Hills

[Hummers]

I'm occasionally leafing through "50 quirky bikes rides" and was just looking at one ride which was talking about Chimney Bank in Yorkshire, and has the following to say about climbing:

"There are three techniques for making an uphill hack go more quickly: (1) Guess how many pedal revolutions it will be to the top, and count down; (2) Swear copiously; (3) Get off and push."

I've used all of those at one time or another, but generally I'll just stare at the road immediately in front of my wheel, and keep going.  Looking ahead to see how far is left to go is a bad move.  This technique is not recommended where there are likely to be obstacles, like parked cars, as they can come as a big surprise!

What methods do you use, to get yourself up those steep climbs without going too do-la-la ?

I am looking at my hill climbing technique as I am sure that mostly doing rides with rolling terrain and a triple set up have made me lazy.

In 2003, I was riding a laden tourer on the LeJoG scenic route with a 48/36 13/28 compact double and no hill was too steep - and I never used to get out of the saddle.

Now, I find that on really steep climbs I am dropping onto the granny ring at the first sign of trouble rather than attacking the hill and grimping up it

Time for a change in approach, methinks.

H

[toekneep]

I sometimes count the pedal strokes but I haven't thought of guessing how many and counting down. I imagine that would be soul destroying when you get to zero and find you are only half way there. 

[GruB]

I find it helps if I know where the summit is.  It is my choice to be there so I find it more comforting than the daunting of the unknown.  Being in the right gear is crucial to comfort and I then find a cadence to suit.  Normally this will be somewhere around 80.

I count my pedal strokes and depending upon the sort of hill mix up my riding style.  On the BCM I basically sat down all the way up the climbs and found a great rhythm and even changed down once I felt comfortable.  On steeper hills I will do a bit of saddle work and then stand up for 70 revolutions and then sit down for 70 etc.  I find counting is a real bonus as it helps me enjoy the pain.

[inc]

There is a tip a climber gave some time ago, Andy Hampsten I think, that is if you are going to get out of the saddle change up and them back down again when you sit back down. You need to use a bit of common sense but I find it works quite well on the longer climbs.

[MattH]

I find counting is a real bonus as it helps me enjoy the pain.

One. Thank You, Mistress.
Two. Thank You, Mistress.

Or isn't that what you meant? 

[fin]

I find it helps if I know where the summit is. 

How true.

Many moons ago, a Snow Roads 300 permanent saw me climbing Cairn O Mount from the 'easier' North side on a very dark October night.  After climbing for what seemed forever and saying over and over "this must be the top", I felt the road level off.  Hurrah! 

Far off in the distance and at an elevation much greater than the one I was presently riding, I could see a tiny pair of car headlights coming towards me.  How bad did I feel then.

(The decent was a hoot, riding almost blind (using 2.5W of Halogen) down a steep, twisty and gravel-strewn piece of tarmac, not knowing if you were going to get ambushed by wildlife).

[alan]

I have discovered that changing the cassette so that the largest sprocket has gone from 26T to 32T makes a difference