power and pay a smaller price to do so.
When to use it: You can intersperse short periods of standing in order to stretch and use different muscles for a few seconds. You can also use it when you no longer have enough strength to carry a gear while seated and have no lower gears.
How to transition: If you are standing to stretch while on a steady incline you should shift to a harder gear to allow for the extra power you will generate. If you are on an increasing grade you can stay in the same gear and stand rather than shifting down. Stand as one foot is coming across the top about to come down. That brings your weight down on the pedal, gives you a bit of a boost and keeps the bike from being drop kicked into the rider behind as often happens if you stand as your foot hit the dead spot at the bottom of the stroke.
Cadence: A little lower than seated but not by much. Aim for 70 to 75 rpm to start.
Position: Hands on the hoods, wrapped around in a firm but not tight grip. Your body weight should be centered between the wheels, around the bottom bracket. Lean too far forward and you drive the front tire into the road, scrubbing speed. You should be standing fairly erect with your body perpendicular to the ground when seen from the front. The bike should rock just a bit back and forth as you pedal, only about 6 inches each way. This allows you to bring your full body weight down on each pedal as it goes down without having to move your body weight around. Better to move a sub 20 lb bike than a 140+lb body, much more efficient and less tiring. This is where your upper body contributes, by helping rock the bike and bringing the pedals under your body weight. As the bike rocks it should stay aiming straight up the road. Any snaking back and forth increases the distance you have to ride and once again cause scrubbing friction that wastes power.
Disadvantage: Consumes more O2. The bigger the rider the greater the O2 penalty. Each rider has an optimal percentage of time spent standing and seated on a long climb. Bigger riders who generate more power sitting will sit more than smaller riders who need to stand to get power and pay a smaller price to do so.
When to use it: You can intersperse short periods of standing in order to stretch and use different muscles for a few seconds. You can also use it when you no longer have enough strength to carry a gear while seated and have no lower gears.
How to transition: If you are standing to stretch while on a steady incline you should shift to a harder gear to allow for the extra power you will generate. If you are on an increasing grade you can stay in the same gear and stand rather than shifting down. Stand as one foot is coming across the top about to come down. That brings your weight down on the pedal, gives you a bit of a boost and keeps the bike from being drop kicked into the rider behind as often happens if you stand as your foot hit the dead spot at the bottom of the stroke.
Cadence: A little lower than seated but not by much. Aim for 70 to 75 rpm to start.
Position: Hands on the hoods, wrapped around in a firm but not tight grip. Your body weight should be centered between the wheels, around the bottom bracket. Lean too far forward and you drive the front tire into the road, scrubbing speed. You should be standing fairly erect with your body perpendicular to the ground when seen from the front. The bike should rock just a bit back and forth as you pedal, only about 6 inches each way. This allows you to bring your full body weight down on each pedal as it goes down without having to move your body weight around. Better to move a sub 20 lb bike than a 140+lb body, much more efficient and less tiring. This is where your upper body contributes, by helping rock the bike and bringing the pedals under your body weight. As the bike rocks it should stay aiming straight up the road. Any snaking back and forth increases the distance you have to ride and once again cause scrubbing friction that wastes power.
Short Hills
Short hills in an aggressive group present a difference challenge than long steady climbs. Here the idea is to use the techniques above but with an eye to maintaining the highest possible speed over the top rather than worrying as much about long term efficiency.
Descending
What goes up must come down (without going down)
Keep your weight low. Hands in drops or on hoods with elbows bent, firm grip.
When coasting, keep cranks parallel to the ground. Push down on the pedals. This puts your weight at the BB and allows the wheels to float over bumps independently.
Keep your gaze down the road on the smooth line you want to take, a further distance than when on the flats and going slower.
Keep all the way to the right unless overtaking. As soon as you have passed return to the far right line because no matter how fast you are going someone in your draft is gaining on you and needs the room to pass without going over the center line. (Same rule applies on the way up)
Do all braking before turns. A bike turning at high speeds with the brakes on is very hard to control and feels like it is fighting you.
When you do brake, slide your weight back on the saddle several inches and emphasize the back brake.
Favor lines that allow you to exit turns smoothly while carrying good speed rather than a line that carries you screaming into a turn and leaves you nowhere to go. Stay in your line while aiming to start wide, cut in on the apex of your lane and finish again on the outside.
In a turn, drop the OUTSIDE pedal and put your weight on it. Stand on it just like you would on the outside ski while downhill skiing.
Optional: Drop the inside knee towards the road to lower your center of gravity.
Advanced: Slight pressure from your inside hand on the handlebar will cause the wheel to angle out a bit allowing the bike to fall further into the turn, tightening it. This is Counter Steering. Pulling up on the bar will make the bike go wider.
Keep your weight low. Hands in drops or on hoods with elbows bent, firm grip.
When coasting, keep cranks parallel to the ground. Push down on the pedals. This puts your weight at the BB and allows the wheels to float over bumps independently.
Keep your gaze down the road on the smooth line you want to take, a further distance than when on the flats and going slower.
Keep all the way to the right unless overtaking. As soon as you have passed return to the far right line because no matter how fast you are going someone in your draft is gaining on you and needs the room to pass without going over the center line. (Same rule applies on the way up)
Do all braking before turns. A bike turning at high speeds with the brakes on is very hard to control and feels like it is fighting you.
When you do brake, slide your weight back on the saddle several inches and emphasize the back brake.
Favor lines that allow you to exit turns smoothly while carrying good speed rather than a line that carries you screaming into a turn and leaves you nowhere to go. Stay in your line while aiming to start wide, cut in on the apex of your lane and finish again on the outside.
In a turn, drop the OUTSIDE pedal and put your weight on it. Stand on it just like you would on the outside ski while downhill skiing.
Optional: Drop the inside knee towards the road to lower your center of gravity.
Advanced: Slight pressure from your inside hand on the handlebar will cause the wheel to angle out a bit allowing the bike to fall further into the turn, tightening it. This is Counter Steering. Pulling up on the bar will make the bike go wider.
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