Tips for Riding Stronger on Hills
Living at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, we have our share of hills and when I started to ride, it took me a long time to learn how to properly execute a hill. At first, I thought I was stronger if I chose to grind up the hill in the highest gear possible. I would take the uphills way too fast and feel like death at the top of a hill. When I started to learn the value of changing gears, I would often shift from my large to small chainring too quickly, causing my chain to drop. Hills are a combination of strength and skill with a little mental fortitude thrown in the mix. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about climbing over the years.
Get in the right gear
One mistake that newer cyclists often make is to try to grind up the hill in the highest gear possible. I think it’s a combination of things. Like me in the early years, many new cyclists don’t understand that grinding up a hill can burn your legs out early in the ride. If you’re not comfortable with shifting it can be intimidating as you’re going up a hill, especially if you’ve dropped your chain a time or two. You want to find the gear that allows you to keep your cadence as close as possible to your normal gear when going up a hill. Of course, this won’t be possible on many hills - you’ll be in your smallest possible gear and still find yourself grinding uphill. That’s okay, just find the highest cadence possible to execute your hill even if that means you’re in a very ‘easy’ gear.
Become a Master Shifter (I imagine this would be a good title for a rap song)
Shifting into a hill takes some practice, especially when you’re riding on rolling terrain. You may be in a big gear as you come down a hill fast and then need to shift into a smaller gear as you go up the hill. On bikes with a big and small chainring, this can lead to a dropped chain and even if the chain doesn’t drop, you’ll wear out your chain and chainring much more quickly with this practice. Ideally, when shifting from your big gears to the smaller gears, you’ll move to the middle of the chainring before shifting down. This means you need to shift down in the big gear before making the jump to the small gear. Knowing when and how to do this comes with practice and experience. If you shift too quickly, you’ll find yourself spinning out but if you wait too long to shift, you mind find yourself on a little hike and bike.
Don’t burn your matches (Also imagine this one could be a Maroon 5 song title)
A term you might hear is “I burned all my matches climbing that hill”. That means you went way too hard up the hill. About halfway through the ride, you’ll be counting the miles wishing the ride would just end already. It’s really easy to make this mistake in groups, especially if you have stronger climbers. You’ll push as hard as you can to get up a hill and then be completely out of breath and ready for a break at the top. The problem is, other people were probably only riding at about 80% of their max effort up that hill. Don’t get me wrong, there are some climbs that are going to cause everyone to be riding at the top of their effort and have them completely out of breath but that shouldn’t be every hill you approach. Drop your gearing and keep your pace manageable. When you get to the top you’ll feel a slightly out of breath but not like you need to stop for a few hits off of an inhaler. As you come up and over the hill, add gear and get your recovery as you go downhill.
Use proper form
As your climbing, you want to keep your upper body relaxed and your core engaged. Often people will tense up in their shoulders and neck while climbing and then let their lower body flop around with the bike. This is actually a really inefficient way to climb and it takes more energy. Focus on relaxing your upper body even as you feel the burn of the hill and maintaining an engaged core (see strength section). You’ll also want to engage the biggest muscles in your body - your glutes. To do this while seated, push your sits bones into the saddle and focus on the push/pull. You may feel better standing on a climb - this is generally true for lighter riders or riders who have a strong fitness level. Your heart rate will go up as you stand on the bike. You can experiment by trying to stand on a climb during your next ride Settle in When you find yourself on a long sustained climb, just settle into a pace and go. Don’t let your mind play tricks on you, telling you that you can’t make it or this climb will never end. You just need to find a gear and pace that you can maintain and keep climbing. It is incredibly difficult to restart a ride on a climb so if at all possible avoid the hike and bike by powering through.
Work on your strength
The best way to get strong on hills is to ride hills. The second best thing you can do is to add strength training to your routine. The stronger your leg muscles are, the more you’ll be able to recruit them to help you during the climbs and they’ll help your endurance. Power moves for cycling and strength are the glute bridge raise, deadlifts (esp single leg), squats and lunges.
Don’t Let Your Mind Play Tricks on You
Climbing always feels tough and I’ve been on plenty of rides where I wanted to cry when I saw one more hill. I’ve realized over the years that I just need to reframe my thoughts. Instead of ‘this sucks’, I tell myself, ‘this makes me so strong’. There’s a local gravel ride that I do fairly often and we always have a big climb about 3 miles into the ride. By the time we hit it, I know that I’m not warmed up enough for it to feel good. In the early days of riding the route, I would feel discouraged and start thinking ‘this is going to suck, my legs are dead today, etc’. Now I just know that this climb always sucks, I’m not warmed up and I’ll feel better as I go along. It doesn’t make that first climb any more fun but it reframes my thought process around the ride.
If you really want to get good at climbing, find a friend who is good at it and ride with them. Ask them to talk you through the gearing as you go. It’ll make a huge difference in your skill level!