So, to begin, Hi I am 77 had a heart attack Nov.29,2022 at 11:30, drove to a hospital and got released 36 hours later after three stents placed around and in the heart. WAKE UP CALL. Within one week I came across your TH-cam channel.Your sharing on how you came to be as you are today helped me look to at myself in a more positive manner. For that I bless and thank you. I planned a program to get well enough to ride across Arizona west to east( in 4 to 5 years). To get there I bought a road bike, joined a club here in Fort Myers FL , I ride very early in the day because of the temp 05:30 for about an hour and very little traffic (FL drivers are crazy and don't believe in red lights or speed limits). All this verbiage just to thank you and looking forward to finally using my Damn bike computer!! Love Davide
Hi Katie I'm 68 and have been cycling for over 55 yrs . I followed your lead I was pushing a 55/34 I've just put on the 46/30 with an 12/32 block. What a difference, a revelation .it's smoother . I'm sure I'm faster .and I can get up hills better. Thank you. I live in North Yorkshire near ingleton. I have a nice 10 k. Climb by me that I must try again now. Thank you
You are spot on with your tips of practice...practice...practice.. and self talk. I started cycling when I was around 18. I remember doing my normal route one day and when I finished the climb I said to myself: "wow you did pretty well on that today" Over the years, I would periodically praise myself in my head. It truly works. I am sure it's why I became a decent climber.. Today, I'm 63 years old. I retired in 2021 and ride 50-60 miles a day.
I had a cycling coach that once said to me that 'the best way to get better at hills is to climb more hills'!!!! I've recently purchased the Garmin 840 with live climb pro and it has helped pace my climbs immensely. I'm now doing PB's out of 250m climbs that I've cycled dozens of times prior. Great tips as always :-)
Great vid, all good advice, thanks! On long, steep climbs I find what work s for me psychologically is to get your gear and your breathing right, find the groove, and look about 2-3 metres ahead of your front wheel. Don't look at how much of the climb there is to go, I enter a sort of meditative state (accompanied by very heavy breathing), and quite often you surprise yourself by suddenly being at the top!
Nice tips Katie. We have a mountain here in Montreal Canada where I live and a lot of riders use it for training. It is a category 4 climb. I have done it four times in a row with an old mountain bike. As you say the gears play a big role. Have only done it three times with my lighter road bike. That's because the gears are not low enough. Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship. I am eagerly looking forward, and have been following your Zwift videos. Keep up the good work
Thanks so much Katie, I am learning so much from you. I am still a newbie in cycling and always so many good tips!! I have the Garmin 820 and I can see now the elevation part of it! I promised myself if I keep cycling for the new year I will get a 1050!
good informative advice! A goal for climbing rides that seems to be followed here in Calif is to gain 1000 feet (approx 300 meters??) of elevation for every 10 miles (18 kilometers?) of distance. I'm 71 but still am able to get in 3000 feet of elevation for a 35 - 45 mile ride. Not too shabby!
Round here it is just a fact of life that you do 200 metres of ascent for every 10 km. If you look for hills that goes up to 300 and if you seek out the flats you can get down to about 140.
Had to come back and comment… I’ve always avoided hills. I’m 16st and always go for flat rides out in Cheshire. As much as I love it, it takes hours and the views are always the same, so I decided to some hills. I stuck a 46/30 GRX crankset on my bike and stuck a larger cassette on the back and have been headlining out into the Staffs’ moors. These tips have been fantastic, and I’ve started to go for even effort, as opposed to even pace, I’ve played the mind games… next lamp post, next road sign etc. I’ve started to look at everything other than the peak, and I’ve the focussed on my breathing and tried to recover mid-climb, and you know what… I got my fat arse up the hills, and i was fucking ecstatic. I got more from a 25mi ride than I ever did from 80 miles on the flat. I think I nay genuinely come to love climbing now.
Great tips Katie, I live in the midlands where the hills are no more than bumps compared to your rides and I used to get over them with no problem at all. After many years off the bike I now feel intimidated by them. I think the big part for me is your first tip. Practice rather than avoiding them. Love the way you divert to the lovely views, cute animals and your little quirks in your videos, they really bring out your personality and make your videos so entertaining. Thanks
Awwww Gary, go enjoy them climbs and views!! It’s almost a game to me - it breaks up the ride to have the lovely hills and views in the middle. You don’t get epic views on the flat! :) Go on Strava Explore and create a route with your locals climbs in. The more you do it the more you will love them :) a
Katie! Right on time with this as I just took my first SF hill over this past weekend-and I’m hooked because it’s such a rush when you find you indeed are capable, and it makes you feel invincible especially after so much time spent avoiding hills. You keep going strong, Katie. And I want to thank you because that you are open about your own cycling hang-ups and such, I can be easier about my own. Namaste my Vegan sis! Much love and respect.
How many times I've had a certain number of people say to me "I can't do that climb, I only have an 11/23 or 11/25" like that's a "reason" versus as you said "snobby" response. I always say to them "Do you want to ride or not?" if you have to have specific routes because you want to avoid hills? You nailed this one Katie!! - Bob
Well done on the Garmin sponsorship. Ordered today an Edge Explore this morning. Was using my iPhone ad-hoc on longer rides, but always worried about the battery use. The Garmin is a proper tool for the job. Have a great trip around France. Love the channel
Inspirational, well done. To a much more modest degree, I love climbing hills. In this day and age it is hard to take on and hopefully succeed, at a physical challenge. Not only a personal sense of satisfaction, but also, as you say, a view from the top. And if I don't make it, there's always next time. Thanks again.
I love your tip about speed. I remember when I went on holidays in the Black Forest and wanted to ride a road over a ridge with my new bike. I went way to fast and was almost puking before I even reached the first switch back. So embarrassing. :-)
Congratulations on the Garmin support! That's big news! One of my favourite features too. Never saw much of the black until I went down to the Yorkshire dales! 😂 great video as always.
Living in West Wales (Pembrokeshire) just try planning a route where hills DON'T feature! I'm running a Tiagra groupset with 50/34 up front but was able to chuck an 11/34 on the back which was a definite improvement on the 11/28 it came with originally. The reward of getting to the top of a climb is (usually) worth the effort you need to put in. Keep up the great work Katie, enjoy your videos and am trying to increase my distances (if only to escape from Wales)...
Huge congratulations on the Garmin partnership, well deserved! If you can get your hands on one, I'd love to see you test the radar with the built in camera. I had my closest ever pass from a van last week and it's tempted me to get one
My two favorite road bikes are 22 and 42 years old, and the lowest gears they have are 39/21 and 42/24, respectively. I can get up any hill I've yet encountered in my area of the US by simply not stopping. But as I get older (I'm 62), I'm making plans to buy a more modern, lighter, lower-geared bike.
I don't know whether others have mentioned something similar - I admit not to having read all the comments. I tackle climbs in visual stages i.e. I look ahead for a landmark, be it a slight change in gradient (usually a lowering) or a gate, hedge, tree, telegraph pole. Anything that gives me a target; a quick win. Once achieved, look for the next, and in no time the top is in sight. Except where the top is a false summit and you cycle over it only to find more hidden hill :D
Myrtle Street in Stillwater, MN (US), is a steep hill. I have to be in first gear on my recumbent trike to climb it. With every pedal stroke, the front wheels feel like they want to come off the ground. That's sayin' something when the trike and I weigh a combined 320 lbs. That was a one and done. Another tip for hill climbing ... ease into them. As you get stronger, tackle longer/steeper inclines.
I live in North Cornwall - there are no flat runs, hills, hills, hills and I love it. I take my own speed and like you, take in the views. Why ride and not look around you.
Running 53/39 11/25 in norfolk..... I miss big climbs, the climbs with a corner towards the top, or the little kick and gets steeper. Climbs are great, dance up, views are great and decending is great fun.
My father used that gearings (53/39//11/25) in his young days for the big climbs like Nufenen, Gotthard or Susten in the swiss alps. His friends too. He said, a semi compact crankset is granny gearing. He was not a pro. He rode for fun. If I started with road cycling, I thougt, I'm a bad climber. Every big hill was a hell with this gearings. No wonder. Hats off for the performance of my dad and his friends. But the times have changed. So I use some granny gearings too (52/36//11/34). For me its more fun and less pain to climb the big climbs with some big rings on the cassette. And I like to climb the long and steep climbs now. Low gearings is a very good tip.
After a month off the bike we did the BHF London to Brighton run. Every photo I got sent were me walking Ditchling Beacon.. it was the one and only time I climbed off on the hills...
If you ever get to Michigan in June try Michigan Mountain Mayhem. At the end there is a 12% plus climb they call the Wall. Over 4000 Ft of elevation over 100 k or 100 miles. I have done it twice. Brutal for me but a breeze for you. Wonderful scenery. Great tips.
When I first started riding it was mountain biking in the 80’s and me and my mates loved going as fast as we could down the hills - but it doesn’t take long before you realise that unless you ride uphills, you don’t get many downs. So we used to challenge each other to get to the top with no dabs and over time this evolved into enjoying the ups as much, if not more than the downs! I now have a medical condition which means I have to really not exercise at too high an intensity - so what I do is manage my intensity level using my heart rate - which I try to keep below 130bpm. Using this method I can get up even huge 30km, climbs in the alps… Height gain is what my long term targets are based around. I also work out a “hilliness” factor which is height gain in meters divided by distance in kilometres. I like to keep all my rides over a hilliness factor of 10. I’m in Hertfordshire, so there’s nothing big here - but I do have the Chiltern Hills literally across 1 field from me. Today’s ride was 12.8 factor with over 400m of climbing…
It’s good to know where your benchmark is I know that I can do mount Von top on Zwift in 2 hours but I learned how to do it by trying to keep the coloured bar chart at the bottom of the screen in green and yellow obviously when it gets really steep you have to go into the red !
Thanks for this - challenged me to tackle some local hills. One suggestion for a video is how to handle clips on hills. I nearly fell multiple times today. I’m sure they’re some good suggestions you might have. Thanks!
One of the reasons I use flat pedals. I always found it stressful on a steep hill where I think I might have to put a foot down while realizing that my foot (road cleat) is going to skate all over the place with no grip possibly causing me to fall into traffic. There's something about my bone structure that seems to make it hard to twist my foot out of the pedal, so it's not that I forget to unclip, but that I struggle to get my foot out. It works fairly well for me with road cleats, but road cleats are no good for the mixed surface riding I like to do. Mtb style cleats don't like to disengage for me, though it's possible it's something with the shoes I'm using that's causing that. In any case, I've always been used to flats so I find no difference with them, but I recognize that I'm probably losing out on an all-out 30s high torque effort or being able to give my quads a short break by pulling up for a few revs.
Great encouraging video, especially because you reinforce the positive side of hill climbing. I am forever reminding my daughter that mountains feed you strength and endurance. It is all about changing ones attitude that makes difficulties manageable and ultimately doable. This then becomes breakthrough to enjoying every aspect of cycling and allows me at least to always be able to press on. Be water and flow up and over the hill. Smooth and steady is the way. By the way I am loving my Garmin Fenix 6 X pro. But now I am just realized I am going to have to upgrade my head unit 🤣 Great sales pitch👍
As more of a gravel person of late I absolutely love exploring the unknown so I will almost never upload a given course onto my Garmin. Instead, I´ll stick to the old fashioned map, just try to memorize the main destinations and then off I go, hills or not. But dang, I would like to test out that Garmin 1030 one day, it looks nice. As for climbing: I´ve never thought about it as a love-or-hate thing, just that it´s a given when riding my bike. But then I come from a region where there´s only up or down and no flat terrain to be found. Good tips and thx for the vid!
I believe I ended up with the same rims as you. I rather like them quite a bit actually. Mind you, I was on some older Roval Fusee 23 nice but running va 26mm is so comfy! About climbing... Katie where I live now, in Spain (came from California some years ago) here you just can't get away from climbing. Training here in this country is actually great, because you become a good rider whether you like it or not. You learn to love it. And as a matter of fact, I will be getting a Garmin unit as well soon. Hope it's not too complicated lol. Katie, great video, a pleasure to watch, safe riding. 🚴
Sorry to hear about your back! Just take it steady and don’t rush it. Also one thing I found super important after having a brain injury was keeping an eye on my heart rate to see how my body was reacting to riding again. Just spinning at first sent the HR up a lot so knew I needed more rest. Video about in on my channel around November / December. I wasn’t sponsored by Garmin then but I used their Pro HRM strap and would recommend. And thanks so much Geoff. Means a lot that you’re supportive and as excited as I am :)
Great video katie ,I hate hills but always put them in to day rides great advice will have yo do more 👍 I have the garmin 830 love it hill climb is mint 👌 love your videos x
@TELEGRAM ME-katiekookaburra Hi thank-you very much no need for surprise like that it's very kind of you but there no need to give me a prize ,it takes nothing to be nice to to people ,looking forward to your next Adventure take care X 😊 👍👌
Hi good guidance on climbing another tip is when the climb gets steep shift your sitting position to the front of the saddle so you are driving down directly over the cranks , it works for me so your more forward on the bike, then shift back again as the gradient eases 👍👍
@@nigeldalby2794 I used to love mine (old Edge) till it started playing up, so I switched to the Wahoo Elemnt and it was so much better... I also had a Garmin satnav that died in no time, so I'm not 100% confident in the quality.
Hi Katie you are like me l love the hills l don't think about the hill l ride with my hands on top of my bars good views wish l was there thanks good video you are so positive good to be take care
Good tips as usual Katie but can I add another which I have found invaluable? That is to join group rides. Prior to my accident last year I had never ridden with anyone and probably was kidding myself as to how strong I was. I have now joined a mixed group of triathletes and leisure riders and this has greatly improved my overall cycling ability. In terms of hills I now try and keep up with the good hill climbers and have now even started passing some of them where previously I wouldn't have put in so much effort. The support from the other riders when you do struggle on an off day also helps. I now actually look forward to the rides with hills where previously if riding solo I might have taken a flatter route. You said you weren't bothered about your speed but again I find that being in a group makes me pedal harder just to be able to keep pace and so my overall fitness is improving fast. Our group is very mixed and at 62 I'm not the oldest but equally I am definitely not the youngest (several probably your age) and several compete in triathlons so I think we all encourage each other regardless of age/ability. Iam planning on a ride out to Ribble Cycles on Friday (whilst my work vehicle is being serviced) to look at what my next bike will be. Keep up the good work!
@@KatieKookaburra cheers. Congratulations on the Garmin sponsorship as well, I have a Garmin 830, and wouldn’t be without it. One thing I will ask regarding the climbs though, is it better to remain in the saddle? As I find myself every now and then needing to get out of the saddle to push on some of the steepest parts. Also I think I need to get out of my head the fact that I need to go from bottom to top without stopping. I find sometimes when it levels out having just a couple of minutes give me enough energy to push further.
For me it’s a metal thing, I talk myself out of hill climbing even though I live in Sheffield which as hills everywhere and doesn’t matter how I commute there is a hill. My bike doesn’t have the right gear set but I try my best. Hopefully my new bike will.
With hills come great views and fun descents. Also a great way to forget about your daily concerns, because when you're climbing a steep hill all you are thinking about is "when will this be over". Not to mention building strength and endurance.
These are great tips! I can't emphasise the gearing one enough - get the lowest gears your bike can handle! The only other thing I would add that helps me is to break the climb up into sections. If it's a road with a load of switchbacks I'll be telling myself "just get to the next corner" or if it's a straighter road I pick a landmark like a big tree or a lamp post or whatever and just focus on getting to that then pick the next thing. I'm the opposite in that I don't want too much info, I don't want to know the gradient is about to go up (or down) so although I have a climbing page on my wahoo I tend to stay on the map page which just has my cadence and heart rate. I try to keep it >60rpm and
Oh and one more tip: don't let your ego pick the gear, just pick the gear that feels right at the time. So many times I used to look at the road and think "this is not very steep I should be in a big gear" and just kill myself. The road plays tricks on you and sometimes what seems flat or not very steep is actually 5-6% and needs a low gear and other times it will look steep and it's only 2% and you can be on the big ring. Don't worry about it and listen to your body and just go with what feels right. If you have bpm, rpm, or power in our setup use those to guide you but going on feel is just fine. Including just getting off and walking if you get to an insanely steep bit or you've just had enough - it's OK to walk. Better to do that and complete the ride than kill yourself for 500m of 18% and have to cut a ride short cos your legs have blown up.
1:51 Money-saving tip - if you really can't run to GRX, Shimano also do a 46/30 Tourney chainset. It is obviously a bit heavier and square-taper only AFAIK but if you absolutely need low gears on a budget you could do a lot worse...
Great info. I wish someone would just figure out how to CNC machine the whole 46/30 as a single block, double chairing that could be bolted on popular spiders with a standard BCD. If they can make entire cassettes that way, why not chainrings?
@@devdroid9606 That sounds a hellish complicated and expensive way of getting a 30t ring onto a standard road crank! Inevitably one ring will wear faster than another and you'd be needlessly replacing a £100+ part that still had some life in it. Why not just get a set of TA or Stronglight cranks? They have a tiny bcd so will take any combination of rings your mechs can handle... Back in the day cassettes did actually have separate cogs and with a bit of luck and a following wind you could buy individual cogs. Further back in the days of freewheels this was quite commonplace. I don't really see the advantage of buying your cogs in a big indivisible block unless you have shares in the component industry!
General advice 1. Lose 10 kilos. 15-even better 2. Get the lowest possible gearing Have fun. BTW Katie, you can slap a 40t cassette on this setup and it will work. 46/30 at the front, 40t cassette, now we are talking.
When you look ahead and see a long upwards climb coming up, remember: It always looks longer and steeper than it is! Don't scare yourself even before you start - select the gear you want, get the pace you want and just keep going. If you think want to stop, then look up , see how far you've come and how far to go and set yourself a goal (reach the next ridge or next corner) and when you get there, repeat.
Climbing a hill is like live problem solving. Chop up the problem in manageable portions. Actually for me its like meditation riding uphill but on the other hand time is not an issue. You get better over time
@@KatieKookaburra Hi Katie, I'm replying to this thread as I think I was phished by someone using your name and profile pic. If you look at the reply to the comment above this one, it's from someone called Telegram me katie kookaburra. I received an offical looking TH-cam notification in my email, didn't read it properly and clicked on it thinking it was a reply from you to my comment. It wasn't until I had clicked and replied that I saw the different user name. So now I'm not sure if I've invited some malware in, hope not! Just wanted to let you know, maybe this is something to report to YT?
I did my first big climb in a long time (30km / 1600m). Near the top was the first spot I could see up the road. "Oh crap, I have to get way up there?" It turned out that "way up there" was all of 10 minutes away (on a 2.5 hour climb).
I think I can, I think I can or how about them views eh! Ta very much for another excellent video. I’m still on the fence about getting my first GPS bike computer. Was thinking about Wahoo Bolt 2 for the friendly interface (buttons and menu) but my mates all have the 530. After watching this I may have to splurge on a 1030! Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship … that’s awesome. I do love their maps!
Thanks so much!! Super excited!!!! :) heard a lot of good things about the 530 too. If you like climbing the ClimbPro is PHENOMENAL! Actually way better than I thought it would be - knew it would be good but wouldn’t want to ride without it.
Another quality vid from Kookaburra Productions. Reckon your "T Rex" legs, with all those thousands of km's behind them, would manage climbs on a 55 cassette ! Thanks for sharing the tips, have a brilliant time next week, stay amazin. ☀️ 🐑 🦙
Once you find your mountain mojo going it is soo meditative. I love climbing, but unfortunately live in a very flat area. On a 100 km ride you get only 200mh sometimes. Sometimes I make it a challenge to chase for elevation, but it can be a bit frustrating if you only get 3-4% max. on very short sections. So I guess I really need to move out of the Berlin flatlands. 😀 Thank you for the great tips again! ❤️
Enjoyed your video as always. Looking forward to one on the garmin. I'm trying to decide what computer to get. Any information is much appreciated. Keep smiling
I live on the West Coast of Scotland so hills are just a part of our every day. I always feel sad when I hear that the reason many people don't want to cycle is hills but they are great fun! I would hate to do a long boring flat cycle............great video as always Katie and I love Garmin products. My question would be which Garmin to use for navigation off road. There are so many to choose from the mapping can be a real problem.
another great video! i haven't finished watching yet but it's because of you that i'm improving my hill climbing. i used to avoid them but now i look for them. haha! thank you. 🤗
I gave up stats a long time ago, I only keep track of mileage. I agree with you about speed, it's not really a good metric to see how you're progressing unless you're riding the same exact route as always. 2nd agreement, the reward at the top of a climb or the descent afterwards, has to be good.
One of the groups I ride with are cruisers/choppers/lowriders. I've geared mine really low so I'm one of three that can actually ride up hills, the rest get off and push. I spin out at 25km/h, but it's slow riding anyway, so doesn't matter.
Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship Katie. Would love your take on the new Varia radar with camera, currently have the radar with lights but wondering if I should upgrade?
Havé you ever tought to come and train in to the marvelous italian Dolomites Alps ..? You would surprised of how many short medium and long claimbs you can find surrounded by beautiful panoramas and stunning views.. I would love to take a ride with you into the Dolomites paradise 👍🏻😉
Lower gears certainly matter, but so does weight. Ideally, you can ride up hills more efficiency and more enjoyably if you and your bike weigh less, you have the right gear range, and you're fit. BTW, I think those critters are alpacas.
If your spinning correctly in clipped pedals/SPD etc. , There is an Rpm climbing of 90+ sitting that is optimal for distance, your still better sprinting with that or more. It's the slow grind that hurts the knees .
Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship, I hope it leads to you getting the new 1040 solar and giving away your old 1030 to a disgruntled Wahoo user who's device crashes multiple times on every long audax..
Thanks Alan!! Super excited about it as I have had my pick of units over the past year and the 1030 Plus was by far my fave!!! Yes yes and YES to the 1040 Solar!!! Need!!!! :)
Did a big (for me) loop of Trough of Bowland yesterday Katie and to be honest I bit off a little more than I could chew; ended up pushing the bike up 3 climbs (a farmer even offered me a lift on his tractor!) but there were just so many and I felt like a fat kid on a seesaw. 50km ride felt like about 80! Anyhow I finished the ride with planned bacon butty stop in Whalley - big shout out to Dave from Blackburn who gave me a little shortcut for the last few k back to Ribchester to the car :) Point is although that ride was hard by my (beginner) standards I felt like a champ afterwards - oh and my son passed his driving test yesterday too so a great day!
@@GazzaView123 He was a smashing older fella Edd I met at the cafe stop. A true cycling veteran. I'd driven up from St Helens with the bike in the back, first time I've ever cycled up there absolutely stunning will defo be back.
I disabled Garmin Climb Pro, as it tends to not warn me to turn if I need to during a climb, I've found myself on the top of the hill but I've had to go back half way to take another path (and climb again). Plus I often prefer not to be reminded of how hard and long the climb is ^_^'
@@mrspice2486 Sadly you would have to change the entire Group-set to get 2x literally nothing about GRX 1x is compatible with the 2x system (except the right hand shifter). You could extend your gear range though, Shimano say GRX has a max rear cassette size of 11-42, BUT it actually takes an 11-46 easy with just B screw adjustment, even a few bike brands (like EVIL) are shipping with an 11-46 as an option. You can either go with a standard evenly spaced MTB cassette (MicroShift and Sunrace are both good options) or go with a Deore XT M8000 which is spaced like a 10 speed cassette with a "bail out" gear. Some people are even running 11-50/52t cassettes using a Wolftooth Goat or Road link DM. You will need a spacer behind the MTB cassette (easy to find) and longer chain, most people run a SRAM Eagle 12s chain. FYI. I am currently running GRX 1x: 40t chainring x 11-46t cassette (SunRace CSMX8) with a SRAM GX or NX Eagle (I forget) 12s Chain and it shifts flawlessly.
I learned the hard way that hill climbs require a different level of hydration than flat routes. I got a double quad cramp recently that for a while rendered me unable to bend either leg 😳 I did bit of research on electrolytes to avoid this. What do you for for electrolytes? Also the mental game is so critical. When the going gets tough I just tell myself 1 pedal at a time and what goes up must go down 🤷♂️😆
Hi Katie. Could you review the Garmin Varia radar (RTL515). I havent met a single person yet who doesnt think they werw the best gadget theyve bought for a bike, and dont know how they went out on roads without one....myself included. Ps: good luck in France 👍👍
Hi Katie, I’m a new subscriber and love your content, oh and I bought your e-book. Quick question as a fairly new cyclist at the age of 67 I definitely want to make hills easier. In an old video of yous you recommended a cassette of 11-40. Now I see instead you are keeping to a 11-34 cassette (which I have) but switching from a compact 50/34 chain set to a 46/30. Would that be the better option now then in your experience?
So, to begin, Hi I am 77 had a heart attack Nov.29,2022 at 11:30, drove to a hospital and got released 36 hours later after three stents placed around and in the heart. WAKE UP CALL. Within one week I came across your TH-cam channel.Your sharing on how you came to be as you are today helped me look to at myself in a more positive manner. For that I bless and thank you. I planned a program to get well enough to ride across Arizona west to east( in 4 to 5 years). To get there I bought a road bike, joined a club here in Fort Myers FL , I ride very early in the day because of the temp 05:30 for about an hour and very little traffic (FL drivers are crazy and don't believe in red lights or speed limits). All this verbiage just to thank you and looking forward to finally using my Damn bike computer!! Love Davide
Hi Katie I'm 68 and have been cycling for over 55 yrs . I followed your lead I was pushing a 55/34 I've just put on the 46/30 with an 12/32 block. What a difference, a revelation .it's smoother . I'm sure I'm faster .and I can get up hills better. Thank you. I live in North Yorkshire near ingleton. I have a nice 10 k. Climb by me that I must try again now. Thank you
Yasssss so glad it’s good for you!! I love the 46/30! You defo need it in Yorkshire x
You are spot on with your tips of practice...practice...practice.. and self talk. I started cycling when I was around 18. I remember doing my normal route one day and when I finished the climb I said to myself: "wow you did pretty well on that today" Over the years, I would periodically praise myself in my head. It truly works. I am sure it's why I became a decent climber.. Today, I'm 63 years old. I retired in 2021 and ride 50-60 miles a day.
I had a cycling coach that once said to me that 'the best way to get better at hills is to climb more hills'!!!! I've recently purchased the Garmin 840 with live climb pro and it has helped pace my climbs immensely. I'm now doing PB's out of 250m climbs that I've cycled dozens of times prior. Great tips as always :-)
Great vid, all good advice, thanks!
On long, steep climbs I find what work s for me psychologically is to get your gear and your breathing right, find the groove, and look about 2-3 metres ahead of your front wheel. Don't look at how much of the climb there is to go, I enter a sort of meditative state (accompanied by very heavy breathing), and quite often you surprise yourself by suddenly being at the top!
@TELEGRAM ME-katiekookaburra Hi, do you mean reply to this channel?
Nice tips Katie. We have a mountain here in Montreal Canada where I live and a lot of riders use it for training. It is a category 4 climb. I have done it four times in a row with an old mountain bike. As you say the gears play a big role. Have only done it three times with my lighter road bike. That's because the gears are not low enough. Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship. I am eagerly looking forward, and have been following your Zwift videos. Keep up the good work
Thanks so much Katie, I am learning so much from you. I am still a newbie in cycling and always so many good tips!! I have the Garmin 820 and I can see now the elevation part of it! I promised myself if I keep cycling for the new year I will get a 1050!
good informative advice! A goal for climbing rides that seems to be followed here in Calif is to gain 1000 feet (approx 300 meters??) of elevation for every 10 miles (18 kilometers?) of distance. I'm 71 but still am able to get in 3000 feet of elevation for a 35 - 45 mile ride. Not too shabby!
Round here it is just a fact of life that you do 200 metres of ascent for every 10 km. If you look for hills that goes up to 300 and if you seek out the flats you can get down to about 140.
I under stand your love for hills at 70 years old ride a path with 2 2000 foot climbs they keep me in shape my wife loves your videos
That is incredible!!! Wooop wooop you’re amazing Kenneth!!!
Had to come back and comment… I’ve always avoided hills. I’m 16st and always go for flat rides out in Cheshire. As much as I love it, it takes hours and the views are always the same, so I decided to some hills. I stuck a 46/30 GRX crankset on my bike and stuck a larger cassette on the back and have been headlining out into the Staffs’ moors. These tips have been fantastic, and I’ve started to go for even effort, as opposed to even pace, I’ve played the mind games… next lamp post, next road sign etc. I’ve started to look at everything other than the peak, and I’ve the focussed on my breathing and tried to recover mid-climb, and you know what… I got my fat arse up the hills, and i was fucking ecstatic. I got more from a 25mi ride than I ever did from 80 miles on the flat. I think I nay genuinely come to love climbing now.
Great tips Katie, I live in the midlands where the hills are no more than bumps compared to your rides and I used to get over them with no problem at all. After many years off the bike I now feel intimidated by them. I think the big part for me is your first tip. Practice rather than avoiding them.
Love the way you divert to the lovely views, cute animals and your little quirks in your videos, they really bring out your personality and make your videos so entertaining. Thanks
Awwww Gary, go enjoy them climbs and views!! It’s almost a game to me - it breaks up the ride to have the lovely hills and views in the middle. You don’t get epic views on the flat! :) Go on Strava Explore and create a route with your locals climbs in. The more you do it the more you will love them :) a
Katie! Right on time with this as I just took my first SF hill over this past weekend-and I’m hooked because it’s such a rush when you find you indeed are capable, and it makes you feel invincible especially after so much time spent avoiding hills. You keep going strong, Katie. And I want to thank you because that you are open about your own cycling hang-ups and such, I can be easier about my own. Namaste my Vegan sis! Much love and respect.
How many times I've had a certain number of people say to me "I can't do that climb, I only have an 11/23 or 11/25" like that's a "reason" versus as you said "snobby" response. I always say to them "Do you want to ride or not?" if you have to have specific routes because you want to avoid hills? You nailed this one Katie!! - Bob
Well done on the Garmin sponsorship. Ordered today an Edge Explore this morning. Was using my iPhone ad-hoc on longer rides, but always worried about the battery use. The Garmin is a proper tool for the job. Have a great trip around France. Love the channel
Inspirational, well done. To a much more modest degree, I love climbing hills. In this day and age it is hard to take on and hopefully succeed, at a physical challenge. Not only a personal sense of satisfaction, but also, as you say, a view from the top. And if I don't make it, there's always next time. Thanks again.
I love your tip about speed. I remember when I went on holidays in the Black Forest and wanted to ride a road over a ridge with my new bike. I went way to fast and was almost puking before I even reached the first switch back. So embarrassing. :-)
Thanks Katie. Garmin is brilliant for the climb reference
Congratulations on the Garmin support! That's big news! One of my favourite features too. Never saw much of the black until I went down to the Yorkshire dales! 😂 great video as always.
Living in West Wales (Pembrokeshire) just try planning a route where hills DON'T feature! I'm running a Tiagra groupset with 50/34 up front but was able to chuck an 11/34 on the back which was a definite improvement on the 11/28 it came with originally. The reward of getting to the top of a climb is (usually) worth the effort you need to put in. Keep up the great work Katie, enjoy your videos and am trying to increase my distances (if only to escape from Wales)...
Huge congratulations on the Garmin partnership, well deserved! If you can get your hands on one, I'd love to see you test the radar with the built in camera. I had my closest ever pass from a van last week and it's tempted me to get one
I always regret doing hills mid way up a very steep climb but once you get to the top, god damn it's always worth it and you feel so good.
It only takes me a few minutes to forget the struggle and remember the climb as pretty easy. :)
Another cool video.Thanks to your inspiration I've ridden Ashworth Valley a few times now. The view from a hill is why I go up them. Enjoy!
I just built a bike and went with an 11-34 cluster (34/50 front), totally agree with lower gearing.
My two favorite road bikes are 22 and 42 years old, and the lowest gears they have are 39/21 and 42/24, respectively. I can get up any hill I've yet encountered in my area of the US by simply not stopping. But as I get older (I'm 62), I'm making plans to buy a more modern, lighter, lower-geared bike.
I don't know whether others have mentioned something similar - I admit not to having read all the comments. I tackle climbs in visual stages i.e. I look ahead for a landmark, be it a slight change in gradient (usually a lowering) or a gate, hedge, tree, telegraph pole. Anything that gives me a target; a quick win. Once achieved, look for the next, and in no time the top is in sight. Except where the top is a false summit and you cycle over it only to find more hidden hill :D
I do MTB but enjoy watching your channel. I like climbing tough techy climbs in the lakes. Agree with your tips in this video.
Myrtle Street in Stillwater, MN (US), is a steep hill. I have to be in first gear on my recumbent trike to climb it. With every pedal stroke, the front wheels feel like they want to come off the ground. That's sayin' something when the trike and I weigh a combined 320 lbs. That was a one and done. Another tip for hill climbing ... ease into them. As you get stronger, tackle longer/steeper inclines.
I like the Garmin hill feature too! Good call by Garmin to sponsor you.
I live in North Cornwall - there are no flat runs, hills, hills, hills and I love it. I take my own speed and like you, take in the views. Why ride and not look around you.
congratulations on the Garmin partnership! 🎉💪🏼
Running 53/39 11/25 in norfolk..... I miss big climbs, the climbs with a corner towards the top, or the little kick and gets steeper. Climbs are great, dance up, views are great and decending is great fun.
Oooof that’s some gearing on them climbs!!!
My father used that gearings (53/39//11/25) in his young days for the big climbs like Nufenen, Gotthard or Susten in the swiss alps. His friends too. He said, a semi compact crankset is granny gearing. He was not a pro. He rode for fun. If I started with road cycling, I thougt, I'm a bad climber. Every big hill was a hell with this gearings. No wonder. Hats off for the performance of my dad and his friends. But the times have changed. So I use some granny gearings too (52/36//11/34). For me its more fun and less pain to climb the big climbs with some big rings on the cassette. And I like to climb the long and steep climbs now. Low gearings is a very good tip.
After a month off the bike we did the BHF London to Brighton run. Every photo I got sent were me walking Ditchling Beacon.. it was the one and only time I climbed off on the hills...
If you ever get to Michigan in June try Michigan Mountain Mayhem. At the end there is a 12% plus climb they call the Wall. Over 4000 Ft of elevation over 100 k or 100 miles. I have done it twice. Brutal for me but a breeze for you. Wonderful scenery. Great tips.
When I first started riding it was mountain biking in the 80’s and me and my mates loved going as fast as we could down the hills - but it doesn’t take long before you realise that unless you ride uphills, you don’t get many downs. So we used to challenge each other to get to the top with no dabs and over time this evolved into enjoying the ups as much, if not more than the downs!
I now have a medical condition which means I have to really not exercise at too high an intensity - so what I do is manage my intensity level using my heart rate - which I try to keep below 130bpm. Using this method I can get up even huge 30km, climbs in the alps…
Height gain is what my long term targets are based around. I also work out a “hilliness” factor which is height gain in meters divided by distance in kilometres. I like to keep all my rides over a hilliness factor of 10. I’m in Hertfordshire, so there’s nothing big here - but I do have the Chiltern Hills literally across 1 field from me. Today’s ride was 12.8 factor with over 400m of climbing…
It’s good to know where your benchmark is I know that I can do mount Von top on Zwift in 2 hours but I learned how to do it by trying to keep the coloured bar chart at the bottom of the screen in green and yellow obviously when it gets really steep you have to go into the red !
Thanks for this - challenged me to tackle some local hills. One suggestion for a video is how to handle clips on hills. I nearly fell multiple times today. I’m sure they’re some good suggestions you might have. Thanks!
One of the reasons I use flat pedals. I always found it stressful on a steep hill where I think I might have to put a foot down while realizing that my foot (road cleat) is going to skate all over the place with no grip possibly causing me to fall into traffic.
There's something about my bone structure that seems to make it hard to twist my foot out of the pedal, so it's not that I forget to unclip, but that I struggle to get my foot out. It works fairly well for me with road cleats, but road cleats are no good for the mixed surface riding I like to do. Mtb style cleats don't like to disengage for me, though it's possible it's something with the shoes I'm using that's causing that.
In any case, I've always been used to flats so I find no difference with them, but I recognize that I'm probably losing out on an all-out 30s high torque effort or being able to give my quads a short break by pulling up for a few revs.
Great encouraging video, especially because you reinforce the positive side of hill climbing. I am forever reminding my daughter that mountains feed you strength and endurance. It is all about changing ones attitude that makes difficulties manageable and ultimately doable. This then becomes breakthrough to enjoying every aspect of cycling and allows me at least to always be able to press on. Be water and flow up and over the hill. Smooth and steady is the way. By the way I am loving my Garmin Fenix 6 X pro. But now I am just realized I am going to have to upgrade my head unit 🤣 Great sales pitch👍
As more of a gravel person of late I absolutely love exploring the unknown so I will almost never upload a given course onto my Garmin. Instead, I´ll stick to the old fashioned map, just try to memorize the main destinations and then off I go, hills or not. But dang, I would like to test out that Garmin 1030 one day, it looks nice. As for climbing: I´ve never thought about it as a love-or-hate thing, just that it´s a given when riding my bike. But then I come from a region where there´s only up or down and no flat terrain to be found. Good tips and thx for the vid!
Awesome! Great tutorial on hill climb plus, I also love that feature!
I believe I ended up with the same rims as you. I rather like them quite a bit actually. Mind you, I was on some older Roval Fusee 23 nice but running va 26mm is so comfy!
About climbing... Katie where I live now, in Spain (came from California some years ago) here you just can't get away from climbing. Training here in this country is actually great, because you become a good rider whether you like it or not. You learn to love it.
And as a matter of fact, I will be getting a Garmin unit as well soon. Hope it's not too complicated lol.
Katie, great video, a pleasure to watch, safe riding. 🚴
Great tips Katie. I'm luck to have a power meter..granny gear is the star in my mind...Best of luck in you climb venture next week ...
Refreshing content and helpful after just getting back into biking due to recent back injury. Congrats on sponsorship with Garmin.
Sorry to hear about your back! Just take it steady and don’t rush it. Also one thing I found super important after having a brain injury was keeping an eye on my heart rate to see how my body was reacting to riding again. Just spinning at first sent the HR up a lot so knew I needed more rest. Video about in on my channel around November / December. I wasn’t sponsored by Garmin then but I used their Pro HRM strap and would recommend. And thanks so much Geoff. Means a lot that you’re supportive and as excited as I am :)
Great video Katie, Ashy valley is near me. The last time I tried that route I nearly got my tongue stuck in my front wheel spokes...
The MTB air time is cool on the Garmin. (When you doing jump on the trail).
"Tell yourself you love hills - even if you don't necessarily believe it" - bonkers!🤣 Great video as always
Great video katie ,I hate hills but always put them in to day rides great advice will have yo do more 👍 I have the garmin 830 love it hill climb is mint 👌 love your videos x
@TELEGRAM ME-katiekookaburra Hi thank-you very much no need for surprise like that it's very kind of you but there no need to give me a prize ,it takes nothing to be nice to to people ,looking forward to your next Adventure take care X 😊 👍👌
Great tips and advice ❤️ gonna try them deffo on my next hilly ride
Very beautiful sharing my friends.i love the hills to katie ...strong
Hi good guidance on climbing another tip is when the climb gets steep shift your sitting position to the front of the saddle so you are driving down directly over the cranks , it works for me so your more forward on the bike, then shift back again as the gradient eases 👍👍
Tell us Garmin are sponsoring you after doing a 5 minute Garmin advert, LOL 😂🤣😅 Wish I had someone paying me to ride and youtube! 😂
Love my garmin
@@nigeldalby2794 I used to love mine (old Edge) till it started playing up, so I switched to the Wahoo Elemnt and it was so much better... I also had a Garmin satnav that died in no time, so I'm not 100% confident in the quality.
I love the hills to katie, no shortage of them where i live , great tips 💪
Hi Katie you are like me l love the hills l don't think about the hill l ride with my hands on top of my bars good views wish l was there thanks good video you are so positive good to be take care
Good tips as usual Katie but can I add another which I have found invaluable? That is to join group rides. Prior to my accident last year I had never ridden with anyone and probably was kidding myself as to how strong I was. I have now joined a mixed group of triathletes and leisure riders and this has greatly improved my overall cycling ability. In terms of hills I now try and keep up with the good hill climbers and have now even started passing some of them where previously I wouldn't have put in so much effort. The support from the other riders when you do struggle on an off day also helps. I now actually look forward to the rides with hills where previously if riding solo I might have taken a flatter route.
You said you weren't bothered about your speed but again I find that being in a group makes me pedal harder just to be able to keep pace and so my overall fitness is improving fast. Our group is very mixed and at 62 I'm not the oldest but equally I am definitely not the youngest (several probably your age) and several compete in triathlons so I think we all encourage each other regardless of age/ability.
Iam planning on a ride out to Ribble Cycles on Friday (whilst my work vehicle is being serviced) to look at what my next bike will be.
Keep up the good work!
Starting to love climbing, and your lower gearing tip even from a previous video, has stuck with me.
Thanks for this.
It’s the way to go!!! Hope you’re enjoying them climbs x
@@KatieKookaburra cheers.
Congratulations on the Garmin sponsorship as well, I have a Garmin 830, and wouldn’t be without it.
One thing I will ask regarding the climbs though, is it better to remain in the saddle? As I find myself every now and then needing to get out of the saddle to push on some of the steepest parts. Also I think I need to get out of my head the fact that I need to go from bottom to top without stopping. I find sometimes when it levels out having just a couple of minutes give me enough energy to push further.
For me it’s a metal thing, I talk myself out of hill climbing even though I live in Sheffield which as hills everywhere and doesn’t matter how I commute there is a hill. My bike doesn’t have the right gear set but I try my best. Hopefully my new bike will.
With hills come great views and fun descents. Also a great way to forget about your daily concerns, because when you're climbing a steep hill all you are thinking about is "when will this be over". Not to mention building strength and endurance.
These are great tips! I can't emphasise the gearing one enough - get the lowest gears your bike can handle! The only other thing I would add that helps me is to break the climb up into sections. If it's a road with a load of switchbacks I'll be telling myself "just get to the next corner" or if it's a straighter road I pick a landmark like a big tree or a lamp post or whatever and just focus on getting to that then pick the next thing. I'm the opposite in that I don't want too much info, I don't want to know the gradient is about to go up (or down) so although I have a climbing page on my wahoo I tend to stay on the map page which just has my cadence and heart rate. I try to keep it >60rpm and
Oh and one more tip: don't let your ego pick the gear, just pick the gear that feels right at the time. So many times I used to look at the road and think "this is not very steep I should be in a big gear" and just kill myself. The road plays tricks on you and sometimes what seems flat or not very steep is actually 5-6% and needs a low gear and other times it will look steep and it's only 2% and you can be on the big ring. Don't worry about it and listen to your body and just go with what feels right. If you have bpm, rpm, or power in our setup use those to guide you but going on feel is just fine. Including just getting off and walking if you get to an insanely steep bit or you've just had enough - it's OK to walk. Better to do that and complete the ride than kill yourself for 500m of 18% and have to cut a ride short cos your legs have blown up.
Low gearing!!!! 😍😎
all good advice, thanks
thanks for the vid, nice to know that you are human like most of us, take care
1:51 Money-saving tip - if you really can't run to GRX, Shimano also do a 46/30 Tourney chainset. It is obviously a bit heavier and square-taper only AFAIK but if you absolutely need low gears on a budget you could do a lot worse...
Good to know thanks Dave
Stronglight do a super compact 40/24 by removing the outer ring and replacing it with a chain guard and they also do shorter crank lengths.
Great info. I wish someone would just figure out how to CNC machine the whole 46/30 as a single block, double chairing that could be bolted on popular spiders with a standard BCD. If they can make entire cassettes that way, why not chainrings?
@@devdroid9606 That sounds a hellish complicated and expensive way of getting a 30t ring onto a standard road crank! Inevitably one ring will wear faster than another and you'd be needlessly replacing a £100+ part that still had some life in it.
Why not just get a set of TA or Stronglight cranks? They have a tiny bcd so will take any combination of rings your mechs can handle...
Back in the day cassettes did actually have separate cogs and with a bit of luck and a following wind you could buy individual cogs. Further back in the days of freewheels this was quite commonplace. I don't really see the advantage of buying your cogs in a big indivisible block unless you have shares in the component industry!
General advice
1. Lose 10 kilos. 15-even better
2. Get the lowest possible gearing
Have fun.
BTW Katie, you can slap a 40t cassette on this setup and it will work. 46/30 at the front, 40t cassette, now we are talking.
Hello Katie thank you for sharing your expertise awesome video take care of yourself young lady.
When you look ahead and see a long upwards climb coming up, remember: It always looks longer and steeper than it is!
Don't scare yourself even before you start - select the gear you want, get the pace you want and just keep going.
If you think want to stop, then look up , see how far you've come and how far to go and set yourself a goal (reach the next ridge or next corner) and when you get there, repeat.
Guy, amazing tips!!! Thanks for taking the time to help and share your experiences :)
Climbing a hill is like live problem solving. Chop up the problem in manageable portions.
Actually for me its like meditation riding uphill but on the other hand time is not an issue. You get better over time
@@KatieKookaburra Hi Katie, I'm replying to this thread as I think I was phished by someone using your name and profile pic. If you look at the reply to the comment above this one, it's from someone called Telegram me katie kookaburra. I received an offical looking TH-cam notification in my email, didn't read it properly and clicked on it thinking it was a reply from you to my comment. It wasn't until I had clicked and replied that I saw the different user name. So now I'm not sure if I've invited some malware in, hope not!
Just wanted to let you know, maybe this is something to report to YT?
I did my first big climb in a long time (30km / 1600m). Near the top was the first spot I could see up the road. "Oh crap, I have to get way up there?" It turned out that "way up there" was all of 10 minutes away (on a 2.5 hour climb).
I think I can, I think I can or how about them views eh! Ta very much for another excellent video. I’m still on the fence about getting my first GPS bike computer. Was thinking about Wahoo Bolt 2 for the friendly interface (buttons and menu) but my mates all have the 530. After watching this I may have to splurge on a 1030! Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship … that’s awesome. I do love their maps!
Thanks so much!! Super excited!!!! :) heard a lot of good things about the 530 too. If you like climbing the ClimbPro is PHENOMENAL! Actually way better than I thought it would be - knew it would be good but wouldn’t want to ride without it.
I love my Garmin 1030+ with all the data you get. Never been interested in Wahoo with being happy in the products I have.
Another quality vid from Kookaburra Productions.
Reckon your "T Rex" legs, with all those thousands of km's behind them, would manage climbs on a 55 cassette !
Thanks for sharing the tips, have a brilliant time next week, stay amazin. ☀️ 🐑 🦙
I would like to know how to set-up trainings in the Garmin connect App/Website, and how to then use it on the road. Great video as always!
Once you find your mountain mojo going it is soo meditative. I love climbing, but unfortunately live in a very flat area. On a 100 km ride you get only 200mh sometimes. Sometimes I make it a challenge to chase for elevation, but it can be a bit frustrating if you only get 3-4% max. on very short sections. So I guess I really need to move out of the Berlin flatlands. 😀 Thank you for the great tips again! ❤️
Enjoyed your video as always. Looking forward to one on the garmin. I'm trying to decide what computer to get. Any information is much appreciated. Keep smiling
I live on the West Coast of Scotland so hills are just a part of our every day. I always feel sad when I hear that the reason many people don't want to cycle is hills but they are great fun! I would hate to do a long boring flat cycle............great video as always Katie and I love Garmin products. My question would be which Garmin to use for navigation off road. There are so many to choose from the mapping can be a real problem.
Love hills heck yes, you get blast back down, 58 going on 16..
another great video! i haven't finished watching yet but it's because of you that i'm improving my hill climbing. i used to avoid them but now i look for them. haha! thank you. 🤗
I gave up stats a long time ago, I only keep track of mileage.
I agree with you about speed, it's not really a good metric to see how you're progressing unless you're riding the same exact route as always.
2nd agreement, the reward at the top of a climb or the descent afterwards, has to be good.
One of the groups I ride with are cruisers/choppers/lowriders. I've geared mine really low so I'm one of three that can actually ride up hills, the rest get off and push. I spin out at 25km/h, but it's slow riding anyway, so doesn't matter.
I love the flat bits!
I've got to get back the Peaks to climb. Way back in the day I took on all hills with enthusiasm.
You do!!! Peaks are 🤤🤍
Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship Katie. Would love your take on the new Varia radar with camera, currently have the radar with lights but wondering if I should upgrade?
Havé you ever tought to come and train in to the marvelous italian Dolomites Alps ..? You would surprised of how many short medium and long claimbs you can find surrounded by beautiful panoramas and stunning views.. I would love to take a ride with you into the Dolomites paradise 👍🏻😉
That’s my DREAM place to ride! Bucket list #1!!
@@KatieKookaburra well it would be a pleasure and an honer to ride with you .. let me know 😉👍🏻
I love climbing but do struggle with it. This vid is really gonna help. Thanks.
Glad you liked! :)
I love a good climb, feels good to beat the hill great sense of achievement, nice video
Hi Katie, I think someone is pretending to be you again
Great tips, off up my local hill now 😊
Lower gears certainly matter, but so does weight. Ideally, you can ride up hills more efficiency and more enjoyably if you and your bike weigh less, you have the right gear range, and you're fit. BTW, I think those critters are alpacas.
I LOVE Hills.... when they are pointing downwards :) :)
If your spinning correctly in clipped pedals/SPD etc. , There is an Rpm climbing of 90+ sitting that is optimal for distance, your still better sprinting with that or more. It's the slow grind that hurts the knees .
Congrats on the Garmin sponsorship, I hope it leads to you getting the new 1040 solar and giving away your old 1030 to a disgruntled Wahoo user who's device crashes multiple times on every long audax..
Thanks Alan!! Super excited about it as I have had my pick of units over the past year and the 1030 Plus was by far my fave!!! Yes yes and YES to the 1040 Solar!!! Need!!!! :)
Climbing is interesting with a three speed hub. I manage it by just getting to a cadence and maintaining a steady level of effort.
Distance is needed, but hills build your CV system. Be careful and not overdo it! Great tips. Now, where's that bigger cassette.
Great advice Katie 🚴🤩👍
Did a big (for me) loop of Trough of Bowland yesterday Katie and to be honest I bit off a little more than I could chew; ended up pushing the bike up 3 climbs (a farmer even offered me a lift on his tractor!) but there were just so many and I felt like a fat kid on a seesaw. 50km ride felt like about 80! Anyhow I finished the ride with planned bacon butty stop in Whalley - big shout out to Dave from Blackburn who gave me a little shortcut for the last few k back to Ribchester to the car :)
Point is although that ride was hard by my (beginner) standards I felt like a champ afterwards - oh and my son passed his driving test yesterday too so a great day!
The best people come from Blackburn! 🙂
@@GazzaView123 He was a smashing older fella Edd I met at the cafe stop. A true cycling veteran. I'd driven up from St Helens with the bike in the back, first time I've ever cycled up there absolutely stunning will defo be back.
Once a hill gets to 12% my speed is usually about 3mph at which point I get off and walk as that’s faster :) I’m a big lump at 6ft6 and 118kg
@@markburton3306 Glad its not just me Mark :)
@@joebarrow4074 I’m doing a 100km ride over in the Scottish Borders (ride for Doddie) in a week or so. I think I’ll be walking up some of the hills
I think that’s great climbing advice
I disabled Garmin Climb Pro, as it tends to not warn me to turn if I need to during a climb, I've found myself on the top of the hill but I've had to go back half way to take another path (and climb again). Plus I often prefer not to be reminded of how hard and long the climb is ^_^'
brilliant
I hate climbing but I do it thanks for vid I've shared it with my fellow women cyclists x
Love it Katie 🎉👌👌I’ve got a specialised diverge gravel bike , it’s 1 by - can I make it 2 by for lower gearing for those pesky hills ??🤔
What group set is on it now? (quite a few bikes in the Diverge range)
@@chris1275cc think it GRX
@@mrspice2486 Sadly you would have to change the entire Group-set to get 2x literally nothing about GRX 1x is compatible with the 2x system (except the right hand shifter).
You could extend your gear range though, Shimano say GRX has a max rear cassette size of 11-42, BUT it actually takes an 11-46 easy with just B screw adjustment, even a few bike brands (like EVIL) are shipping with an 11-46 as an option. You can either go with a standard evenly spaced MTB cassette (MicroShift and Sunrace are both good options) or go with a Deore XT M8000 which is spaced like a 10 speed cassette with a "bail out" gear. Some people are even running 11-50/52t cassettes using a Wolftooth Goat or Road link DM.
You will need a spacer behind the MTB cassette (easy to find) and longer chain, most people run a SRAM Eagle 12s chain.
FYI. I am currently running GRX 1x: 40t chainring x 11-46t cassette (SunRace CSMX8) with a SRAM GX or NX Eagle (I forget) 12s Chain and it shifts flawlessly.
@@chris1275cc wow, thank you very much Mr McBeardface, I’ll take a look at these options👍
Well done on the Garmin support. I love my GRX chainset but still can't get to love Winnats 😂
I mean…. a winch wouldn’t get anyone to love Winnats! But if I lived closer I would be on that beast all the time!!!
At least Mam Nick is just around the corner, which is a great climb/wild descent
I learned the hard way that hill climbs require a different level of hydration than flat routes. I got a double quad cramp recently that for a while rendered me unable to bend either leg 😳 I did bit of research on electrolytes to avoid this. What do you for for electrolytes?
Also the mental game is so critical. When the going gets tough I just tell myself 1 pedal at a time and what goes up must go down 🤷♂️😆
SIS (and others) do tablets you just drop in your water bottle.
Ordinary table salt (about 2 tsps per litre) in my water and 80g/L of sugar worked pretty well for me.
I'll rarely love big climbs at the end of a long already hilly ride. Another tip would be to plan your route to enjoy the climbs earlier on.
My biggest gains came after i learnt to stretch properly before a ride, especially if it was steep. I always assumed I’d stretch as i went…wrong
Hi Katie. Could you review the Garmin Varia radar (RTL515). I havent met a single person yet who doesnt think they werw the best gadget theyve bought for a bike, and dont know how they went out on roads without one....myself included. Ps: good luck in France 👍👍
Katie, are you running 11sp ? Does the grx 600 work ok as I thought it was 10spd, cheers x
Hi Katie, I’m a new subscriber and love your content, oh and I bought your e-book. Quick question as a fairly new cyclist at the age of 67 I definitely want to make hills easier. In an old video of yous you recommended a cassette of 11-40. Now I see instead you are keeping to a 11-34 cassette (which I have) but switching from a compact 50/34 chain set to a 46/30. Would that be the better option now then in your experience?
The GRX I prefer as it’s just simpler :) love it!
@@KatieKookaburra thanks for your reply! 😊