How to climb a hill?

Technique – back to basics

Climbing a hill - keeping relaxed and focused

The main principle in hill climbing is to go relatively slowly at the start of the climb. If you can bear this in mind as you approach all hills, then you shouldn’t get into problems near the top.

In theory the rule of hill climbing is to never change to a lower gear as you ride up the hill. Start the climb in a low gear. If you start the hill in a gear that’s not low enough, you will find it very hard to accelerate or hold good form when going over the tops of the hills.

So at the foot of the hill choose a gear that allows you to push the pedals around easily. If you have an rpm counter, try to keep your cadence somewhere between 75 and 90 rpm.

As you approach the mid point of the hill you will start to feel the effort with a slight drop in cadence. At this point it will be tempting to change to a lower gear, but if you have already selected that easier gear at the foot of the hill, you should be able to cope with the slightly reduced cadence, making the mid point of the hill not feel too difficult. Your aim should be maintain a steady cadence throughlut the climb.

As you approach the top of the hill, either remain in the same gear and rev out over the top of the hill, or, change to a higher gear and get out the saddle to accelerate.

With the basics understood, it is then a matter of practising as much as you can. Just remember the technique every time you approach a hill on your cycle route.

Acceleration

Well-practiced cyclists will want to quickly move on from the basics. I can imagine that you want to impress your mates by beating them to the top of the hill! Of course there are many considerations to bear in mind when racing your friends. For one, they may be considerably lighter than you and/or more experienced. But for the sake of this section let’s assume that you and your cycling mates are similar level of ability and weight.

When you race your friends and get beaten, it is most probable that adrenalin has got the best of you. Instead of keeping the basics in mind, you rush up the first part of the hill too fast. Then as you start to slow down near the top, you become vulnerable to being beaten by your friends. They pass you easily. It is now a case of grovelling to keep on their wheels. In a race, you would probably be dropped at this point. So remember to start easy so that you can work hard later.

You must have something in hand for the last part of the climb: the acceleration over the top of the hill. You need to reach the optimum speed for the other side of the hill at the earliest moment. So you must learn to accelerate over the top of every hill.

For optimum acceleration you will have to learn how to get out the saddle and push yourself over the hill. This requires effort, which is one of the reasons we were conservative at the foot of the hill, staying in the saddle, and at the half way point and beyond we kept something in hand. Then you will have the energy and power left over to really hit hard out the saddle over the top of the hill. Practice this next time you’re out with your friends.

Hills in races – what to expect

In a race, there are good climbers, bad climbers, big and small. If you keep practicing the above technique over the season, I am sure you will become a good hill climber.

In your first year of racing, expect to get “dropped” (left behind) often in races that have hills. Most beginners find that they get disappointingly dropped on the first hill in the race, on the first lap. This is normal. Every beginning racer goes through this steep learning curve. The point to note is that getting dropped does NOT mean that you don’t have any climbing ability: it simply means you are probably less experienced with handling the situation in a sufficiently relaxed manner when a hill approaches. Just keep ‘going back for more’: persist!

Another important point of racing well in the hills is to place yourself well-forward in the peleton. When you place yourself towards the front of the peleton, you will accelerate at approximately the same time as the front riders. This saves you a lot of energy compared to the guy at the back of the peloton.

At the back, ‘little Jimmy’ is still climbing steadily as the front of the peloton accelerates over the top of the hill. Soon the front of the peloton is going much faster than the back, and ‘little Jimmy’ and his friends get left behind. Not only do they have to accelerate over the top of the hill, they have to expend extra energy to ‘catch up’ riders in front. In this situation, Little Jimmy works harder than anyone else in the peloton. Eventually, as the race goes over hill after hill, ‘little Jimmy’s’ legs become worn to shreds, and eventually he gets dropped.

For a beginner, it is very hard indeed to be at the front of the peloton. All good riders know it’s the best place to be, so you may feel there’s no chance for you. True to start with. But with practice you’ll find you become more able to move around the peleton. You become more confident, and soon you too are able to get near the front, at least for the start of some of the hills.

In a race you have to keep your brain engaged. Sometimes the best climbers are at the front and they deliberately push the pace an extra bit so that the less experienced riders feel that they really can’t keep up with them. Don’t go to the front on every hill with them! Keep a few places back and keep conservative. In any case, for various reasons, the accelerations over the hilltops will be harder near the back end of the race than they were in the first part – so think ahead, and be ready.

There are many cycling scenarios. You will have to race a lot to know how you can have the overall edge over competitors that may be stronger in a particular aspect – such as handling hills. Remember it is NOT always the strongest rider on paper that will necessary win the race. Keeping your thinking cap on is central to success in road racing!

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