From The Community Section - Climbing Hills
August 2008
Not all hills are as steep and challenging as this one, but climbing is never easy on a bike!
With the new Everyday Cycling Community area gwining popularity daily, there are some fascinating discussions emerging amongst readers. A great example was a recent one about the art of climbing hills.
Wendy C asked
"As of late I have avoided big hills and walked up them, but now I want to ride them, I am of large build and have breathing problems but Im ok so any Ideas how to make it easier to get to top, you know whats the best gears to use, btw im on a mtb. I read a blog about finding a hill and going up as far as you can but when you can go no more go down and start again each time try to get a bit higher, thats a good one I have tried. I want to be queen of the hill!"
Wendy's question provoked a number of responses - some good advice here from DC:
"Try not to slog up hills on a high gears. This is bad for your knees, wears you out and makes hard work of climbing. Practice riding on medium to low gears with a relatively high cadence (pedal speed rather than road speed)...say 70 to 80 revs per minute. At first it will seem like the gears are too easy and you are pedalling too quickly, but after a while you will get used to it and it will feel comfortable. Set your gears so you are on either the middle or the smallest chainwheel (the front gear sprockets) at the bottom of the hill. Then index through your rear sprockets to maintain the cadence as you climb. So as you feel it getting harder to pedal, just change down a gear to maintain the cadence. Riding at high cadence makes cycling more of an aerobic exercise, like jogging for instance. So you may find yourself breathing more heavily than before. As your fitness and stamina improves, you should find that you can climb hills faster and more easily."
HM added
"Sound advice.. I have also found keeping a controlled constant pace in lower gears with plenty of deep breathing works. Powering up hills is not really helpful and just burns all your energy."
EA also endorsed this approach:
"I agree with the low gears/high leg speed approach and not just on hills. It can save so much energy and also prevent injury. I have a big climb right outside the railway station on my train/bike commute and tackling it with 'cold' legs in a high gear really put a strain on the legs. You can often feel faintly silly spinning away at about 6mph on a hill but I always apply the 'its faster than walking' philosophy. Happy hill climbing!"
However, PS wasn't so convinced: "On the back of this discussion I tried the high cadence method today but a problem presented itself to me. I find it harder to stand over the handlebars and 'lift' the bike as it were up the hill when the cadence level is too high, and as this only leaves the option of sitting back into the saddle i feel like i'm doing twice the work."
HC had also found hills a problem, but felt she was now making progress:
"When I started cycling the hills were a challenge, however I stuck with it and now feel a great achievement when tackling the very steep hill on one of my routes home, even now I have a great sense of achievement when getting to the top without stopping! I know what you mean about the pedalling like mad and trying to stand up doesn't work for me, I have to sit back to keep my cadence up! However I can now use a higher gear and stand for several minutes without having to collapse back into my seat. It does get easier as your fitness improves.
So there you have it - the problems of climbing and some of the solutions. One of the reasons mountain bikes have proved so influential over the years is the way they have introduced low-range gears into mainstream cycling, opening up the possibility of "normal, average" cyclists getting up both steep and long hills. Low gears mean that you don't have to be so fit to maintain a sustainable pedal cadence of 60 or 70 rpm plus. Long live the triple chainset!
Why not check out Hugo Gladstone's great article on some of the UK's toughest hills, the appropriately named School of Hardknotts
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