The thing about training in Vancouver is that hills are inevitable. My quads have confirmed that. And the further you ride, the more you seem to encounter. Thankfully, the Ride Don’t Hide 60km route doesn’t have any crazy climbs in it, but much like the speed work that my training program calls for, I’m sure that incorporating a hill or two into my training will help build strength and endurance.
But I’m dreading it.
When it comes to hills, I think there’s a code that I am yet to crack (and I think this because clearly, the riders out there who are effortlessly whizzing past me clearly got a memo I didn’t). I’m not sure how to leverage my speed, and if we’re being honest, I don’t really know how to position my body on the bike when I’m climbing. Stand up, sit down, keep your hands centered, put them down in the drops, take shallow breaths, inhale deeply, keep your head up, put your head down, hover over the seat, stand upright … I could go on. Also, gears. My bike has three rings, which has only served to create this endless cycle of shifting, to Fred Flintstone legs, to missed momentum, to not enough resistance, to too much resistance … I could go on.
I’m not sure how one qualifies if they’re good at hill climbing, but I’m confident enough in my hill climbing to know it needs work. Who better to guide me on the how-to of hill climbing than Allan Prazsky, MEC Envoy, Certified Road Coach, and Executive Director of Triathlon BC?
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I’m not committing to anything, but out of curiosity, what are the benefits of adding hill intervals to a cycling training program?
“A steady diet of hills in a training program translates into improved on-bike strength and fitness— read: speed—regardless of whether the target event is hilly or flat,” Allan explains. “Regular visits to the hills pay huge dividends in building power, creating physiological efficiencies and ultimately, produces meaningful, quantifiable gains in cycling performance.” Sigh. I knew you were going to say something like that.
Gaining Perspective
“Hills aren’t something to be afraid of – embrace each incline and have the knowledge and confidence to know that you will conquer the hill, regardless of its length. Have a plan, and stick to it.” Hm. I think the first thing on my hill plan should likely be to get my ego in check. I know I’m not the Marion Jones of cycling, but it’s still really deflating to be consistently passed.
“Inevitably, there will be jackrabbits that spring up a hill with amazing speed. But if you’re not built like a gazelle, don’t try to keep up with one.” OK good, because if I had to pick my cycling animal, I think I’m definitely more of a Clydesdale. “Just set a pace you’re comfortable with and maintain it; or, if you use a heart rate monitor or a fancy power metre, know your limit /threshold and don’t over extend yourself, particularly in the early stages of your interval or an event.”
To Sit Or To Stand
I’ve noticed that I’m far happier to sit in the saddle and grind it out, rather than hop up and do the climb standing. Is this just my inner Clydesdale talking, or should I be pushing myself to get up and stand once and a while? “Generally speaking, hill climbing takes two forms: seated and out of saddle, though to vary the muscle groups that are producing the motive force, allow your back and butt a brief recovery, or to quickly climb a hill (or a mountain), you’ll likely employ a mix of both techniques,” Allan says.
“On longer (>3min), shallower climbs (<6% road grade), stay in the saddle and maintain a quick, efficient spin (approx. 75 – 85rpm). Out of the saddle adds instant power to the pedal stroke, so if the incline pitches or you need to accelerate, you should stand. With a proper out of the saddle ‘rocking’ technique, cyclists can conquer all but the steepest of hills by using their body weight and upper body strength to assist the power of their legs.”
Does your body work about the same in both positions? “Seated climbing burns less energy—your heart rate is approximately 10% lower for any set speed—and it facilitates the use of larger glute and hip muscles. Standing is very effective for hard efforts and accelerations but it also uses more energy; up to 10 to 12% more than someone seated.”
A Question Of Form
What about form? Does my seated position in hill climbing differ from when I’m just riding regularly? “To maximize efficiency when you’re doing a seated climb, try to do the following:
- Keep your hands on the top of the bars, close to the stem—this gives you optimal diaphragm movement, which maximizes your ability to breathe deeply — and use your bars as a fixed point to push and pull against.
- Slide back on your seat, allowing the nose of your saddle to peek through your legs. Positioned like this, you gain a leverage advantage on the pedals, because instead of pushing directly down on the pedals in a piston-like fashion, sliding back allows you push down and forward, generating greater force on the pedals.”
And standing? You mentioned a rocking technique, but I think mine is more of a wobble; I always feel off balance when I stand for a hill. “Done properly, out of the saddle climbing looks like this:
- With your hands holding the brake hoods—this increases your stability—get out of the saddle and begin to use your bike as a lever.
- Pull with the right arm as the left leg pushes down on the power stroke, and then shift your weight from right to left and pull on the bars as you push with the left leg.
- On steep road grades, it’s almost as if you were walking up the hill; the bike will have a natural sway from side to side as your body weight shifts – don’t fight this! It’s okay for the bike to rock back and forth.”
Ah, great to know. I was never sure if you were supposed to let your bike sway, or if you were supposed to be trying to hold it centred. Allowing that movement will definitely help with the balance issue.
Do the drops on your handles ever come in handy with a hill? “Unless you’re sprinting to victory on a mountain-top finish—I shudder—you should never find yourself climbing in the drops. The hunched-over position constricts breathing, and generally makes life miserable as the road winds to the sky,” says Allan.
And what about the mental side of things; do I try to rev myself up, or do I try to peace out? “Relax – you don’t waste unnecessary energy with a death grip on the bars and don’t hold tension in your upper body.” Ah, OK, I definitely a death gripper; I’ll stop that.
Getting Into The Gear Of Things
How do manage your gears and shifting? Do you go into your easiest gear, or do you stay in the highest gear you possibly can while still being able to climb? “Once you enter a hill, it’s critical to keep the momentum going. If you become over-geared or ‘bogged down’ in a particular gear mid-hill, accelerating back to your climbing speed is going to be both difficult and taxing, bringing you further into the dreaded red zone. Instead, stay on top of your gear, aiming for that efficient spin (a cadence on either side of 80rpm). If you find your cadence slowing, shift into an easier gear immediately and try to recapture the lost momentum with a quick out-of-the-saddle burst.”
Hopping Onto The Train
Hypothetically, what would a beginner hill interval look like? “Ideally, a visit to the mountains—eep!— OK, ‘inclines’, would be included on a weekly, or every 10 to 14 day, basis,” says Allan. “And from there, try the following:
- Find a hill that you can climb in a seated position (3 to 6% road grade), with a length of about 4 to 10 minutes (longer is better for more advanced cyclists).
- Start with 2 or 3 seated hill repeats, and add intervals as you gain fitness.
- Recovery is the route back to the start area, with an added dogleg if increased recovery is required.
- Be careful not to crack off a phenomenally quick first climb, only to climb the last hill at a turtle’s pace.
- An important factor in hill climbing is consistency, so if you aim for 3 intervals, the first repeat should fall within 10% of the total time of your last. Keeping a log of times is good, and also serves to motivate and monitor performance.”
Are there any tricks to the downhill? As a rule, the terrify me. I have zero reckless abandon when it comes to speed. “Confidence in equipment and in your technical skills is primary. If you’re new to the game, don’t follow an experienced racer down a winding descent. Cast your view far forward and scan the environment for debris on the road (eg: potholes, gravel, oil, animals, etc.) and always, always ride within yourself and where you’re comfortable. As your mileage and confidence increases, you can start pushing your comfort zone, but until you are intimately familiar with your bike’s (and your own) performance, keep the boundaries safe. Races are never won on the downhill.”
So just out of curiosity, what’s your favourite hill to train on? “Being a worshipper of the Temple of the Hills, I absolutely love the British Properties in West Van. A favourite twisting ascent that offers phenomenal vistas is Chartwell Drive, high atop West Vancouver. The views from each switchback quickly make the hard work quickly disappear.”
Aftermath
Wanting to put Allan’s advice to the test, I went and did three runs of the hill up to UBC, along Spanish Banks. And it turned out to not be horrible. It’s a pretty busy hill for riders on Saturday morning, but everyone just sort of fell in and made their way up in their own time. I definitely wasn’t the fastest, but I actually found that by the third time, the climb felt easier (or I felt stronger?) because of the attention I was paying to my mechanics, and my ability to now use my power more efficiently. Hill climbing also turned out to be a really good practice in body awareness, because when something got uncomfortable or felt hard, I would do a mental scan of my body to see where the problem area was, and use Allan’s instruction to make adjustments.
In a nutshell: It felt like a challenge, but not impossible. I might live to regret this, but I think I might be on the hill interval wagon.
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It’s crazy to think that we’re going into week 6(!!) of MEC’s Ride Don’t Hide 60km training program. Just two more long rides, two more fast rides, a few easy rides (and of course, a few hills if you decided to take Allan up on his interval suggestion) and we’re there. Hope your training is going so very well, and here’s to sunshine clear until June 23.
See you back here on June 7 …
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