Foyle Cycling Club - Climbing Tips

Welcome to the meeting of the 'I Can't Climb Cycling
Club' started to help all of us, myself included, improve our
ability to climb well in the hills.

One of the most abundant answers was
concerning 'keeping your breath' (aerobic) while climbing and
ultimately succumbing to a climb or pace due to the lack
of ability to keep your breath or breathing tempo.

AEROBIC PROBLEM 1: You're Out of Vertical-Aerobic Shape!

Maintaining aerobic fitness with miles and miles of casual riding
will not guarantee your fitness and aerobic shape in the hills.

To improve aerobic shape in the hills...you have to start to
ride in the hills! Duh!  Amazingly many cyclists don't do this
in their TRAINING and then get to group rides on Sundays and
say, 'Man, I just can't climb at all or keep the pace.  WHAT'S
WRONG WITH ME??'

SOLUTION: Take 1 day a week and pick a training route that
is hill intensive.  Think about your ride as ONLY focused around
the performance on the hills.  This is NOT a hammer fest, but a
chance to get your body situated and focused ONLY on climbing.
Remember you are trying to gain aerobic ability in the hills,
not anaerobic ability (at least not yet!).

Keep your climbing pace slow and don't push past the point
where you start to lose your breath.  Embrace the climb and
enjoy the release of NOT having to climb fast!  This will help
you improve and before you know it...you will be climbing fast!

Climbing is like dancing.  You need to have some sort of
consistent beat and harmonic rhythm.  I see too many cyclists
constantly changing their pace and NOT their gearing so their
tempo and rhythm stays consistent. When your pedaling gets
out of rhythm...your breathing gets out of rhythm.  Then you
go anaerobic, lose your breath and BLOW UP!

SOLUTION: Many cyclists at the first sight of a hill begin to
panic and immediately start to build the pace into the hill.  BIG
MISTAKE!  For the most part, better to keep the pace early
in a climb conservative and get a FEEL for the climb.  Establish
your rhythm and stick too it by using your gears and cadence
as a guide.  You can always build intensity into the hill, but you
can't reclaim wasted energy you put out at the beginning!

Come out of the saddle only when necessary to keep your
breath and your heart rate in control.  Better to change
cadence slightly or gearing to get the desired power and
keep your upper body relaxed and focused.

As I mentioned in problem 2, many cyclists get panicked as
they approach a hill.  Especially if they are with a group of
riders and 'think' their climbing is a problem.  They get
twitchy.  Move in the saddle a lot.  Tighten down into the
handlebars and lower their head and chest resulting in
poor airflow that is sure to shut down any hopes of keeping
pace and breath.

This increase in anxiety and stress about climbing is actually
one of the primary reasons many cyclists lose their breath in
the hills.  Ironically, the ONLY way you can really improve your
climbing is by learning to RELAX as you add pressure.  NOT
EASY, but if you RESPECT your tempo and PRACTICE YOUR
RELAXED CLIMBING TEMPO, it can be done and it can make
all the difference!

SOLUTION:  Remember we want to open, release, and relax.
This comes down to solution 1 and practicing in the hills at
OUR PACE at least once a week.  This will allow us to develop
our own rhythm and tempo, plus allow us to focus on relaxing.  
It is imperative to do this if we hope to climb well.

When you are out with a group and the pace in the hills picks
up, stay calm.  Remember, there is a top to every hill and
it's OK to be in the back of the pack, but keep your wits
and ride YOUR tempo.  Don't get suckered into someone else's
cadence, position and pace as you stare at the back of
their wheel.  This is how you lose your breath.  

Sit upright, relaxed upper body and open your airway.  Try to
make pretend that the others aren't even there so all you
hear is ONLY your breath!

If you do lose your breath, it's OK, just slow your pace, but
keep your rhythm and momentum.  Once you lose momentum
and breath you're sunk.  So gear down just enough to catch
your breath, but not lose all of your momentum.  Again
, you

BOTTOM LINE:  If you want to keep your breath on the climbs
you are going to have to PRACTICE keeping your breath on
the climbs through TRAINING and RESPECT your current climbing
fitness to do so.  If you always go into a hill and try to grind it
to
the top...you'll never get there!

Next meeting of the 'I Can't Climb Club' will discuss the need
for muscular strength an muscular endurance and how you
can achieve this in your training on and off the bike.