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?s for Mountain Climbers
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 2012-10-24 9:39 PM |
Regular 181  |  Subject: ?s for Mountain ClimbersI live in a very flat part of Michigan and suck at hills. I want to get better so I traveled 30 minutes to find a decent size hill to do repeats on today. The hill was .7 miles long, 170 feet of elevation, and an average grade of 4.9%. It was tough, but not so bad. I pretty much was in my last gear the whole time, trying to spin at 90 rpm, which was really tough. However, on my way back home, questions popped in my head wondering how you people in the mountains do these type of rides. I saw that the Alpe d'Huez is like 8.5 miles long with an average of 8% grade. That's insane. I know many of you aren't doing this extreme of a ride, but what do you guys normally do? My heart rate at the top of the small hill I did was at 180 bpm. How do you attempt to train for something comparable to the Huez? You cyclists that ride in the mountains every day, how do you manage these grades and lengths all the while keeping your heart rate and lactic acid down? Do you have different geared bikes? I have a 9 speed. Here is a link for my gear set up: Is this part of my problem with climbing? Should I switch cassettes if I want to do better on hills? When on the mountain roads, are there spots where you can take a break? Meaning there is no incline during a stretch of the road? It just seems crazy that it is even possible to go up a mountain, but obviously, this is because I don't have any to ride or experience. Maybe one day... |
| 2012-10-25 2:50 AM in reply to: #4468113 |
Veteran 287 | Subject: RE: ?s for Mountain Climbers Riding up a mountain is just plain hard. It always is, no matter what kind of shape you are in, it's just a question of how big of a gear you can push. there is a reason most triathlons are held on relatively flat courses. It's because there is really no way to climb a serious hill effectively when racing without going a little anaerobic. There is a reason why the hill climb holds a special place in the heart of a serious cyclist. That is where the suffering happens. When you suffer, you get stronger. When you get stronger, you start dropping your fellow riders. When you drop your fellow riders, it makes you smile and ok with suffering a little more.  |
| 2012-10-25 8:00 AM in reply to: #4468113 |
Pro 5892   , New Hampshire | Subject: RE: ?s for Mountain Climbers I have a bunch of climbs we do at a regular basis that are very much equal to Alpe d'Huez (except the switch backs and the aura of course!). I've actually done AdH and Mt Ventoux (which is by far my favorite climb!). It all comes down to steady power output and gearing for your ability. Your HR will go up, but you need to stay below your red zone (LT threshold). It sounds like you started off too fast in the climb you did. If you're not starting from stand still, make sure you plan your shifting well in advance. You don't want to shift from big ring to small ring in the middle of the steepest sections, nor do you want to shift to a too light gear too quickly as you will lose momentum. |
| 2012-10-25 9:33 AM in reply to: #4468113 |
| Regular 181 | Subject: RE: ?s for Mountain Climbers I have to believe many of you climbers use a different gear setup. I just ran my cassette using that Mike Sherman's Gear Calculator vs my friends bike, with is a compact. My lowest gear ratio is 3.29. However, my friends bike has 4 lower gears than mine: 3.17, 2.90, 2.66, and 2.38. When I got near the top, I was really pumping hard to keep my cadence at 80. I felt like I could use another gear. I bet if I had that compact setup, I could easily drop a gear or two and be in the 90s. But would being in the 90s help keep my heart rate down? 163 is my LT, at least that is what trainerroad.com gave me. So to keep it under that would be rough. But maybe the higher cadence would do it? |
| 2012-10-25 1:47 PM in reply to: #4468113 |
Pro 5892 , New Hampshire | Subject: RE: ?s for Mountain Climbers I have no idea what gearing you use, but I use 50/36 Q-rings with 12-25 10 spd Campy cassette for all my road bikes. That includes my road bike that I have at my in-laws in Florida (pancake flat), my road bike that I ride around my home and my road bike that I keep in our ski condo in the mountains. 3 very different types of terrain, but exactly the same gearing on all 3. Never felt I needed more in the mountains, nor that I need any additional gears when it's super flat... I do vary my cadence a bit though... Normally, I'm in the range of 90-100 rpm, but when it gets really steep, I might drop down to low 70's, but I will stop spinning after I reach 120rpm but lack resistance downhill (at that point, I'm going fast enough that an extra gear wouldn't do my much good anyway..) Edited by audiojan 2012-10-25 1:48 PM |
| 2012-10-25 10:33 PM in reply to: #4469272 |
| Regular 181 | Subject: RE: ?s for Mountain Climbers audiojan - 2012-10-25 2:47 PM I have no idea what gearing you use, but I use 50/36 Q-rings with 12-25 10 spd Campy cassette for all my road bikes. That includes my road bike that I have at my in-laws in Florida (pancake flat), my road bike that I ride around my home and my road bike that I keep in our ski condo in the mountains. 3 very different types of terrain, but exactly the same gearing on all 3. Never felt I needed more in the mountains, nor that I need any additional gears when it's super flat... I do vary my cadence a bit though... Normally, I'm in the range of 90-100 rpm, but when it gets really steep, I might drop down to low 70's, but I will stop spinning after I reach 120rpm but lack resistance downhill (at that point, I'm going fast enough that an extra gear wouldn't do my much good anyway..) Wow, guess my gearing needs to be changed. If you ride in a flat area and have a 50/36, then mine is way to big. My bike is a 9 speed with 53/42 in the front and 12-25 in the back. The funny thing is, I always liked to ride it with the small front ring, but then I read the Velominati rule where you never leave the big ring. So I switched up and tried to always keep it in the big ring when out riding. However, now I think my big ring is just too big for most conditions and the smaller ring is more like the bottom gearing of most typical 10 speeds while in their big front gear. |
| 2012-10-31 6:54 AM in reply to: #4468113 |
Extreme Veteran 579 | Subject: RE: ?s for Mountain Climbers Don't know if I qualify as a climber or not. 6 ft tall 153 lbs. is "big" for a climber, but I do "enjoy" climbing. I live in middle Tennessee with small hills and have to drive an hour to get any thing longer than about a mile. I do that a couple of times a month, in fact providing weather is good I plan on a climbing day with an area that has nice 3-5 mile long 5-7% climbs this Sat. or Sun. before bad weather really sets in. As far as set up goes obviously think light, my bike Cervelo R3 weights in at sub 14 lbs. with tubulars and 15.5 with clinchers. I also us a compact crank 50/34 Sram Red with a 11X28 rear. When doing long climbs alternate between standing and sitting, I try to do about a minute and a 1/2 standing then switch to sitting for a minute. Also, I find that cadence is a individual thing, yes ideally 90 rpm's would be great, I don't know many non pros that really can do that for long climbs, I tend to be in the high 70's to low 80's when I climb. |
| 2012-11-02 9:53 PM in reply to: #4468113 |
Master 1484 Sedona, AZ | Subject: RE: ?s for Mountain Climbers At some point your cadence will drop so that you can continue climbing. You can only chase a cadence for so long before you run out of gears if the hill is steep enough. Otherwise you'll push yourself into the red zone. We have a 12.5 mile climb averaging 6% (some spots into the teens) out here that is a lot of fun. Also, don't worry so much about 'the rules'. They are very much tongue-in-cheek. As much 'Hey! I do that!' as they are 'So THAT'S what I'm supposed to do!' |
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