How to ride faster up hills — top tips for cyclists
Races are won and lost on hills, and there's a reason Strava has King and Queen of the Mountains segments! Check out our expert coaching advice to help you climb quickerUnless you live in a very flat part of the world, climbs are hard to avoid, and they're an integral part of cycling. Some people love to climb, and do it with the grace and ease of a professional. Others fear climbs, avoid them whenever possible, and curse every second they spend riding uphill.
It can really help to consult some data on longer climbs. Heart rate numbers are good, but power data is best . If you don't have access to these metrics, learning to judge how your body feels is key to good pacing, and that comes with experience. In other words, you need to ride plenty of hills on a regular basis.when you don’t know the length or gradient of a climb.
Another strategy that's useful if you're doing a sportive or another organised event is to make use of the route-plotting capabilities of apps likeThese allow you to research climbs ahead of time and get a good idea of what to expect. This way, you can know exactly what is in store and be mentally prepared when you arrive at a climb.
How much time are we talking about? Say you're an 80kg rider on an 8kg bike, and you're putting out 250 watts. A mile-long climb at 8% might take you 8:29 minutes. There’s a lot more choice these days, with Shimano offering compact chainsets and semi-compact that are now popular on road bikes, and newer sub-compact chainsets providing even lower gears.
A higher cadence pedalling is more effective because you reduce the tension and load on the leg muscles, and this reduces the fatigue and early onset of lactic acid that can inhibit climbing performance. “Relax your upper body and have a light grip on the handlebars. You want all your power to be going through the pedals. Hold your hands in the middle of the handlebar when seated to keep the bike straight and not swaying with the effort. Pace yourself for the length of the climb. Keep your momentum at the bottom of the climb, but don’t go too hard at the start.
Out-of-saddle pedalling can boost your power output and help you to produce the oomph required to tackle steep gradients above 10%, according to his research, but it requires more energy. “If it’s a short, steep climb, you might want to just power over it out of the saddle, although some riders will favour staying seated. You can use your off-the-bike workouts to increase your overall body strength and core strength to be able to get out of the saddle if needed.
“Starting at the back leaves you nowhere to go and it can be a race and leg killer to have to make up a gap back onto the group if you have already worked extremely hard on a climb.”If climbing is your weakness, don’t try to avoid the hills. Instead, make it your goal to ride more climbs. The more hills you do, the more comfortable you’ll get on them and the better you’ll become. Through practice, you'll learn how to pace different types of climbs and figure out where to rest or attack.
“Equally, if you are in a group ride and want to keep the pack together, be aware of where your effort may be lower than others and moderate your pace accordingly.”While you can pace yourself just by listening to your body and feeling the pain in your legs, you can get a lot more scientific if you want.is a good way to help control your pace on a longer climb, helping you avoid going into the red. There's always a lag between starting a climb and your heart rate going up, though.
Power and heart rate data complement each other and can vary from day to day, so keep an eye on both and compare them to how you're actually feeling. “No gear changing means easy parts of your ride are balanced with hard hills. Just be realistic when choosing your gear, knowing the climbs on your route.
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