Winter Hills:

Winter will change your thinking about hills.  When it’s cold out, you want to climb something, so you get warmer.  The extra work of the climb and the lower speed help to warm you up.

Suddenly descending becomes a whole lot less enjoyable.  The increased speed means more windchill.  Riders tend to slow down on descents in cold weather.  Actually, this is a poor technique.  When it’s cold, the proper approach is to streamline as much as possible, and go down as fast as is safe.

There are two reasons for this.  By going into an aero position, the rider decreases the amount of frontal area presented to the wind.  This diminishes the colling effect somewhat.  But more importantly, the time spent cooling is decreased.  Yes, the added speed increases the cooling effect, but the time is the enemy.  Get it over with, and get back to making power.  In that fashion, heat loss is decreased, and more time is spent doing work, which produces heat.

A good time to work on technique & a good technique to work on:

Premises: 

It’s not possible, or proper, to ride fast and hard all the time. 

No one rides as fast in cold weather.

Winter is a time to work on base riding, and technique.

Efficient Hill Drills:

We’ve all heard the advice;  “On a hill, don’t go anaerobic too soon.”

That’s sound advice.  But…  If you can not choose the exact moment that you go anaerobic, then you are not able to follow that advice.  If the hill decides when you will blow, you are not in command of it.  How do we remedy this?  By learning how to climb and when it is possible to increase exertion.

The Drill:

Climb a hill, while holding your heart rate in a pre-selected, artificially low range.

Start by warming up thoroughly.  Recover to low aerobic levels before beginning your climb.

How to do it:

Select two heart rate ranges.  These should be very low.  To begin with, try 75% of anaerobic threshold (AT) and 80% of AT.

Your goal is to climb your hill at or below that 75% range.  The 80% is your “do not exceed ceiling.  If you should hit 80%, you must stop, and recover in place until you are below 70% AT.  Then continue your climb.  (You will need the additional lower heart rate, as the act of starting on a hill will push you up a bit.

Do everything you can to keep your heart rate in the selected zone.  Shift down to easier gears.  Reduce cadence if necessary.  Learn to relax your upper body, hands, facial muscles.  Focus on your breathing.

Baby Steps First:

For your first attempts, select a hill that is not too long or too steep.  This is going to be a frustrating exercise, at the beginning.  But it will pay huge dividends.  Speed is not an issue here.  The climb will take the time it takes.

Do not do more than three attempts per session, then go and do some other, more entertaining work.

Going Farther:

As you begin to realize some success, there are two additional steps to take.  First, apply the same technique to climbing bigger hills.  Second, lower those heart rate numbers even farther.

Why bother?  Because it will make you a more proficient and efficient rider.  The techniques you learn from this exercise will allow you to ride faster or farther.  It’s all about using what you have, but using it to the maximum effort.