Your First Three Years ~ Part 11:

Hills   (The fat guy fallacy)

A Guide for Beginner (and Experienced!) Cyclists, to the Art and Practice of Cycling.  Becoming Proficient, Fit, and Happy on your bike.

Just what is this “fallacy,” referred to in this week’s title?  Simple.  It’s the intuitive belief that one must achieve and maintain momentum in order to conquer hills.  That, somehow, getting over the next hill would be easier and faster if one could just carry enough momentum into it.

Before we go farther, let’s define “momentum.”  It is the product of an object’s mass and its velocity.  Mass is often confused with weight.  They aren’t the same thing, but they are related.  Mass is the measure of an object’s inertia.  Sir Isaac (Newton, not the hurricane) tells us that objects resist change in motion.  Themore massive an object is, the more effort it takes to change its motion.

Since we can’t change the mass of our vehicle (rider + bicycle + accessories + cargo = vehicle mass) significantly during a ride, but we can change our speed or velocity, we tend to do just that, change speed.  We also know that more momentum most certainly will cause us to coast farther, and to be able to coast farther up a given hill.  Unfortunately, there is a bit more to it than that.

This week’s title could cause offense to some, and cause others to relax and say,  “That doesn’t apply to me.”

Both of those responses would be mistakes.  We’re not intending to poke undue fun at anyone here.  But the truth of the matter is that larger (read more massive) riders are a bit more likely to fall prey to this.  More, there’s a good intuitive reason for this mistake.  More massive riders tend to descend more rapidly.  (In some future post we’ll discuss this in greater depth.)  The point is, the big riders know that they reach the bottom of the hill going faster.  And it only takes a little bit of additional energy to retain that speed for some distance.  The problem is, that works pretty well in the flats, but much less so when climbing.

One of the problems is that the same physics that is responsible for the larger rider’s greater acceleration down the hill will be responsible for slowing them down much more quickly when ascending the hill.

So you’re a smaller than average rider?  Congratulations!  You have a bit of an edge.  Of course, if you don’t pay attention to the rest of this post you are going to lose that edge.  We say this because smaller lighter riders have a tendency to fall into the same trap as the diesels.  More, the temptation increases on a group ride.  There you are, light and quick.  Everything is fine.  Along comes a downgrade, and the big guys start to barrel ahead.  Naturally you pick up your pace to stay with them.  Oh goody!  You are now spending cardio capacity to increase speed while going down.  Your adrenaline rises, and you hit the bottom of the hill roaring along.  You don’t want to lose that speed, so you accelerate as the hill comes at you.  After all, you want to keep all that nice momentum don’t you?

The problem with this approach is that it’s just not efficient.  Riders who use aerobic capacity to increase speed going down, will arrive at the next climb with a bit less in the tank.

The Key Concepts:

Descending doesn’t help as much as climbing hurts.

It’s your average speed that gets you over the hill, not your maximum.

Never go anaerobic too soon on a climb.

 “Pulling through the top” is faster and more efficient than blasting through the bottom.

Let’s take those one at a time.

Descending doesn’t help as much as climbing hurts.

It’s the truth.  Remember suffering through “time, distance, rate problems” in Algebra I?  (Don’t worry, we aren’t going to work any of those here!  We just wanted you to remember the concept.)  The thing is, we spend so much more time climbing than we do descending.  A slight edge on a climb will beat a great margin on the descent.  Great descenders only do really well on downhill runs.  Since almost all bike rides are either loops or out-and-backs, and we end up where we start, it makes a lot of sense to pay attention to this principle.  Why would you make yourself slower (and much more fatigued!) overall, just to gain a bit of advantage on the descending sections?

It’s your average speed that gets you over the hill, not your maximum.

Think about that one for a few moments.  If attacking the climb at a greater initial speed causes you to decrease your average speed up the hill, you have decreased your average.  And you made yourself more tired in the process.

Here’s a simple test to see if you are falling into this error.  Are you passing folks on the way down, but being repeatedly passed by them on the way up the next hill?  If so, you are not doing something right.

Never go anaerobic too soon on a climb.

Recovering while climbing is hard, and it hurts.  It slows you down.  (A lot!)  It should go without saying that going anaerobic before the climb starts is way too soon.  It’s better, faster, and more efficient to stay fully aerobic on the first part of the climb, and push hard as you approach the top.

 “Pulling through the top” is faster and more efficient than blasting through the bottom.

There is a natural tendency.  We are all prone to it.  We’re just about at the top of a good stiff climb, the climb “breaks,” gets easier.  We all tend to breath a great big sigh of relief, and relax a bit as this happens.  It’s an easy thing to fall into.  But DON’T!  If we want to be more efficient (and faster), there is a better way.

As we reach that magic point where the climb tapers and things start to get easier, upshift to a harder gear, and keep the effort on, or even increase effort a bit.  For best results we should keep doing this, upshifting and working harder, as we go through the crest of the hill, and even into the beginning of the descent.  Keep working until we feel gravity begin to accelerate the bike.  At that point it’s time to relax, recover, and tuck into a nice, tight, streamlined position to achieve maximum results from the descent.

Think about it.  Let’s suppose we could do a magic, science fiction clone of you and your bike.  Now we start the two of you at the top of a hill, with a series of hills ahead.  Let’s call you “A,” and your clone “B.”

B starts out powering down the hill, and pulls slightly ahead of A.  At the bottom, A continues to slipstream, and concentrate on breathing.  B upshifts and attacks the hill, pulling a bit farther ahead.  B is now about 5 to 6 bike lengths in the lead.

A begins the climb and shifts into a lower gear, spinning the pedals smoothly and quickly.  B is jamming into a hard gear, attempting to maintain speed.  At this point B is beginning to breath pretty hard.

A, still breathing easily, downshifts again, and maintains a steady climbing cadence.  B ceases gaining.

Now B, breathing really hard, must downshift two, three, or even four gears, just to keep the bike moving.  B is really losing speed here, and A is beginning to make up a bit of the gap.

The two riders have now moved onto the steepest part of the hill.  A downshifts once more,  B must downshift yet again (to a gear or two lower than A) and try desperately to recover.  A is now closing on B rapidly.

The “steep” continues, and A catches B, pulls out and passes in a good steady rhythm.  B is gasping for air.

A sees the break in the climb coming, and upshifts, adding power and beginning to feel the effort.  B is now three to five lengths behind.

A reaches the climb break and upshifts again, increasing power as the hill becomes easier, and then does it again, absolutely powering over the top.  By this point B is back almost 100 yards.

As A hits the top of the hill, and double upshifts, B (finally) makes it to the climb break and gasps in relief, slowing.  A continues to increase power, accelerating across the top, and into the beginning of the descent.

B, still working to recover, makes it to the top and lets the bike coast across and begin the descent.  A was moving a good five to seven miles per hour faster at this point, and is now more than halfway down the hill.

Since A and B are about equal in descending, B will make no more ground for the first part of the descent, but..!  B will be partially recovered during the first half of the descent, and will again begin to power the bike toward the bottome.

Can we see how this is going to end?

One Last Hint:  To best learn good hill climbing techniques, go out and ride hills alone.  Do repeats and concentrate on the technique.  Start by going up them slowly.  Really slowly.  Repeat until you can do the whole climb without breaking into hard breathing, anaerobic effort.  Then practice going harder near the top of the climb.  Do this until you can judge just where to increase effort without busting yourself.  (NOTE:  You’ll be working on this skill for as long as you are riding.  Plan now to include “hill drills,” in your regular routine.)

Climbing is just about equally about training and technique.  Learn.  Remember.

Next Week: Going “Clipless”

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This series began with the post on Tuesday, 19 June 2012.  It is intended to continue for three years.  Each week, we will discuss exercises, skills, practices, and activities designed to bring the new (or “experienced”) rider a high level of cycling competence.  We’ll address common problems, and (always) stress safe practice.

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A Note on Timing:  This series uses Mid-June as the starting point of the “Cyclists Year.”  We do this because this is the time that most folks decide to start riding.  If you are following this guide, you can “adjust” the timing to fit your personal “first three years.”  Do note that some of the posts will concern weather and seasonal changes.  When that starts to happen, just swap the “months” around to fit your personal timeline.