My secret to climbing is to push the bike once my legs give out. The key to this technique is to keep your head down to avoid making eye contact with passersby.
I don’t know about positioning on the bike or in or out of saddle - or anything much really. I do know that many months ago I was watching one of your videos and you mentioned that cycling slowly - really slowly - could get you up most hills. I’ve employed this tactic ever since and you were right. I can now get up most hills. You changed my cycling life forever, thank you from a slightly overweight near pensioner woman 😁👍🏻
I wasn't a physics major in university but I believe weight is weight (density) and no matter where you put it on the bike, the force required to get it uphill will remain the same. I think it's all about finding your most powerful position over the crank to turn the pedals, period. When I first started cycling some 35 years ago, it was suggested that sliding back in the saddle a little while climbing gave you more leverage and felt a bit like finding one more gear. Lot's of cyclists seem to prefer to slide forward a bit to get over the crank for better power. Whatever works for you I guess. I've always just stayed with my normal position. Any time I get out of the saddle, I almost immediately experience lactic acid overload in my quads.
What is the best angle for the human body to apply force to the crank? At what angle will your weight aid you in pushing the pedals? I can envision that as the angle of the bike tilts up, the component of your weight above the pedals is less. The bicycle is largely designed for flat travel. The ergonomics are different when you pedal up a slope. The higher the slope, the more your effort resembles that of a person on a recumbent bicycle. Recumbent bicycles are known to be bad on hills.
I find putting weight back a bit when out of the saddle, particularly, works well for a good pedal angle. Seated, I do like to move forward a bit. I think you have to experiment, and change it around when on a long climb. I have also found that a high cadence gets you nowhere if you are in a big cog. The people that go faster up hill, are all in harder gears, and not doing anywhere near 90 rpm. So in summary, WHO KNOWS?
I agree with @daniellarson3068 & @phoffen3829. I learned 35 yrs ago that the best seating position for a climb was to move to the rear of the seat, drop my heels and concentrate on pushing the pedals forward. Works for me better then moving forward & using my hamstrings. Also, a heavier person is putting more into the climb than a slender one. That's physics.
Shifting forward is more about keeping your alignment above the cranks than it is weight distribution on the bike. Different muscles experience different amounts of load depending on how far behind (a vertical line passing through) the cranks our hips are. Since most of our riding is typically flat, or close to flat, that's what our muscles get used to. With our hips further behind the cranks than we're used to, certain muscles will start to fatigue more rapidly. For anyone struggling with climbing, I would definitely consider a larger rear sprocket. There was a time when certain common gradients were too difficult to do seated. I was capable of producing enough power to climb them, but only standing. Seated, even in my lowest gear, my cadence was so low that the torque required was too much. (Remember, power is a product of torque and RPM.)
At last I find a cycling channel I can relate to. I'm currently 105 kg, with a BMI of 33. And this summer I've climbed Tourmalet on Luz, Cirque de Troumouse and Luz Ardiden among other unnamed passes... and the last year, Tourmalet on Campan, Col de Tentes or Ax 3 Domines. And when I climb them, I end up dead, it is not possible for me to climb 2 or 3 passes on the same ride and the next day I have to rest, but of course it can be done even if it we are very heavy. My secret is the pace. I start by climbing well below what I can handle, and on a Tourmalet, that means going 5 km/h. When you haven't gone below 10% gradient for 15 km, that kind of savings are essential. Regarding the advice you give, I understand what you say about pulling your body forward, but on long climbs, my backside and the weight we put on it make me move around a lot, change position often, getting off the bike as you say. Then there's the cadence, which is my weak point. On ramps above 6%, it's impossible for me to maintain a cadence above 75..... My cardio shoots up quickly to 175 BPM or more.... and of course, in the end the risk is to load my legs too much. Luckily, overloading my legs has only happened to me a couple of times, one of them on the Tourmalet... but that's the way it goes. Anyway, I'm very happy to find this channel and of course I'm going to follow it. Thank you.
I think you are obviously a very strong rider and yes you are a heavier rider but you are extremely inspiring and motivational, I hope to bump into you someday on the roads down south, thankyou and keep doing it.
One thing I've been working on lately is starting out a climb slowly. Then, I hold that seemingly "too slow" pace until I ease up to my sustained effort limit from below. When I was younger, I used to start out fast, as I was rested, then back off the effort as I started to feel the burn. Now, I find that if I go into the red zone, there's no recovering, at least in a reasonable amount of time. That, and having ridiculously low gearing (20-45 low combo) to allow doing that on super steep climbs also helps. A few weeks ago, I did a climb I hadn't done in about 10 years and it always kicked my butt. I was apprehensive at the start, but I dropped into low enough gear and after settling into a comfortable cadence, it was no different than any other climb. That climb was used a few times in the old Amgen Tour of California race. Chris Horner was the stage winner the last time they had a finish at the top.
I've been doing something similar, trying to go as far up the climb as possible before breaking my HR above my Z2 (as in 180 minus age) with some training, I've found that this can be a very long way up the climb. along the line of Phil Maffetone's system...
Picking a good line through a corner when going uphill can improve your speed - assuming you can move into the lane, you can pick the part of the lane with the flattest profile. On climbs with switchbacks this can be a huge savings and I’ve used it to great effect.
Yeah, if there's no other traffic, taking uphill corners around the outside generally takes less out of you, you increase your elevation by the same amount but going the long way round a corner effectively lessens the gradient making it easier to climb, especially on switchbacks and sharper corners.
Re the mental aspect mentioned: as a lifelong Clydesdale, I typically dread big climbs. One thing I found - to my great surprise - that helped with the confidence building is to not avoid hills in training. Instead, I do hill repeats. In addition to being a great physical strength building tool, my first attempts at this (suggested to our group by a club ride leader) amazed me by actually making each subsequent pass easier than the one before it! Since I'm usually quite knackered at the top of a climb I would have guessed a second pass would just about kill me, but that was not the case! I think it's important to first try this on a modest hill you are familiar with and can anticipate any shifts in grade. You can even make it a fun game; for example, I used to do laps after work in NYC's Central Park on my commuting bike. Where I normally would have hated (or even cut out) Harlem Hill at the park's north end, I developed a fun regimen of 7 total passes, each utilizing only one of the gears on my heavy bike (44t chain ring with a seven-speed 12-30 cassette). I started out seated and spinning up the entire hill in the easiest gear, and began alternating standing as I got to the middle of the cassette. On the last two cogs, fully warmed up, I stood the whole way. Mind, this is a relatively short climb, which makes my little routine doable, but as the incline nears 10% grade towards the top, it's a great fitness challenge nonetheless.
Shifting your position forward on your bike only changes your body angle, it does not change the angle your bike is going up the hill. Unless I’m missing something, The angle your bike is at determines how hard it is for you to go up the hill.
Increase strength , increase Vo2max , lose KG and train on hills is the only way you get up Hills faster . Altering position wont make a Difference , maybe you might feel better but it wont make the climb easy or increase your speed .
@@stevenfoleyuk9404I guess riders like Tadej Pogacar are wrong to slam their saddle forward for mountain stages. Moving your body forward increases hip angle and engages body core muscle groups that aren’t normally engaged in flat riding. Facts.
Something i found that helped me, especially on steep climbs. Looking to the top of the hill and not your front wheel and the ground ahead of it. I'm not sure if this is because of terrible road conditions in london, but looking at that peak really helped me.
"Looking to the top of the hill and not your front wheel and the ground ahead of it." I'm the opposite...when I've been pushing it hard and I'm weakening when climbing a mountain, I switch focus to the 6 ~ 8 feet, 180 ~ 240 cm in front of the front tire and stare.....and try to concentrate on breathing, technique, economy of movement and not thinking about the hard miles still to come, just the patch of road in front of me. i also find that focusing on taking deeper breaths in rhythm with your pedaling helps me keep going. I also tell myself " I can do this because I've done it before" Which is easy for me to say because I ride up the same mountain road most days of the week...it's a race to get up and down in under an hour, so most days I go for it. This ride is tough one as I always have a head wind all the way up the mountain and the bike I ride weighs a ton lol
Thank you so, so much for making this! There’s barely info on how to climb as a larger cyclist. The advice is always lose weight, and while losing weight is always on the agenda, that advice doesn’t help me when I’m motivated to be active now!
I consider myself extremely fit (even for a 68 year old) but, hills have always been my nemesis! I weigh in at 80kgs and 1.82m tall and coming from a rugby/rowing background, I'm not a natural cyclist. I know what you mean by not fast and not pretty when climbing that, just about portrays me! The trick I've found is not looking at my computer when climbing and seeing how steep the gradient is and how much further it is. I just plod on in a low gear, head down and think of anything but what's in front of me!
I wish you lived near me, as I have pretty much the same specs and same age, and have been an elite senior climber for 20 years...there are ways to improve as a climber, and I used to lead teaching climbing groups to show people just this. A couple of quick tips: start with easier grade climbs and try to get the feel of being "on top" of the climb, not behind it, if that makes sense; one thing that helps with this is to have the hands on the top bars in the middle and set a triangle with hands down to your seat--this pushes your energy through a straighter back, rather than the hunched lower back I see on many uncomfortable climbers when they climb with hands in the drops. Then it's a matter of balancing lungs and legs to find your sustainable zone. Around me we have 5-6% sustained grades that are perfect for figuring out what your holdable limits are, and for practicing standup technique, intervals, etc. Then when you have more tools in your kit you can go out to the rugged 10% mountain climbs we have and have some fun! Or I think it's fun, anyway. But the last thing you want to do is "plod", there are ways to get around that. Good luck!
If your "trick" works for you then great, stick with it but for me I find it more beneficial to know how long a big climb is and how far up the climb I am. When you know how long the climb is you can break the climb up by, like the guy said, setting smaller goals (not goal posts 🙂) so for example, for a 2 km climb goal 1 could be 500m, goal 2 1,000m, goal 3 1,500 metres and goal 4 is the summit. When I know I've only got a couple hundred metres left of a tough climb it bucks me up as I know the pain is nearly over.
Thanks guy - I lost a lot of weight after retirement. Now I fill up on green leafy vegetables, avoid sugar, carbohydrates and meat is minimal. (You get used to it.) However, I still have the same short stubby legs. I will try out your tips on hills.
hm... the first point is simple placebo... 90-100rpm for most people is NOT the ideal cadence on steep climbs - its more like 80-90, when it gets really steep more at 80; though, of course, small gears are essentiell for climbing. One VERY IMPORTANT thing many cyclists do wrong is to start to fast - start slower than you want to and get into a good rhythm! If it't right you will stay there to the top, it's too slow you will automatically increase a bit - but if you overcook at the beginning you will pay for it the entire climb! ...and at the end - how fast you can climb without suffering is simply a matter of power to weight ratio - no secrets and no tricks and tips will change that!
On one of my road bikes I’m only geared for 36-25 and I climb one of our local mountains at around 50 rpm with just a constant power delivery and it works pretty well. It’s seven miles right up a mountain side and it’s quite steep basically the whole way up. Trying to maintain 90 rpm with that gearing would kill me but if I just take my time and keep the air flowing I get to the top without issues. Sometimes cadence just has to drop a little.
Yes, Fiddler, 100% Especially starting a hill slow. I'm a cadence guy, typically averaging 92 to 94 rpm, but I find on steeper hills my best climbing (630 to 660 VAM) is at a far lower cadence.
Agree whole heartedly with @Fiddler. Find your rhythm at the bottom then hold that rhythm for the duration of the climb. Yes it's a slower start but you'll enjoy catching and dropping riders who flew by you early on the climb, as they bonk and you power to the top. Performance on the second half of a climb is more important than the bottom half.
Great video. I'm a tiny 58 year old who weighs 57 kg so climbing and up hill sprints are my thing I practice what I call bookends, Standing at around 60 rpm and seated up to 105 rpm for longer climbs. This gives me the full range of cadence and the ability to choose what fits at any certain time of a climb. You may be slower than me up hill but unless I latch on to your wheel and draft like a demon I just get smoked on the down hills. 😂
You mention losing weight to get up hills faster. Just came back from Tuscany with it's endless hills where I chose to add weight in the form of bikepacking bags. Struggled in Tuscany but now I'm back hills here seem easier than before I left
Hardknott was a challenge to my 106kg + bike so I prepared for it: I practiced high resistance/low cadence cycling regularly. I fitted lower gears. Spinning is better than grinding. I practiced moving my weight forwards on the saddle tip to keep the front wheel on the ground. I did regular maximum effort 20 minute rides. I fitted a dropper, remembering how scary the descent had been on my first failed attempt. I did manage Hardknott but even with prep it was horrible. I also got some abuse from a road cyclist for using lower gears but I'm guessing he was under 80kg on a lightweight bike.
Sound advice again! I used to be able to alternate between standing and sitting, but can no longer stand and pedal due to arthritis in me knees, and being careful with the metal one ! The weight forward has been my answer for many years, now I know the theory! Roger in Spain, 77, and still overweight but less than last year or the year before!
Inspiring video. Shifting forward helps with power transfer over pedals. Shift a smidge forward. Small goals. Also don't go out too hard at first, otherwise you pop.
I really like the new climb features on the head units today. The ability to visualise the climb helps me break the climb up and decide where my bigger efforts will be. This is especially true on climbs I have never attended.
I'm a heavy set rider, but used to be a great climber among my mates, because I have stronger legs than they do, especially on steeper climbs.. But had since dropped off after I was diagnosed with HCM, now whenever I tried doing hi intensity ride, my chest hurts a bit. It's such a bummer.
Ger an upright position, in order to push your chest out to make the lungs huge. Find a comfortable gear. Try to keep pedal pressure feather light. This is done by pedaling round, and get the weight off the up leg. This is same whether you are clipped in or not. In fact, the best way to practice this is to practice without clips until that technique becomes second nature. When tired, it is also very easy to forget, so make another habit of periodically checking, the chest and the legs. This will incidentally move you slightly forward in the seat as well. Chest first, the rest will follow. And lastly, to simplify further, to get chest forward, simply look forward and don't look down.
Solid advice. I'd add that when you are dancing on the pedals, engage the core (suck in the belly button) and concentrate just on shifting the weight side to side with the lower half of the body, without actively pushing down on the pedals. To do this, grab the furthest point on the bar (hoods or bottom section) and just let your arms anchor the bars so that it feels like your pulling. This will allow you to just shift your weight without actually expending too much energy to push down on the pedals. It might feel like you are pulling back to compress the top tube. It takes a lot of practice, especially to be light on the pedals, but it is technique, not brute force. When you are dancing on your pedals efficiently, upper body is quite stable and the shoulders are bobbing a bit, like a bottle floating in the waves of the sea.
You're so right about the mental part of climbing. I do use the goalpost method. One proof is when you get to the last few meters, you mentally ease up so it gets a bit harder.
My "secret" is an 11-40t cassette with 44/28t chainrings. I'm still spinning away on 20%+ hills where others have to get off and walk. Sure there might be the odd descent where I'm spinning out with the 44x11 combo but the tradeoff is more than worth it. Since you have a power meter you can look at the watts you try to do on a climb and the watts you do on a flat, and simply adjust your granny gears so they're the same amount of watts. Then you're suddenly able to climb all day because you're going up at zone 2 or 3 instead of zone 4. A lot of people will scoff at smaller chainrings because they're not pro enough, but really the average road bike just comes geared too high for the average consumer.
This is the right approach imo for all non competitive cyclists and even those who do structural training, the more places you're able to go and suffer a little but not enough to make it a bad experience the more places you'll want to go
A lot of older guys and gals have road bikes that are geared too high. My simple fix to make climbs easier as I’ve aged has been changing out the cassette or chainring to provide for a lower gear (or getting a Pinion gear hub bike, which I’ve also done and which provides both more high and low range). As you age, swapping the top gear for a new lower gear makes much sense. Most anyone who has bought a road bike off the rack has a frame that can accept a step up/down in cassette/chainring. I’m historically a masher but climbing is now spin, spin, spin.
The weight balance shift is only required if you are doing wheelies or feeling bad. My technique is more of a goal of shifting techniques and muscle groups. Starting with a good cadence and using mostly quads, then shifting back and focusing on your glutes, then scooting forward and using hamstrings, then standing with either a big rock side to side or bouncing on the pedals more pulling up with your calves. I found when standing you can push sideways and pull sideways. Funny that you say traditionally riders spin... when I think of traditional riders I think of skinny guys standing on a 42-21 or 23 gear...
Good advice. I’ve lost some weight. Hasn’t changed my climbing ability except riding longer. I’m an older rider so that has something to do with it. Interesting video tips
Thanks Leonard. I learned to like climbs ..... by climbing climbs. We were in Costa Brava for the past two weeks as I believe you were as well. Nothing flat there of by the way we were on tandem and our combined age is 147. My wife and I aren't lightweights either. at 103 and 67 kilos respectively. Climbing is a state of mind and the bliss is in the descent.
I was passed by one of Norways best climbers, Embret Svestad Baardseng when he was going supereasy chatting with a friend riding together. They did one strange thing. They began climbing standing with very little torque. I didnt know it was possible to climb standing with little power. They went really slow and easy, although I had no chance following. Pros are pros and I am heavy.
Let the gears do the work, spin don't grind, little circles with your ankles, not big ones from the hip,drop your heel on the down stroke to aid power delivery from your lower leg. All help on long constant ascents👍
It’s does work but it’s more to do with body position relative to the vertical rather than the bikes weight balance. If you just leaned your chest forward to adjust the weight distribution without moving your hip position it wouldn’t work the same. When you walk up a hill you adjust your feet to compensate for the angle to keep your hips at the most efficient angle relative to gravity. Same thing here, it’s more efficient and natural to keep your hips and the crank in the same position relative to the vertical. That’s why you tend to stand up on a steep climb - to move your hips further forward to regain a more vertical position.
Hi Leonard - You obviously have not heard of the Colin Lewis technique. Lewis was a British pro who raced during the 50s and 60s and 70s quite successfully (you can look him up). His technique was to alternate increased power every third pedal stroke - e.g., when your left foot reaches its highest point, push down as hard as you can. The next two strokes should be easy, then when your right foot reaches its highest point, push down as hard as you can. So, ONE, two, three, FOUR. Keep on pedalling in this way until you overcome the hill or steep section that is slowing you down. Lewis adds that you shouldn’t forget to breathe! I’m 80 and I have used (and continue to use) this technique whenever the terrain steepens. Second, if you want to trim yourself up a bit, look up Jason Fung on you tube. I’ve tried his methods, and they work very well. Bien pedallier, as they say. Cheers!
The psychological part is big - I used to get a sight of an upcoming climb and self-defeat before even starting. Now I realize that some roads that look daunting are really not as bad as they appear. Discipline is also a big part - trying to attack the climb, particularly a new one, is a big mistake. I now find myself starting slowly and attacking the peak. To be honest, I'm still find climbs of just 300ft or so pretty challenging and grades of 10% or more.
Very intresting subject. Personally Agree 100% moving slightly forward also I been custom rhythm the Pedaling moves which is a bit difficult keeping concentrate managing the rhythm I have be doing that for a long time despite my lite weight125 lb still the climbing's effort wont make big difference if I was havier. One thing that bothers me on any forms is the head on wind's :)
@@harrylen1688 moving forward does multiple things. Or rather the multiple things you do should automatically move you forward. More upright position to open the chest cavity max. And shifting the body weight to get over the cranks.
I climb by getting up a good head of steam before the climb begins, and I shift way down for a high cadence. I believe I do shift my weight forward, though I haven't been doing it consciously. Mostly, I just tell myself not to give up.
I don't know about all of this, but (1) my seat position is mostly dictated by how sore is my arse during a long climb. Secondly it is dictated by keeping my weight balanced so the front wheel doesn't come off the ground and the back wheel doesn't spin... if it the road is wet. (2) In the section of the video showing LML going up a hill, his cadence was about 60 rpm not 90.
l iive in a pretty hilly area, and I ride fixed, so I have the advantage of being able to pull up, as well as push down.... and when it gets hard enough that I have to get out of the saddle, I do that. and when that gets to be too much, I get off and walk. seems simple to me.
I naturally lean a bit more forward on a climb..but I've also become aware that I breathe a bit better when I'm more upright so do I want to breathe better or put more power into the pedal by stroke by leaning in? I'm a heavyweight cyclist as well & I'm practically always last one up the hill. My easiest gear is a 32/34 I think & I'm usually wishing I had a 32/36 on the few small hills in my area. Most all of the inclines/hills around me are all in the 3-4 tenths of a mile range..just long enough that I can't stand for the entire thing..but still to challenging to have the energy to stand near the top once I've climbed most of the way sitting. One hill in particular I'm always thinking that maybe today's the day I stand near the top..but halfway up I'm just surviving once again & all those crazy thoughts have vanished.😒
I found one thing, power meeter. Becouse you are havier rider and gravity is pushing you back more, you need more power to climb, much more then lighter rider. I found with power meeter as long as I keep around 220wats I can ride uphil forever. Is just combination of gear and cadence. Without power meeter I was always strugling, wasn't aware hom much power I was pushing. Now I just reduce the gear to don't exceed 220wats, if not possible by gear then I slowing my cadance.
A watch with a heart rate monitor is a pretty good gauge of effort too - and so much cheaper than a power meter. Mine gives me a verbal warning if my heart rate goes above a certain level.
....yes long steep hills is the nemesis... I have on that has beat me many times now... the goal is the lill it before the snow comes... mental -yes very important - sometimes I think there will be no gold medal so why bother... depends on the general mode. One trick you didnt mention; to pull harder up with the upgoing leg - maybe its just me but I tend to not use that too much normally...
My secret to climbing is just to do more of it and don't overthink it. Someone was talking about a cat four climb in these comments and I just realised that my local climb would be classed as a Cat.1 - nearly 4000 feet of ascent, up to 16% and around 15Km long and until last year, I was doing it on my 20 year old shopping bike with mudguards, rack etc -so I would add ignorance to the list of good things to have and not get too hung up on facts, figures, and tech. People worry too much about all that when really they should just get out and ride the hills. P.S. I'm fully of admiration for people cycling up Hardknott Pass - I couldn't even get up there in my car a few years ago. Those sorts of ascents are, IME, much harder than something like the Col du Tourmalet.
Thanks for the tips, glad you get up hills, that's always a win whatever the speed. Have you tried low energy density diet? Dylan Johnson has a good vid about it. Wholefoods, mostly vegan, home cooked. They key is low energy density, it fills us up. Another tip I find is getting off all addictive foods, cold turkey on them, no treats. Cold turkey is best. Hard at first, but possible if think of all the good it will bring. But then it gets easy, as the cravings for high energy density foods vanish. Just get the odd temptation, often when not had enough sleep or not carbed up enough. But just resolve to not give in, and the temptation soon passes. Getting motivated for health and seeing the food corps as the enemy helps too. Which they really are in my view, pushing and advertising all this addictive high cal food on us. I cook plenty of home made plant based curries. Microwave potatoes to take on my ride. Nothing else with them. Spices give all the flavour. I really do think it is possible. I would not go to the effort to post this if I did not think so. You can do it.
MY MAGIC pill to being a better climbing, is climb! climb! climb! And climb some more, as time went along the climbing got easier and easier that's what I did and these were the days when the norm for me was a lugged steel frame with a 42/53 up front with a 7sp 12/25 holding up the rear end and I would ride from down town San Jose to Santa Cruz over over the Santa Cruz mountains VIA HWY 9, this also involved total of roughly 7,500 ft of climbing for the round trip and back then so to say were pushing BIG TIME GEARING, not this current day stuff of 40/48 with 32 or 34 low end rear end. I was on a bit of the heavy side and all of the lighter weight guys always got to the top faster, my pay off was the down hill run, this is when gravity is on your side, of course you had to be at the top of your game with your bike handling skills mostly on the down hill run into SILICON valley because there was a few sections of the road way that you could get into trouble real fast. Yeah! a few other things that many will say, loose weight and all the jazz, blah! Blah! this and blah! blah that! for me it was all about just going out and doing it and doing it some more. Hell my first run over the Santa Cruz mountains! I was at the inter section and I looked at the HWY 9 sign and said to myself that's the was to Santa Cruz, I then checked you vital supplies, I had 2 or 3 bananas a bag of dried fruit and about $ 20,00 I then said GO BIG or GO HOME, I'm gone! Off to Santa Cruz I went, man that was one hell of a tough day, I pushed my bike half way up that mountain, the ride into SC was a BLAST! But then I thought oh! sh*t, I need to get back home, and boy did I struggle again, Like a dumb a*s I did it again the following week and struggled again, on the 4th or 5th trip I was seeing improvements the end of the summer I was doing this roughly 50 mile one way trip to SC in just a tad over 2.5 hours, end game over the years I've done this ride a bit over 50 times. Later! I'm off to work.
I have tried 8 category 4 climbs this year, Ditchling Beacon twice and I have a 50% success rate. I still haven’t managed to get up DB in 4 attempts 😞. But the hardest climb I have ever tried was Whiteleaf which is a category 4 climb with an average gradient of 10% but has its steepest part at 30.5%
I’m 58 years old and I weigh about 229 lbs (103 kg) and 5’7” (174 cm) tall. I’ve been riding for many decades and even at this weight, I can ride fairly long distances and climb pretty good. I don’t have any tricks or hacks. I just ride in a comfortable position and get it done.
In your climbing training try to stay more time standing, with time it will come natural to do it even for apply strenght or for endurance, just do it to train those muscles because is a different group of those that you use when sitting.
Hey Leonard any recommendations for Bibs and Jerseys for heavier riders? I feel like most Bibs have too thin of a cushion even in larger sizes and i have yet to buy a jersey since i only find brands for slimmer fits.
Been riding bike's since i was 4 year's old & am now 58 & for me i find climbing easy "not too much of a problem" & descending even easier being 98kg on a custom build 7.2kg aero bike, it helps being physically fit as you can be as that's a big bonus & definitely a key factor 👍🏾
I pull my stomach muscles in and breathe slowly and breathe big ,that in turn makes my qauds engage they are you’re biggest leg muscles try it it really works.
"You'll go up your favorite climbs a little bit faster ...." "Favorite climb" is like having a favorite blister or favorite malarial strain. My measure of success for inclines is making it to the top without puking beets. I am a simple man.
I got into cycling 6 months ago, my initial weight was 130 kg & 1.75m height , the first month I did keto and lost 10 kg asap. I said nah I won't do keto anymore and kept 120kg for 5 months, I have gotten better , my FTP has improved massively but hills just humble me as if I hadn't improved shit. I swear dieting is so much easier. Yesterday I was almost dying at a 15% incline, my legs were burning like hell. Nah fuck that shit i'll start keto again today lol. I wonder how much faster I will be at 70 kg.
Loosing weight does help with hill climbs. I'm 1.75m and three years ago weighed 110kg. For the first six months did keto omad , 18 hr fasting. Today my weight is 65kg.Don't know my FTP.
There are a lot of professional cyclists who hate climbing because they’re not good at it, me as an amateur i wish i could climb a steep hill and enjoy it, but i can’t im just crap at it so i don’t do it.😢😢
I know most English are scared of meat but I’d bet 2 months on the carnivore diet would do you well. It resolved many life long issues I had. One was not weight, even though I always had 15-20 excess. That was gone in the first month. My old pr’s were laughable. I went from averaging 19mph on this one particular route I do regularly to 23mph. It’s 15 miles round trip with a few hills. The energy doesn’t fade. Fat and protein are like steroids for hungry muscles. Yesterday I climbed a mountain I had a goal to ride for ages. When I hit the top, I rode down the other side. Then climbed it again and ride down the other side I started on. Kangamangus highway for anyone in the USA who reads this. 60miles, 4200’ of climbing. It was so freaking cold on the descents I started shaking uncontrollably. Luckily the bottom had a bathroom that was heated. I ate a bad and thawed out for 15 minutes. People were honking and giving a thumbs up. Epic day. Carnivore, zwift and canyon bikes. The rest is easy.
I cannot understand your logic regarding the statement about using a harder gear and the leg strength to give your Cardio vascular system a rest . All effort needs the CV system supplying the muscles and it doesn't matter what body part you use , pushing harder or faster increases CV demand . Perhaps I have misunderstood your reasoning ?
Is the thumbnail picture in South Africa? The road lines look south African and the photo must have been flipped (chain on left of bike, they drive on the left in SA). Sorry, I'm a geoguessr player.
what size bibb do you wear, plz? everytime I order a 2x-size, its always too-tight. Ughhh...can't be me :-) a proper-fitting bibb is a VERY-essential "hack", yes?
Lane, I'm not far behind you :-) I found the Covid restrictions knocked a lot of strength and fitness out of me. With focus on aspects such as HR and cadence, it's gradually returning.
Please don't take this personal, been following you for some time. Had the same problem with weight until I got a road bike from mountain bike. Joined a bike club and it just fell off. Cut out a lot of alcohol not entirely! And thought what I was eating.
Those aren’t climbs. I’d like to see you on the Lagos de Covadonga. It doesn’t matter where you put your weight on a climb like that - your leg muscles are doing all the lifting and the more you weigh the harder they will have to work.
Probably not. This year alone I’ve only climbed up things like Sa Calobra, Col de Femnia, Bainskloof pass, Franschhoek pass and the col de Sa Sabatia. Basically flat roads.
90-100rpms ? That ain’t happening with normal gearing on a 10% hill for most…. I’m more of a masher anyway. Typically climb 70-80 rpm even on less steep climbs.
My secret to climbing is to push the bike once my legs give out. The key to this technique is to keep your head down to avoid making eye contact with passersby.
I'm usually heavily loaded with big panniers so passers by are less derisory
Perhaps you could fill some with styrofoam to make them look heavy?
@@ΑΣΔΦΓΗΞΚΛgreat idea! perhaps also wear a fat suit on top of your jelly roll belly to elicit additional sympathy
😂😂😂 funny🎉
@krissk77 😂 but not terribly bad
But not that bad @@krissk77
One good trick is to climb backwards, this technic is also known as reverse climbing or descending.
Put a much smaller wheel on the front than the back. That way everywhere is downhill.
I really must try that sometime!!
Living and riding in the Netherlands also helps 🙃😁
@@rickrides8352 Holland looks like a really great place to ride.
@@rickrides8352 HEADWIND IN nETHERLANDS
I don’t know about positioning on the bike or in or out of saddle - or anything much really. I do know that many months ago I was watching one of your videos and you mentioned that cycling slowly - really slowly - could get you up most hills. I’ve employed this tactic ever since and you were right. I can now get up most hills. You changed my cycling life forever, thank you from a slightly overweight near pensioner woman 😁👍🏻
I suppose I got no excuses now.
Keep climbing buddy, you are inspirational.
I wasn't a physics major in university but I believe weight is weight (density) and no matter where you put it on the bike, the force required to get it uphill will remain the same. I think it's all about finding your most powerful position over the crank to turn the pedals, period. When I first started cycling some 35 years ago, it was suggested that sliding back in the saddle a little while climbing gave you more leverage and felt a bit like finding one more gear. Lot's of cyclists seem to prefer to slide forward a bit to get over the crank for better power. Whatever works for you I guess. I've always just stayed with my normal position. Any time I get out of the saddle, I almost immediately experience lactic acid overload in my quads.
What is the best angle for the human body to apply force to the crank? At what angle will your weight aid you in pushing the pedals? I can envision that as the angle of the bike tilts up, the component of your weight above the pedals is less. The bicycle is largely designed for flat travel. The ergonomics are different when you pedal up a slope. The higher the slope, the more your effort resembles that of a person on a recumbent bicycle. Recumbent bicycles are known to be bad on hills.
I find putting weight back a bit when out of the saddle, particularly, works well for a good pedal angle. Seated, I do like to move forward a bit. I think you have to experiment, and change it around when on a long climb. I have also found that a high cadence gets you nowhere if you are in a big cog. The people that go faster up hill, are all in harder gears, and not doing anywhere near 90 rpm. So in summary, WHO KNOWS?
I agree with @daniellarson3068 &
@phoffen3829. I learned 35 yrs ago that the best seating position for a climb was to move to the rear of the seat, drop my heels and concentrate on pushing the pedals forward. Works for me better then moving forward & using my hamstrings. Also, a heavier person is putting more into the climb than a slender one. That's physics.
Shifting forward is more about keeping your alignment above the cranks than it is weight distribution on the bike. Different muscles experience different amounts of load depending on how far behind (a vertical line passing through) the cranks our hips are. Since most of our riding is typically flat, or close to flat, that's what our muscles get used to. With our hips further behind the cranks than we're used to, certain muscles will start to fatigue more rapidly.
For anyone struggling with climbing, I would definitely consider a larger rear sprocket. There was a time when certain common gradients were too difficult to do seated. I was capable of producing enough power to climb them, but only standing. Seated, even in my lowest gear, my cadence was so low that the torque required was too much. (Remember, power is a product of torque and RPM.)
At last I find a cycling channel I can relate to. I'm currently 105 kg, with a BMI of 33. And this summer I've climbed Tourmalet on Luz, Cirque de Troumouse and Luz Ardiden among other unnamed passes... and the last year, Tourmalet on Campan, Col de Tentes or Ax 3 Domines. And when I climb them, I end up dead, it is not possible for me to climb 2 or 3 passes on the same ride and the next day I have to rest, but of course it can be done even if it we are very heavy.
My secret is the pace. I start by climbing well below what I can handle, and on a Tourmalet, that means going 5 km/h. When you haven't gone below 10% gradient for 15 km, that kind of savings are essential.
Regarding the advice you give, I understand what you say about pulling your body forward, but on long climbs, my backside and the weight we put on it make me move around a lot, change position often, getting off the bike as you say.
Then there's the cadence, which is my weak point. On ramps above 6%, it's impossible for me to maintain a cadence above 75..... My cardio shoots up quickly to 175 BPM or more.... and of course, in the end the risk is to load my legs too much. Luckily, overloading my legs has only happened to me a couple of times, one of them on the Tourmalet... but that's the way it goes.
Anyway, I'm very happy to find this channel and of course I'm going to follow it.
Thank you.
Glad you are enjoying the channel. Sounds like you are doing great. Well done on those epic climbs.
I think you are obviously a very strong rider and yes you are a heavier rider but you are extremely inspiring and motivational, I hope to bump into you someday on the roads down south, thankyou and keep doing it.
One thing I've been working on lately is starting out a climb slowly. Then, I hold that seemingly "too slow" pace until I ease up to my sustained effort limit from below. When I was younger, I used to start out fast, as I was rested, then back off the effort as I started to feel the burn. Now, I find that if I go into the red zone, there's no recovering, at least in a reasonable amount of time. That, and having ridiculously low gearing (20-45 low combo) to allow doing that on super steep climbs also helps.
A few weeks ago, I did a climb I hadn't done in about 10 years and it always kicked my butt. I was apprehensive at the start, but I dropped into low enough gear and after settling into a comfortable cadence, it was no different than any other climb. That climb was used a few times in the old Amgen Tour of California race. Chris Horner was the stage winner the last time they had a finish at the top.
I've been doing something similar, trying to go as far up the climb as possible before breaking my HR above my Z2 (as in 180 minus age) with some training, I've found that this can be a very long way up the climb.
along the line of Phil Maffetone's system...
Picking a good line through a corner when going uphill can improve your speed - assuming you can move into the lane, you can pick the part of the lane with the flattest profile. On climbs with switchbacks this can be a huge savings and I’ve used it to great effect.
Yeah, if there's no other traffic, taking uphill corners around the outside generally takes less out of you, you increase your elevation by the same amount but going the long way round a corner effectively lessens the gradient making it easier to climb, especially on switchbacks and sharper corners.
Re the mental aspect mentioned: as a lifelong Clydesdale, I typically dread big climbs. One thing I found - to my great surprise - that helped with the confidence building is to not avoid hills in training. Instead, I do hill repeats. In addition to being a great physical strength building tool, my first attempts at this (suggested to our group by a club ride leader) amazed me by actually making each subsequent pass easier than the one before it! Since I'm usually quite knackered at the top of a climb I would have guessed a second pass would just about kill me, but that was not the case!
I think it's important to first try this on a modest hill you are familiar with and can anticipate any shifts in grade. You can even make it a fun game; for example, I used to do laps after work in NYC's Central Park on my commuting bike. Where I normally would have hated (or even cut out) Harlem Hill at the park's north end, I developed a fun regimen of 7 total passes, each utilizing only one of the gears on my heavy bike (44t chain ring with a seven-speed 12-30 cassette). I started out seated and spinning up the entire hill in the easiest gear, and began alternating standing as I got to the middle of the cassette. On the last two cogs, fully warmed up, I stood the whole way. Mind, this is a relatively short climb, which makes my little routine doable, but as the incline nears 10% grade towards the top, it's a great fitness challenge nonetheless.
Shifting your position forward on your bike only changes your body angle, it does not change the angle your bike is going up the hill. Unless I’m missing something, The angle your bike is at determines how hard it is for you to go up the hill.
@@joemcnair9700 It doesn’t change the angle of the bike but the weight distribution over it.
Your angle over the bottom bracket/ center of the bike changes. Does affect how you apply power.
I usually grab in the middle of the bars too when I climb so I can elevate my body. Feels like I get more leverage that way.
Increase strength , increase Vo2max , lose KG and train on hills is the only way you get up Hills faster . Altering position wont make a Difference , maybe you might feel better but it wont make the climb easy or increase your speed .
@@stevenfoleyuk9404I guess riders like Tadej Pogacar are wrong to slam their saddle forward for mountain stages.
Moving your body forward increases hip angle and engages body core muscle groups that aren’t normally engaged in flat riding. Facts.
Something i found that helped me, especially on steep climbs. Looking to the top of the hill and not your front wheel and the ground ahead of it. I'm not sure if this is because of terrible road conditions in london, but looking at that peak really helped me.
"Looking to the top of the hill and not your front wheel and the ground ahead of it."
I'm the opposite...when I've been pushing it hard and I'm weakening when climbing a mountain, I switch focus to the 6 ~ 8 feet, 180 ~ 240 cm in front of the front tire and stare.....and try to concentrate on breathing, technique, economy of movement and not thinking about the hard miles still to come, just the patch of road in front of me.
i also find that focusing on taking deeper breaths in rhythm with your pedaling helps me keep going.
I also tell myself " I can do this because I've done it before" Which is easy for me to say because I ride up the same mountain road most days of the week...it's a race to get up and down in under an hour, so most days I go for it. This ride is tough one as I always have a head wind all the way up the mountain and the bike I ride weighs a ton lol
Thank you so, so much for making this! There’s barely info on how to climb as a larger cyclist.
The advice is always lose weight, and while losing weight is always on the agenda, that advice doesn’t help me when I’m motivated to be active now!
I consider myself extremely fit (even for a 68 year old) but, hills have always been my nemesis! I weigh in at 80kgs and 1.82m tall and coming from a rugby/rowing background, I'm not a natural cyclist. I know what you mean by not fast and not pretty when climbing that, just about portrays me! The trick I've found is not looking at my computer when climbing and seeing how steep the gradient is and how much further it is. I just plod on in a low gear, head down and think of anything but what's in front of me!
It's good to have a buddy to talk to, about anything except the hill.
I wish you lived near me, as I have pretty much the same specs and same age, and have been an elite senior climber for 20 years...there are ways to improve as a climber, and I used to lead teaching climbing groups to show people just this. A couple of quick tips: start with easier grade climbs and try to get the feel of being "on top" of the climb, not behind it, if that makes sense; one thing that helps with this is to have the hands on the top bars in the middle and set a triangle with hands down to your seat--this pushes your energy through a straighter back, rather than the hunched lower back I see on many uncomfortable climbers when they climb with hands in the drops. Then it's a matter of balancing lungs and legs to find your sustainable zone. Around me we have 5-6% sustained grades that are perfect for figuring out what your holdable limits are, and for practicing standup technique, intervals, etc. Then when you have more tools in your kit you can go out to the rugged 10% mountain climbs we have and have some fun! Or I think it's fun, anyway. But the last thing you want to do is "plod", there are ways to get around that. Good luck!
That's generally my approach to life. I don't have a computer. If asked I just think of a number.
If your "trick" works for you then great, stick with it but for me I find it more beneficial to know how long a big climb is and how far up the climb I am. When you know how long the climb is you can break the climb up by, like the guy said, setting smaller goals (not goal posts 🙂) so for example, for a 2 km climb goal 1 could be 500m, goal 2 1,000m, goal 3 1,500 metres and goal 4 is the summit. When I know I've only got a couple hundred metres left of a tough climb it bucks me up as I know the pain is nearly over.
Lamp shade (even!). Still funny second time round. Thanks for the tips Leonard. Will give them a go. 👍🏼
Thanks guy - I lost a lot of weight after retirement. Now I fill up on green leafy vegetables, avoid sugar, carbohydrates and meat is minimal. (You get used to it.) However, I still have the same short stubby legs. I will try out your tips on hills.
hm... the first point is simple placebo... 90-100rpm for most people is NOT the ideal cadence on steep climbs - its more like 80-90, when it gets really steep more at 80; though, of course, small gears are essentiell for climbing. One VERY IMPORTANT thing many cyclists do wrong is to start to fast - start slower than you want to and get into a good rhythm! If it't right you will stay there to the top, it's too slow you will automatically increase a bit - but if you overcook at the beginning you will pay for it the entire climb! ...and at the end - how fast you can climb without suffering is simply a matter of power to weight ratio - no secrets and no tricks and tips will change that!
On one of my road bikes I’m only geared for 36-25 and I climb one of our local mountains at around 50 rpm with just a constant power delivery and it works pretty well. It’s seven miles right up a mountain side and it’s quite steep basically the whole way up. Trying to maintain 90 rpm with that gearing would kill me but if I just take my time and keep the air flowing I get to the top without issues. Sometimes cadence just has to drop a little.
Yes, Fiddler, 100%
Especially starting a hill slow.
I'm a cadence guy, typically averaging 92 to 94 rpm, but I find on steeper hills my best climbing (630 to 660 VAM) is at a far lower cadence.
I push 60-70 RPM most of the time (over 40 years now) and it’s always worked for me. Everyone is different.
Agree whole heartedly with @Fiddler. Find your rhythm at the bottom then hold that rhythm for the duration of the climb. Yes it's a slower start but you'll enjoy catching and dropping riders who flew by you early on the climb, as they bonk and you power to the top. Performance on the second half of a climb is more important than the bottom half.
Great video. I'm a tiny 58 year old who weighs 57 kg so climbing and up hill sprints are my thing
I practice what I call bookends, Standing at around 60 rpm and seated up to 105 rpm for longer climbs. This gives me the full range of cadence and the ability to choose what fits at any certain time of a climb. You may be slower than me up hill but unless I latch on to your wheel and draft like a demon I just get smoked on the down hills. 😂
You mention losing weight to get up hills faster.
Just came back from Tuscany with it's endless hills where I chose to add weight in the form of bikepacking bags.
Struggled in Tuscany but now I'm back hills here seem easier than before I left
I’m going to try these ideas on the next climb😀🚴♀️👍
Hardknott was a challenge to my 106kg + bike so I prepared for it:
I practiced high resistance/low cadence cycling regularly.
I fitted lower gears. Spinning is better than grinding.
I practiced moving my weight forwards on the saddle tip to keep the front wheel on the ground.
I did regular maximum effort 20 minute rides.
I fitted a dropper, remembering how scary the descent had been on my first failed attempt.
I did manage Hardknott but even with prep it was horrible. I also got some abuse from a road cyclist for using lower gears but I'm guessing he was under 80kg on a lightweight bike.
I fitted lower gears too but I'm still grinding !
Sound advice again! I used to be able to alternate between standing and sitting, but can no longer stand and pedal due to arthritis in me knees, and being careful with the metal one ! The weight forward has been my answer for many years, now I know the theory! Roger in Spain, 77, and still overweight but less than last year or the year before!
I'm off up cheddar gorge tomorrow I'll give this a try. Thanks for the advice ❤.
Good luck. It’s a fantastic climb.
You’re a man after my own heart… and weight/age. Top advice. Thank you!
Inspiring video. Shifting forward helps with power transfer over pedals. Shift a smidge forward. Small goals. Also don't go out too hard at first, otherwise you pop.
I really like the new climb features on the head units today. The ability to visualise the climb helps me break the climb up and decide where my bigger efforts will be. This is especially true on climbs I have never attended.
@@NeilLavitt Me too. I have it on my Karoo and it’s fantastic to know how much further I have to go on a climb.
Thanks Leonardo, I can’t wait to try these techniques 😊
I'm a heavy set rider, but used to be a great climber among my mates, because I have stronger legs than they do, especially on steeper climbs.. But had since dropped off after I was diagnosed with HCM, now whenever I tried doing hi intensity ride, my chest hurts a bit. It's such a bummer.
What is a HCM?
@@freenational Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Ger an upright position, in order to push your chest out to make the lungs huge.
Find a comfortable gear.
Try to keep pedal pressure feather light. This is done by pedaling round, and get the weight off the up leg. This is same whether you are clipped in or not. In fact, the best way to practice this is to practice without clips until that technique becomes second nature. When tired, it is also very easy to forget, so make another habit of periodically checking, the chest and the legs. This will incidentally move you slightly forward in the seat as well. Chest first, the rest will follow.
And lastly, to simplify further, to get chest forward, simply look forward and don't look down.
My trick I sometimes do in 4-5 km 8% climbs is to hop off the bike halfways and pick some raspberries or strawberries. 10 minutes rest helps a lot.
Great tips. Very close to what I have done over the years.
Solid advice. I'd add that when you are dancing on the pedals, engage the core (suck in the belly button) and concentrate just on shifting the weight side to side with the lower half of the body, without actively pushing down on the pedals. To do this, grab the furthest point on the bar (hoods or bottom section) and just let your arms anchor the bars so that it feels like your pulling. This will allow you to just shift your weight without actually expending too much energy to push down on the pedals. It might feel like you are pulling back to compress the top tube. It takes a lot of practice, especially to be light on the pedals, but it is technique, not brute force. When you are dancing on your pedals efficiently, upper body is quite stable and the shoulders are bobbing a bit, like a bottle floating in the waves of the sea.
That’s a great tip. I really need to practice my standing technique
Quality vid, leonard! Learned a lot here.
You're so right about the mental part of climbing. I do use the goalpost method. One proof is when you get to the last few meters, you mentally ease up so it gets a bit harder.
You’ve got to have it in the head before you can have it in the legs.
My "secret" is an 11-40t cassette with 44/28t chainrings. I'm still spinning away on 20%+ hills where others have to get off and walk. Sure there might be the odd descent where I'm spinning out with the 44x11 combo but the tradeoff is more than worth it. Since you have a power meter you can look at the watts you try to do on a climb and the watts you do on a flat, and simply adjust your granny gears so they're the same amount of watts. Then you're suddenly able to climb all day because you're going up at zone 2 or 3 instead of zone 4. A lot of people will scoff at smaller chainrings because they're not pro enough, but really the average road bike just comes geared too high for the average consumer.
@@thrawed I love those larger cassettes. The will certainly help make climbing easier.
This is the right approach imo for all non competitive cyclists and even those who do structural training, the more places you're able to go and suffer a little but not enough to make it a bad experience the more places you'll want to go
Good advice, Len! Out here in the area of SoCal I live in, it's hard to ride flat here. It's something to consider before even buying a bike.
But you have the good weather, though?
@@jollygoodvelo True. 😎
A lot of older guys and gals have road bikes that are geared too high. My simple fix to make climbs easier as I’ve aged has been changing out the cassette or chainring to provide for a lower gear (or getting a Pinion gear hub bike, which I’ve also done and which provides both more high and low range). As you age, swapping the top gear for a new lower gear makes much sense. Most anyone who has bought a road bike off the rack has a frame that can accept a step up/down in cassette/chainring. I’m historically a masher but climbing is now spin, spin, spin.
The weight balance shift is only required if you are doing wheelies or feeling bad. My technique is more of a goal of shifting techniques and muscle groups. Starting with a good cadence and using mostly quads, then shifting back and focusing on your glutes, then scooting forward and using hamstrings, then standing with either a big rock side to side or bouncing on the pedals more pulling up with your calves.
I found when standing you can push sideways and pull sideways. Funny that you say traditionally riders spin... when I think of traditional riders I think of skinny guys standing on a 42-21 or 23 gear...
Good advice. I’ve lost some weight. Hasn’t changed my climbing ability except riding longer. I’m an older rider so that has something to do with it. Interesting video tips
Thanks Leonard. I learned to like climbs ..... by climbing climbs. We were in Costa Brava for the past two weeks as I believe you were as well. Nothing flat there of by the way we were on tandem and our combined age is 147. My wife and I aren't lightweights either. at 103 and 67 kilos respectively. Climbing is a state of mind and the bliss is in the descent.
@@leissp1 Have fun. It’s a great place to ride.
Great information as always! Than you!
Excellent advice Leonard 😊 Pete 🚴🏻👍
excellent advice and great video
I was passed by one of Norways best climbers, Embret Svestad Baardseng when he was going supereasy chatting with a friend riding together. They did one strange thing. They began climbing standing with very little torque. I didnt know it was possible to climb standing with little power. They went really slow and easy, although I had no chance following. Pros are pros and I am heavy.
Good advices..as always.
Cheers!
Nice to see you nice back on your bike good video giving some good advice about the bike stay safe and stay healthy one life enjoy blessed be
Let the gears do the work, spin don't grind, little circles with your ankles, not big ones from the hip,drop your heel on the down stroke to aid power delivery from your lower leg. All help on long constant ascents👍
It’s does work but it’s more to do with body position relative to the vertical rather than the bikes weight balance. If you just leaned your chest forward to adjust the weight distribution without moving your hip position it wouldn’t work the same. When you walk up a hill you adjust your feet to compensate for the angle to keep your hips at the most efficient angle relative to gravity. Same thing here, it’s more efficient and natural to keep your hips and the crank in the same position relative to the vertical. That’s why you tend to stand up on a steep climb - to move your hips further forward to regain a more vertical position.
Hi Leonard - You obviously have not heard of the Colin Lewis technique. Lewis was a British pro who raced during the 50s and 60s and 70s quite successfully (you can look him up). His technique was to alternate increased power every third pedal stroke - e.g., when your left foot reaches its highest point, push down as hard as you can. The next two strokes should be easy, then when your right foot reaches its highest point, push down as hard as you can. So, ONE, two, three, FOUR. Keep on pedalling in this way until you overcome the hill or steep section that is slowing you down. Lewis adds that you shouldn’t forget to breathe! I’m 80 and I have used (and continue to use) this technique whenever the terrain steepens. Second, if you want to trim yourself up a bit, look up Jason Fung on you tube. I’ve tried his methods, and they work very well.
Bien pedallier, as they say. Cheers!
Do one on descending, climbing is easy, it's the descents that are tricky..
It helps me to drop my heels. Puts more of the load on the glutes. You'll really feel it on the upstroke.
Hence the expression 'on the rivet' sitting forward on the old Brooks saddles!
The psychological part is big - I used to get a sight of an upcoming climb and self-defeat before even starting. Now I realize that some roads that look daunting are really not as bad as they appear. Discipline is also a big part - trying to attack the climb, particularly a new one, is a big mistake. I now find myself starting slowly and attacking the peak. To be honest, I'm still find climbs of just 300ft or so pretty challenging and grades of 10% or more.
Very intresting subject. Personally Agree 100% moving slightly forward also I been custom rhythm the Pedaling moves which is a bit difficult keeping concentrate managing the rhythm I have be doing that for a long time despite my lite weight125 lb still the climbing's effort wont make big difference if I was havier. One thing that bothers me on any forms is the head on wind's :)
@@harrylen1688 moving forward does multiple things. Or rather the multiple things you do should automatically move you forward. More upright position to open the chest cavity max. And shifting the body weight to get over the cranks.
I climb by getting up a good head of steam before the climb begins, and I shift way down for a high cadence. I believe I do shift my weight forward, though I haven't been doing it consciously. Mostly, I just tell myself not to give up.
A bit of momentum is great but if the climb is longer than a few hundred metres that runs out pretty quickly.
If the "good head of steam" method works then it's just an undulation.
@@AndrewBlucher Mostly true, but at least I know I got a good start.
@@rangersmith4652 Yep, whatever works for you.
I don't know about all of this, but (1) my seat position is mostly dictated by how sore is my arse during a long climb. Secondly it is dictated by keeping my weight balanced so the front wheel doesn't come off the ground and the back wheel doesn't spin... if it the road is wet. (2) In the section of the video showing LML going up a hill, his cadence was about 60 rpm not 90.
One thing I dislike about climbing up unknown hills is that when you get to a bend in the road, and there's still a bit more to go, always upward.
l iive in a pretty hilly area, and I ride fixed, so I have the advantage of being able to pull up, as well as push down.... and when it gets hard enough that I have to get out of the saddle, I do that. and when that gets to be too much, I get off and walk. seems simple to me.
p.s. I don't weigh much....
Welcome back man it's a very long time since you released your last video or I'm I missing something ?
I’ve been posting every week for about ten years now!
very helpful! i also prefer not to look at the top of the hill, just keep the head down
If you can see the top then it's not much of a hill!
I'm not sure I understand the logic of shifting your weight forward but hey! I'll certainly give it a try.Thanks.
I naturally lean a bit more forward on a climb..but I've also become aware that I breathe a bit better when I'm more upright so do I want to breathe better or put more power into the pedal by stroke by leaning in? I'm a heavyweight cyclist as well & I'm practically always last one up the hill. My easiest gear is a 32/34 I think & I'm usually wishing I had a 32/36 on the few small hills in my area. Most all of the inclines/hills around me are all in the 3-4 tenths of a mile range..just long enough that I can't stand for the entire thing..but still to challenging to have the energy to stand near the top once I've climbed most of the way sitting. One hill in particular I'm always thinking that maybe today's the day I stand near the top..but halfway up I'm just surviving once again & all those crazy thoughts have vanished.😒
I found one thing, power meeter. Becouse you are havier rider and gravity is pushing you back more, you need more power to climb, much more then lighter rider. I found with power meeter as long as I keep around 220wats I can ride uphil forever. Is just combination of gear and cadence. Without power meeter I was always strugling, wasn't aware hom much power I was pushing. Now I just reduce the gear to don't exceed 220wats, if not possible by gear then I slowing my cadance.
A power meter is a great way to manage your efforts.
A watch with a heart rate monitor is a pretty good gauge of effort too - and so much cheaper than a power meter. Mine gives me a verbal warning if my heart rate goes above a certain level.
....yes long steep hills is the nemesis... I have on that has beat me many times now... the goal is the lill it before the snow comes... mental -yes very important - sometimes I think there will be no gold medal so why bother... depends on the general mode. One trick you didnt mention; to pull harder up with the upgoing leg - maybe its just me but I tend to not use that too much normally...
My secret to climbing is just to do more of it and don't overthink it.
Someone was talking about a cat four climb in these comments and I just realised that my local climb would be classed as a Cat.1 - nearly 4000 feet of ascent, up to 16% and around 15Km long and until last year, I was doing it on my 20 year old shopping bike with mudguards, rack etc -so I would add ignorance to the list of good things to have and not get too hung up on facts, figures, and tech.
People worry too much about all that when really they should just get out and ride the hills.
P.S. I'm fully of admiration for people cycling up Hardknott Pass - I couldn't even get up there in my car a few years ago. Those sorts of ascents are, IME, much harder than something like the Col du Tourmalet.
Get a power meter, know what power you can sustain and keep at or below it - especially at the start, when you're fresh and feel capable of more.
You’re out ridding in beautiful areas, why lots of people are just sitting around watching tv
Most of this video was shot on the Bains Kloof pass in South Africa. It was amazing.
Thanks for the tips, glad you get up hills, that's always a win whatever the speed. Have you tried low energy density diet? Dylan Johnson has a good vid about it. Wholefoods, mostly vegan, home cooked. They key is low energy density, it fills us up. Another tip I find is getting off all addictive foods, cold turkey on them, no treats. Cold turkey is best. Hard at first, but possible if think of all the good it will bring. But then it gets easy, as the cravings for high energy density foods vanish. Just get the odd temptation, often when not had enough sleep or not carbed up enough. But just resolve to not give in, and the temptation soon passes. Getting motivated for health and seeing the food corps as the enemy helps too. Which they really are in my view, pushing and advertising all this addictive high cal food on us. I cook plenty of home made plant based curries. Microwave potatoes to take on my ride. Nothing else with them. Spices give all the flavour. I really do think it is possible. I would not go to the effort to post this if I did not think so. You can do it.
MY MAGIC pill to being a better climbing, is climb! climb! climb! And climb some more, as time went along the climbing got easier and easier that's what I did and these were the days when the norm for me was a lugged steel frame with a 42/53 up front with a 7sp 12/25 holding up the rear end and I would ride from down town San Jose to Santa Cruz over over the Santa Cruz mountains VIA HWY 9, this also involved total of roughly 7,500 ft of climbing for the round trip and back then so to say were pushing BIG TIME GEARING, not this current day stuff of 40/48 with 32 or 34 low end rear end. I was on a bit of the heavy side and all of the lighter weight guys always got to the top faster, my pay off was the down hill run, this is when gravity is on your side, of course you had to be at the top of your game with your bike handling skills mostly on the down hill run into SILICON valley because there was a few sections of the road way that you could get into trouble real fast. Yeah! a few other things that many will say, loose weight and all the jazz, blah! Blah! this and blah! blah that! for me it was all about just going out and doing it and doing it some more. Hell my first run over the Santa Cruz mountains! I was at the inter section and I looked at the HWY 9 sign and said to myself that's the was to Santa Cruz, I then checked you vital supplies, I had 2 or 3 bananas a bag of dried fruit and about $ 20,00 I then said GO BIG or GO HOME, I'm gone! Off to Santa Cruz I went, man that was one hell of a tough day, I pushed my bike half way up that mountain, the ride into SC was a BLAST! But then I thought oh! sh*t, I need to get back home, and boy did I struggle again, Like a dumb a*s I did it again the following week and struggled again, on the 4th or 5th trip I was seeing improvements the end of the summer I was doing this roughly 50 mile one way trip to SC in just a tad over 2.5 hours, end game over the years I've done this ride a bit over 50 times. Later! I'm off to work.
I've never thought about putting my weight forward or maybe I'm already subconsciously doing it? I'll give this a try next time I'm on my local climb.
90 to a 100 rpm on a hill what gear you using for that
I have tried 8 category 4 climbs this year, Ditchling Beacon twice and I have a 50% success rate. I still haven’t managed to get up DB in 4 attempts 😞. But the hardest climb I have ever tried was Whiteleaf which is a category 4 climb with an average gradient of 10% but has its steepest part at 30.5%
I’m 58 years old and I weigh about 229 lbs (103 kg) and 5’7” (174 cm) tall. I’ve been riding for many decades and even at this weight, I can ride fairly long distances and climb pretty good. I don’t have any tricks or hacks. I just ride in a comfortable position and get it done.
In your climbing training try to stay more time standing, with time it will come natural to do it even for apply strenght or for endurance, just do it to train those muscles because is a different group of those that you use when sitting.
Great Content.. 👍
Were you in Cyprus during the filming?
The b-roll for this video was mainly shot while I was riding up the Bainskloof and Franschoek passes in South Africa
Hey Leonard any recommendations for Bibs and Jerseys for heavier riders? I feel like most Bibs have too thin of a cushion even in larger sizes and i have yet to buy a jersey since i only find brands for slimmer fits.
I’ve been wearing kit from Altura. They have some great sizing.
@@jollygoodvelo thank you I will check them out. they seem reasonably priced and the bibs have a nice cut
Riding on the second rivet. Sitting forward on the seat rotate hips.
U r riding at beautiful place 🎉
Have you been spying on me Leonard? Setting goal markers is my method when I'm on my mountain bike.
I have eyes everywhere.
Been riding bike's since i was 4 year's old & am now 58 & for me i find climbing easy "not too much of a problem" & descending even easier being 98kg on a custom build 7.2kg aero bike, it helps being physically fit as you can be as that's a big bonus & definitely a key factor 👍🏾
I pull my stomach muscles in and breathe slowly and breathe big ,that in turn makes my qauds engage they are you’re biggest leg muscles try it it really works.
"You'll go up your favorite climbs a little bit faster ...."
"Favorite climb" is like having a favorite blister or favorite malarial strain.
My measure of success for inclines is making it to the top without puking beets.
I am a simple man.
I actually do have favourite climbs!!
some nice clips from my backyard...I love doing bainskloof
@@Wazzaonabike it’s an amazing climb.
To paraphrase Yogi Berra's take on baseball, 90% of climbing is half mental.
I got into cycling 6 months ago, my initial weight was 130 kg & 1.75m height , the first month I did keto and lost 10 kg asap. I said nah I won't do keto anymore and kept 120kg for 5 months, I have gotten better , my FTP has improved massively but hills just humble me as if I hadn't improved shit. I swear dieting is so much easier. Yesterday I was almost dying at a 15% incline, my legs were burning like hell. Nah fuck that shit i'll start keto again today lol. I wonder how much faster I will be at 70 kg.
Loosing weight does help with hill climbs. I'm 1.75m and three years ago weighed 110kg. For the first six months did keto omad , 18 hr fasting. Today my weight is 65kg.Don't know my FTP.
@@neilforbes7876 incredible progress, congrats, how do you feel now? can you share your experience. I have heard keto is not recommended for cycling.
There are a lot of professional cyclists who hate climbing because they’re not good at it, me as an amateur i wish i could climb a steep hill and enjoy it, but i can’t im just crap at it so i don’t do it.😢😢
❤❤❤ Lovely
I know most English are scared of meat but I’d bet 2 months on the carnivore diet would do you well. It resolved many life long issues I had. One was not weight, even though I always had 15-20 excess. That was gone in the first month. My old pr’s were laughable. I went from averaging 19mph on this one particular route I do regularly to 23mph. It’s 15 miles round trip with a few hills. The energy doesn’t fade. Fat and protein are like steroids for hungry muscles.
Yesterday I climbed a mountain I had a goal to ride for ages. When I hit the top, I rode down the other side. Then climbed it again and ride down the other side I started on. Kangamangus highway for anyone in the USA who reads this. 60miles, 4200’ of climbing. It was so freaking cold on the descents I started shaking uncontrollably. Luckily the bottom had a bathroom that was heated. I ate a bad and thawed out for 15 minutes. People were honking and giving a thumbs up. Epic day. Carnivore, zwift and canyon bikes. The rest is easy.
@@JakkakkJannajak-px3yr Yes, indeed we are all scared of meat,. I personally start to hyperventilate when I see a pork chop.
I tried the 1st principle on Zwift and it had no effect 😅
How much do you weigh and how tall or you?Just curious
Sounds like the judge at my trial.
@@jollygoodvelo not at all. I’m sure everyone would like to know.
I cannot understand your logic regarding the statement about using a harder gear and the leg strength to give your Cardio vascular system a rest . All effort needs the CV system supplying the muscles and it doesn't matter what body part you use , pushing harder or faster increases CV demand . Perhaps I have misunderstood your reasoning ?
Hmm looks like you’re in Cape Town winelands area 🤩
Well spotted. That was the Bains Kloof Pass.
Is the thumbnail picture in South Africa? The road lines look south African and the photo must have been flipped (chain on left of bike, they drive on the left in SA). Sorry, I'm a geoguessr player.
Well spotted. It’s the Bainskloof Pass; I flipped the image because I wanted the text in the thumbnail on the left. BTW I LOVE the Bainskloof climb!
what size bibb do you wear, plz? everytime I order a 2x-size, its always too-tight. Ughhh...can't be me :-) a proper-fitting bibb is a VERY-essential "hack", yes?
It varies depending on the manufacturer but, generally, I just go for the largest size available.
I use a 48/30 for my low gear, makes climbing far easier. I am 70 so do not have the legs I used to have.
Lane, I'm not far behind you :-)
I found the Covid restrictions knocked a lot of strength and fitness out of me. With focus on aspects such as HR and cadence, it's gradually returning.
Please don't take this personal, been following you for some time. Had the same problem with weight until I got a road bike from mountain bike. Joined a bike club and it just fell off. Cut out a lot of alcohol not entirely! And thought what I was eating.
Sadly been there and done that too.
Those aren’t climbs. I’d like to see you on the Lagos de Covadonga. It doesn’t matter where you put your weight on a climb like that - your leg muscles are doing all the lifting and the more you weigh the harder they will have to work.
Probably not. This year alone I’ve only climbed up things like Sa Calobra, Col de Femnia, Bainskloof pass, Franschhoek pass and the col de Sa Sabatia. Basically flat roads.
90-100rpms ? That ain’t happening with normal gearing on a 10% hill for most…. I’m more of a masher anyway. Typically climb 70-80 rpm even on less steep climbs.
Yeah, my cadence also goes right down on the steep climbs