Being a stronger climber
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jsk85 posted 5 weeks ago.
gjpure wrote:
Other athletes, even those in road bikes, will absolutely fly up a hill while I am hovering around 14-16mph.
For this comment, you should expect that, Tri-bikes are designed to be as efficient and fast as possible...on long flats. They spend very little time designing them for climbing. Also, along with geometry less-suited for climbing, they are usually heavier than their equivalently priced road bike...Hill dominance is not the focus of triathlon since most courses, even those that seem relatively hilly from a tri/TT perspective, usually aren't so from a road biking perspective.
As for specific ways to improve it...climb hills, big hills...I'd say try to get out and do a hill ride once every week or two.
I ride a road bike w/ clip-ons and I still don't climb well although I usually do pass on hills in tri rides. I went out with a couple roadie friends the other day and they took me on a hilly route, which compared to the "hilly routes" I do on my own by making them seem like flats. I felt like I was climbing mountains, and they were dusting me...it opened my eyes to ways to capture plenty of new speed. Climbing hills will build the legs up too to make you ride flats faster. Good luck
My blog: http://jsktri.blogspot.com
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Leroy Bonkers posted 5 weeks ago.
What is the difference in your weights? This makes a much bigger difference as the grade increases.
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41 days
laprokop posted 5 weeks ago.
Leg strength is a huge part of climbing... my suggestion is you do a workout once a week or two doing repeats on a very large hill. Focusing on keeping on the big ring cranking very hard at a low cadence.
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1155 days
gjpure posted 5 weeks ago.
Am I staying in the big ring at a low candence to simply build strength? I always thought you need to shift as you go up the hills to lower the resistance.
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102 days
thesonicson posted 5 weeks ago.
I too am in the same boat. I cruise pretty well on flats (22+) but get crushed on the uphills. I too am on a tri specific bike. I have been told to stay seated during your climb but I'm starting to have doubts based on what I've been seeing on these mountain stages of the TouR. There was also a training tip on their broadcast that said to "go all out" on uphills then recover on the downhills because you will make better time doing it that way rather than pacing throughout. And that tip was based on the TT, which has the most similarity to us tri's. Hopefully one day I can get up to their 30mph avg!!
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1136 days
JMA posted 5 weeks ago.
From a recent RoadBikeRider.com newsletter:
Slice 'n' Dice Long Climbs
Lots of recreational roadies will try to set a brisk climbing pace at the bottom of a hill and attempt to maintain that tempo to the top. Then they wind up folding tent about halfway up. The rest of the climb becomes a struggle as wise riders who started slower stream past.
One way to solve this problem is to divide the hill into 3 sections. If you know the climb or can see the top, pick landmarks around the one-third and two-thirds points. A sign, tree, mailbox, patch in the road -- anything you can see from a distance works fine.
Then treat the 3 sections like 3 different climbs. Here's how:
---In the first third, your intensity should be moderate. Choose a gear that lets you spin a bit faster than your normal climbing rpm. You should feel a touch of guilt that you aren't pushing harder. The hammerheads will surge past.
---Ride the middle third at normal intensity. Get into your regular climbing cadence. You should be working hard but not all-out. Some of the early hotshots will begin coming back.
---Drop the hammer on the last third. Now you're concentrating on strong-but-smooth pedaling. Your breathing is deep but rhythmical and controlled. Your legs are beginning to smolder, but that's actually good. Aim for what Lance Armstrong has called "sweet pain" rather than suffering pain. And it will be sweet as you roll by the riders who started the hill too hard -- like you used to.
Here's a great image to keep in mind (thanks to coach Chris Carmichael): Climb like a carpet unrolling. Start relatively slowly and finish fast.
A climb paced this way will feel better physically and mentally. Your time up the hill will almost certainly be faster compared to the common mistake of starting too fast and slowing significantly before the top.
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126 days
tritoride28 posted 5 weeks ago.
One nice little tip I got from someone who used to ride CAAD2(sp?) road races is when you crest a hill, drop down into your smallest rear sprocket and pound the pedals as hard as you can. This allows your body to push out the lactic acid that developed while you were pushing it up the hill. I didnt believe him at first, then I started doing it all the time and my recovery after a hill skyrocketed. It gets you moving faster, earlier and allows you to gain more momentum if you are proceeding to a downhill section right after the uphill.
Best hill training I have ever done was riding a 1/2 mile hill up and down as many times as my legs would allow, then biking back home at a brisk pace. Give something like that a shot if you can, maybe once a week and record your splits if possible.
Good Luck!
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Leroy Bonkers posted 5 weeks ago.
tritoride28 wrote:
CAAD2(sp?) road races
CAT 2, as in "category 2". Which means your friend is a bad ass.
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41 days
laprokop posted 5 weeks ago.
gjpure wrote:
Am I staying in the big ring at a low candence to simply build strength? I always thought you need to shift as you go up the hills to lower the resistance.
Yes from my understanding and I am just doing what I am told here is you are staying in the big ring and trying to keep the Cadence low to build strength. I went from averaging 23+ on bike legs to 25+ on bike legs doing it once a week... A word to the wise though if done properly it HURTS! I was so exahausted on some of those rides I didnt even want to finish the ride let alone cool down.
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wirebook posted 2 weeks ago.
I had a lot of hills added to my long bikes over the last few months and I've seen a dramatic improvement in not only my hill climbing capability but my overall bike speed. By 'a lot of hills' I mean 80-110 miles of mountains most weekends, generally about 10,000 feet of climbing.
It's not to say you need to do that much climbing every week, but I'd caution against just adding a few rollers to your workout. You ideally need some really long hills (a few miles - or roughly 15-25 minutes in length at say 6-9MPH) to build up that strength, repeated over and over again. I do all of my climbes seated during training in Z2, and only 'attack' hills that I can see the top of during races. Of course, my HR is higher in races (Z3ish).
My Ironman Providence 70.3 time really rocked this year - I think in part because of all the hill workouts.
-Ray
Tri Blog: Http://dcrainmaker.blogspot.com
I have noticed that while I am slightly above average on a flat course I just get killed on a rolling or hilly course. Other athletes, even those in road bikes, will absolutely fly up a hill while I am hovering around 14-16mph. It's like the hill isnt even there for them.
Is this simply a matter of strength? Just it just take more time and training? Is their any specific ways to improve climbing strength?
Right now I average around 21mph on a flat course (sprint distances for discussion sake) but drop down to about .5 mph or so on a hillier course. So I suppose one should expect a slower time on a hilly course, bike or run, but I dont like getting passed like that so it made me think I want to change that.