With a neat Gaps Ride coming up this Sunday, it’s a good time to do some climbing discussion. Be sure to read to the end, there’s some specific info on mountain climbing there.
I’m almost reluctant to write this. I gain a certain amount of enjoyment from out of climbing well. I’ll hasten to add, I’m not a great climber. I just do pretty good for a guy of my age and size. I often out-climb younger, fitter, and lighter riders. This is due to technique. I’m going to share what I know. Some of you will read and heed this. If you have a better power to weight ratio, and your technique is good, you will get to the top sooner.
Basically there are only two types of climbs; little ones and big ones. The little ones are usually called “hills,” and the big or “prolonged” climbs are mountains. Think in terms of time. If it takes only a few minutes to get to the top, it’s a hill. On the other hand, anything that takes a half an hour or more would qualify as a “prolonged climb.”
In this part of Georgia we have a lot of hills, but they are relatively small hills. There is a problem with this. It tempts us to attack them. After all, we can tolerate going anaerobic for a little while, and then the hill is over. This isn’t the best practice.
We have another odd thing in our local geography. All of our local features are erosion features. This means that, if you are going down hill, you are heading toward water. As soon as you cross the water (stream, river, lake, whatever) you will start climbing again. “Flats” just don’t occur in the bottom. We occasionally get a nice flat stretch on the top of hills.
One of the problems with this kind of terrain is that it tempts us to “build momentum” while going down hill. We do this because, “I need the speed to help me up the next hill.” Wrong! While this technique is intuitive, it does not work. When we attempt this trick we waste a lot of aerobic capacity building speed downhill. We’re actually fighting wind drag here. Then we arrive at the base of the hill with a terrific amount of drag, trying desperately to hold the speed, gasping for breath, and the hill is still ahead. Worse, gravity will decelerate us in very short order.
Secret #1: It’s your average speed that gets you over the hill, not your maximum. “Attacking” the hill at a high speed, will often cause you go anaerobic very early, resulting in a lower average speed. This is why, so often, “the first shall be last.”
Secret #2: Don’t go anaerobic too soon.
Okay, you read and hear this advice a lot. But I don’t often hear anyone explain how to accomplish this wonderful advice. If the hill pushes you into your anaerobic region, then you are not capable of controlling it. To do so, you must learn to be able to ride over any given hill while still fully aerobic. To learn this, one must do a lot of “efficient hill drills.”
Efficient Hill Drills Explained: This can be a really and truly frustrating exercise, but if practiced regularly, it is an extraordinarily rewarding one. You will need your heart rate monitor for this exercise.
First choose a hill, preferably a moderate one. Next select two heart rates. The first rate is about 75% of your Anearobic Threshold. The second rate is about 80% of Anaerobic Threshold. The objective is to climb the hill at 75% or less.
Begin from a standing start at the bottom of the hill. If your HR rises to close to the lower target HR, decrease speed, downshift, reduce cadence if necessary. Work on relaxing your upper body, your face, anything that is not necessary to the process of moving the bike. If your heart rate rises about the target, slow down even more. Should your HR reach the 80% point, you must stop completely, and recover in place until your HR is down to the 65% of AT range. Then continue the climb.
After a few repetitions of this drill, you will begin to learn to ride up the hill more efficiently. Now do two more things. 1) Pick a steeper or longer hill and work on it. 2) Do the same drill on the original hill, but set your heart rates even lower.
As you do these drills, focus on relaxing your body, lowering your breathing rate, shifting smoothly, and picking good low gears that allow you to spin up the hill. Admittedly, this is not the most exciting thing you will ever do on a bike, but it makes you a better rider.
Secret #3: Wait for it! As you approach a hill, let the hill come to you. Shift down keep your pedal effort light, and shift down early. When your speed drops to your best climbing rate, and you’ve matched your gearing to the hill, you can go to work. This is hard. Others will be passing you. You will reel most of them in somewhere around the middle of the hill!
Secret #4: When the climb “breaks,” shift up to a harder gear. And keep shifting up as you top the hill start the descent. All roads over hills have similar properties. There is always a point where the road builders begin to round the top of the hill off. At this point the grade of the hill decreases. This is where a savvy climber upshifts to keep effort even. As the climb nears the top, rather than going, “Oh thank heavens!” and enjoying it, keep the effort on for just a bit longer. Shift up to a harder gear. As the climb rounds the top of the hill, keep shifting up. Keep the power on. Continue this over the top of the hill, and into the next descent. Once you feel gravity begin to accelerate the bike, then you may reduce effort, streamline for the descent, and recover.
Secret #5: Get lighter. This may be the toughest trick to pull off, but it’s well worth it. Lose those extra pounds. I’m not saying get a lighter bike. (That may be in your future, but wait for it.) It’s a lot less expensive to reduce your weight, and it’s healthier. I’ll do some posts in the future on fat reduction. For now, know this, if you drop five to ten pounds in body weight, you’ve greatly improved your climbing capability, and likely improved your health. Now go out and price a bike that is ten pounds lighter than yours.
Secret #6: Get heavier. I know! This contradicts what I wrote in the Secret #5. Bear with me. I’m speaking about training weight. Use your heavier bike in training. Carry more stuff with you. Grab a back pack and put some stuff in it. Add 15 to 25 pounds to your climbing weight. Train to climb with this load. Then one nice day next summer, leave all the extra stuff behind, shift to the “light bike,” and enjoy the ride!
Prolonged Climbs: This refers to going up the big ones.
A rider who lives and trains in our area should be able to ride almost anywhere in the world. We do get enough hill work. But there is one problem. Our local hills are all fairly small and short. This tempts us to get in the habit of “muscling the hill.” We can attack shorter climbs, going anaerobic before we reach the top. We know that the hill is not all that tall, and we will be able to recover soon. Be advised, no one can muscle a mountain. The mountain is just too big, and allowing oneself to go anaerobic on a prolonged climb is a serous mistake.
Recovering while climbing is difficult and slow. Worse, if a rider needs to stop, the toll of the uphill re-start is high. Far better to stay completely aerobic on the climb. Settle down, stay inside yourself, and enjoy the scenery and the process of the climb itself.
Best technique: Mount your “climbing gears.” Go low early. Use “active rest.” Save any anaerobic efforts for the summit. Don’t celebrate the summit, “roll” it.
Mount your “climbing gears.” Install a lower gear cassette on your bike. (Be sure your driveline will accommodate this. Check with your mechanic.) The reason? If it’s not there, you can’t shift down to it. Attempting a mountain climb with a standard road double and something like a 12-23 is a stunt best left to 19 year olds who weigh 140 pounds. I’m not comfortable with approaching a climb unless I have a low gear of no more than a 1.22 to 1 ratio. (to find your low ratio, divide the number of teeth on your small chainring by the number of teeth on your larges cassette cog.) A road double with a 12-27 cassette had a low ratio of 1.44 to 1. This is barely adequate, if you are a really strong and really light climber. Think compact crank, and lower range cassettes, or a road triple and a 12-27 cassette.
Go low early. Many cyclist will try to “save” a gear or two while climbing. The thinking is, “I can downshift later, when my legs are tired.” This is a mistake. Ride conservatively. Use your gears and save your knees. Higher gears fatigue your legs more rapidly. Go to your lowest gears early. If you are still feeling frisky toward the end of the ride, then you can climb in a higher gear!
Use “active rest.” Prolonged climbs require using the same muscle groups for long time periods. This is fatiguing. Worse, the upper body tends to tighten up, increasing fatigue. You can stretch out, and “freshen” your main climbing muscle groups with this trick. While you climb, you establish your rhythm. Find a speed that lets you stay aerobic. As you begin to feel things tighten up and tire do this. Accelerate just a bit and upshift two gears. Now stand up, but do not accelerate. Let your cadence drop to keep you at the same speed. Climb for two or three minutes like this, standing at low cadence. Then sit down and down shift back to your steady state climbing gear.
The important part of this technique is to not accelerate while standing. Remember, an increase in horizontal speed on a climb, means an increase in vertical speed. That means using more energy, and thus increasing cardiovascular demand. Keep the speed down while standing and stretching out.
Don’t celebrate the summit. I see this a lot on multiple summit rides, such as the Gaps Rides. Riders will do a long climb, and then get off the bike and have a little party at the top. NO! This might be okay if it’s the last summit, and all down hill from there. The problem is, muscles start to go into “recovery” in a very few minutes, and it takes energy just to stand around. Prolonged climbs are usually followed by prolonged descents. Your legs are going to tighten up while descending. Why make it worse by stopping and standing around at the top. Besides, the ride is not over yet! The better technique is to “roll” the summit, keep going right into the descent. Recover there, and prepare for the next climb. Save the celebrations for the parking lot and the restaurant at the end of the ride. It’s safer, and much more efficient.
Is anyone else as pumped about going to Helen as I am?
No comments:
Post a Comment