It happened to me a couple of days ago. I was on my way back from Camden on my bike and I took a wrong turn at Chalk Farm heading up to Haverstock Hill. It wasn’t the worst hill in the world but I was definitely not expecting it. This got me thinking about my uphill cycling strategy and I wanted to share it and see what you guys do. Hitting a hill is rare in most parts of London but it’s useful to know a few tricks for making it easier when you do come across one.
Know your enemy
When I took the wrong turn I had no idea how big the hill was. My initial thinking was:
Andreas to brain: Oh no! A hill, I swear this isn’t the right way, what shall I do?
Brain: Pedal hard and it will soon be over and you can get home and put your feet up and watch TV
Andreas to brain: Thanks brain!
This was an error because the hill went on for a while so putting in hard pedalling at the start meant that I would be out of juice by the time I reached the top. It definitely helps when you know how long the hill goes on for so you can pace yourself.
Steady your approach
If you are going flat out before you get to a big hill then you’re going to struggle unless you are some kind of cycling superhero. It’s best to pace yourself so you are conserving energy for the challenging hill. Note: This doesn’t mean stop, have a cup of coffee at Starbucks and then tackle the hill. That would be pacing yourself way too slow!
Seating 90% standing 10%
When cycling uphill I tend to stand only when I need that bit of an extra boost. The cycling experts will tell you that standing on a bike uses more energy as you are carrying your body weight.
Use gears to your advantage
When I feel the resistance building I know it’s time to switch down a gear. I always switch down gears incrementally, not 5 at a time! I also try to time my gear changes so that I’m not doing them when I’ve pretty much grounded to a halt because we all know how tough that can be.
Head down and pray
Well, it isn’t quite that bad! During the uphill climb consistency is king. I try to keep my pace steady and not too slow or too fast. It’s tough to know what the perfect pace is and what gear you should be in. This is something you only get good at with practise (I rarely practise so it is definitely something I would like to be better at).
Relax
I also try not to tense my upper body too much as this wastes energy. This includes keeping a fairly loose grip on the handlebars.
I think that sums up my strategy, the main thing I need to do is to practise more uphill cycling to get better at it. What do you guys tend to do? Get your head down and power it or avoid hills like the plague?
See also:
- What is your traffic light strategy?
- Kryptonite New York 3000 – a lock to keep your prized possession safe
- Cycling from Birmingham to London
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I plug away slowly sitting down on 20% gradient trails on the mountain bike, but I lean forward out of the saddle and tear my legs off on the road, some fairly steep little climbs where I live in Crystal palace.
I love hills. on a hill you can go 100% effort without being too dangerous, you’re not about to run into some lights or traffic. If I went 100% on the flat on my commute-Walworth road especially- I’d probably be dead by now. Two pedestrians nearly got me killed in the last year as it is.
Hills are an excuse to really go nuts on power and throw the bike around. Love em. Of course you need to pace yourself, when you know a hill well it is very satisfying to time the sprint perfectly.
It was pouring with rain this evening, last thing I needed, got a cold coming on, had taken my best bike out as a treat and it was getting all sooty, bang in the middle of rush hour that I usually avoid. I was thinking london cycling doesnt get much more annoying than this.
I climbed Brockwell park for fun on the way home and saw the sunset burst through the clouds, lighting up the buildings against the dark sky.Most beautiful thing I have seen all year.
Climb more Hills!
Thanks William for this excellent comment! You are right about the being able to put your full power in it. Though to be honest I find the late evening is another good time to put full power. Generally after 9pm the roads are fairly empty so you can really put some pace into the cycling. Keep up the hill climbing!
Normally use the highest gear I can and ease down the gears to maintain momentum , only standing if I’m starting off from a dead stop (traffic lights)
Thankfully most of the hills I encounter are fairly gentle around Notting Hill so when I tried going to Richmond Park via Nightingale Lane ( http://tinyurl.com/yhtm24s ) the climb got too much and had to concede defeat and walk the rest.
I cycle up Putney hill to Tibbets Corner as part or my route home.
Just this week I’ve been setting my target as standing all way to the top, and whilst in 6th gear / top ratio (or whatever the proper term is), dropping down to 5th as needs dictate.
For me I see it as a good workout, however reading here am I right in thinking that sitting is harder on a climb than standing?
Either way, it’s a fair old climb and the satisfaction on getting further each day is great.
Be good to hear from others though on which method is considered more of a work out.
Cross train.
I cycle to and fro work each aday and run as well.
While one on the whole does not really improve the other. They do in one respect and that is in increasing your aerobic capacity and thats what you need to get up hills. If I ran all the time i would run myself into the ground but by cycling i get an aerobic workout out with no stress on the old legs and if I tried to cycle and get the same aerobic effects of running I would have to do more miles than I have time for.So I do a bit of each.
I cycle up a really, really steep hill daily, not to get to anywhere; its my training cycle. Anyway, I met a mid-aged man on the cycle route who claimed he hadn’t sat on a cycle for many yr. I was amazed at how fit he was actually: he shot over rough ground quicker than I felt confident, and he climbed the hill at a very respectful pace indeed; I beat him up the hill, but only because I train on it every day, and have rather large legs to power the bike up the insanely steep climb. However, if I hadn’t been used to the hill, that mid-aged man would have probably thrashed me up the hill! He did mention he did other stuff, which I would guess involved serious running. In all honestly, I was pushing harder because I was scared I would be overtaken by him, and what that might mean for my progress so far – lol!
He probably had better aerobic than me, although mine isn’t bad obviously, but he didn’t have the legs to get the bike up the hill as fast. I also always have a reserve for the last steep stretch of the hill at the top where I sprint the last bit. Then I looked behind me, and he dropped back a bit more, but he’s still a very respectful distance behind on the hill I train on every day. This shows you can improve at a task without specifically doing the task itself, and if you are something like 47+, you can still become amazingly fit like he was.
Pop over to France. Ride up Ventoux on the first day, then Tourmalet on the second and finish yourself off with Madeleine on the third. Any subsequent London hill you ever ride up will seem like a freewheeling downhill.
that might be tricky as ventoux is in the alps and la tourlmalet is in the pyranees and madeleine is back in the alps…
geography FAIL!
After trying what was labelled as an “average difficulty” ride in the Austrian Alps the other day and being overtaken by an 81 year old man with a walking stick I decided that my best strategy was to get the cable car to the top
Hey, at least I tried and the views and downhill run were fantastic!
My strategy is to cycle reasonably hard into the hill to build up momentum, then keep a medium-low gear (low as in large cog) but as high as I can manage to maintain cadence. If you get tired like that, you can always drop a gear or two as a last resort when the hill gets steep. Try between Tufnell Park and Highgate, this is fairly aerobic:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=highgate&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&sll=51.567167,-0.14147&sspn=0.003114,0.010568&rq=1&ev=zi&split=1&radius=0.27&hq=highgate&hnear=&ll=51.5658,-0.141256&spn=0.003115,0.010568&t=h&z=17
Hey, my cousin had “liked” this on facebook so i thought i’d check it out. Some good advice on these pages and some fairly funny posts!!
You should come to Edinburgh (where i live and cycle). More than enough hills to practice on! In fact i think the only properly flat road is Princess street!
Not sure if i have a strategy..? I guess start where i’m at and start changing down the gears. Gears definately help. Should probably try not to hold onto the handle bars so tightly cos that probably doesn’t help! Oh and you just have to think “i will not roll backwards, i will not roll backwards!” when your cycling up hills like Dundas street (steep hill near Princess street), the first time you do it you don’t think you’ll make it but it gets easier, all hills get easier with practice.
Only been cycling 6 months or so and where I live (Southgate / Oakwood, North London) there are hills everywhere. When I began I was always (shamefully) walking up them, but after only a few months I’ve come to love the challenge and never walk up anymore. The key for me is, steady as you go, each time I go up a hill, I try for a tougher gear, building stamina and muscle. The real riders (the ones in all-over-lycra) always whizz past me, but I don’t care because I know I keep on getting better. I never realised cycling was so addictive.
My hill strategy, keep doing more and more, then they get easier and easier. Which completely agrees with Ruth Roadnight.
On hills, I alternate between “honking”, (old racing term for getting up off the saddle), and “twiddling”, (old racing term for fast low-gear pedalling), but it’s important to remember to slide yourself towards the back of the seat a bit, which takes a little weight off your front wheel (the non-drive wheel), and puts more traction onto the wheel that’s powering you along…..of course the technique doesn’t work while you’re honking, and it’s not much use on flat roads, but it does seem to have helped me over the years—–and over the hills!
P.R.
I live and cycle – about four times a week – on the north Cornish coast, there’s no shortage of cliff-contoured hills here.
Only been doing this since last May or June and, like others, initially I’d either jump off (caught between vomiting, fainting and coronary) or choose flatter routes. I ride an old, heavy, second hand Dawes tourer and, perverse as it sounds, I ride for pleasure, mental health and fitness, so I’ve made my peace with being passed at light-speed by ninjaboys on feather-bikes.
I’m also in the habit, mostly, of standing when I climb. I’m not bothered it’s less efficient than otherwise because I’m keener to burn energy than be streamlined or efficient. (I’ve lost two and a half stone in the last nine or so months.) Now I find that when I’ve not enough time for a decent ride round a looping route, I purposely go to a local T junction, whose left and right turns both lead up (to me) killer hills. I go left in 2/5, standing, then back down it and up the right one, sitting, in lower (easier) gear. This way the hills hurt in subtly different ways. I do both hills twice.
I realise cycling’s probably more fun because I work at home and most days I go out – when I choose – there are few cars and sea-views, but regardless of all that, I’ve definitely been bitten by the endorphin bug and by the change to my body and fitness (I’m 48 and had high blood pressure and an ‘Obese’ BMI when I began …)
All I need to do now is keep resisting the bike shops and those sleek machines promising more speed over greater distances. Luckily, I can’t even afford a new saddle at the moment.
One day sir, that new saddle will be yours, your time is coming Brother.
I have only just found the Londoncyclist site and think it’s great. I’ve also enjoyed these useful comments about hill – climbing techniques.
Whereas my son will sprint up most hills to ‘get them over with’, I must admit this tires me out too early and so I remain seated and spin in a low gear. If I can see the hill is relatively short I will stand up and try to keep up momentum in a higher gear but more often than not take it at a slower pace rather than become exhausted too soon.
Living in Kent about 15 miles the North Downs, there are some challenging long climbs nearby. My pet technique is to avoid looking too far ahead instead focusing on little signs of progress. On the hill near Wye I try to ride over one of the small pieces of chalk landfall from the roadside banks which then produces a nice white spot on the front tyre and provides something to concentrate upon – I don’t know why; maybe there’s some deep psychological purpose to this but I suppose I just find it reassuring to see that the wheels are actually going round and forward progress is still being made!
Having revived my old Record Sprint and now six months into regular rides [again] a came across Goldings Hill in Loughton Essex. Wow. I got about 50m along and ground to a halt. Tried again another day and same result. urns out that my old faithful doesn’t have enough gears which was good to hear [i'm not a wimp after all
]. Have now upgraded from 6-gear cog to 7-gear [MEGA] as this is the maximum my poor old frame can handle. gonna put a good weeks training in and then try it again next week – Wish me luck!