Cycling uphill c/d

Oh boy there's all sorts of climbs out there. As far as mountain biking goes, doing a technical climb clean for the first time is great, like steep rocky stuff where you have time to think through your moves and they're not as much about pure fitness, more about applying your energy exactly at the right point. At the other end of things are those are tedious grass slopes that make it feel like you're riding through goulash and just rob any sort of momentum out of your wheels. I hate those!

Actually, I've been doing lots of riding round town with one of our boys on the back. Brighton's fairly hilly and he's always giving me grief on climbs for going too slowly. Nothing worse than having a toddler bitching at you for being unfit.

SHORT TECHNICAL CLIMBS = AWESOME
LONG CLIMBS = DUD

I'd go with that, and add

Standing up for burst of power = awesome
standing up with any kind of bag on your back = dud
Climbs in traffic = mega dud

Climbs with 35 lbs of groceries on your back when there are three stoplights between you and the top of the hill: I suggest "dud".

But a slight incline over a mile or so is a good way to get warm, I don't mind those.

i think i am a climber

hey guys come to SF lol

Technical climbs are the best obv but I still get a sense of achievement from a long hard boring slog uphill. Hunker down, change down, grit yer teeth, keep those wheels spinning no matter what. A couple of times I've even managed to reverse-psych myself: "oh man this is really hard, think I might change down another gear... nah fuckit I'm gonna change UP!" - goes on to power up the rest of the hill like King of the Mountains.

nah fuckit I'm gonna change UP

LULZ

THERE IS NOTHING FUN ABOUT VOMITING IN THE WOODS.

i did this once

Oh lord, I have never vomited from cycling. Running, yes; have been v v tempted during highland practices/gigs; but never bikesss.

My longest, most unpleasant climb since I started riding in NYC has been the ramp up from Randall's Island onto the Triborough Bridge and even that was not vomitous.

Even as a non-climber in racing terms, long road climbs are the greatest. I chose my neighborhood in part for good access to decent climbing.

what is your choice of hand/handlebar position for the following:

a) short steep hill
b) long steady hill
c) long steep hill

also seat postioning (eg, "riding the rivet", etc.)

a-hoods, unless its a prime or finish sprint. b,c- bartops, unless I'm out of saddle. But my bar tops are 4" below my saddle, which is probly lower than, say, new school mtbers would be used to. I also don't use the new style lever position (rotated way up on top of the curve of drops).

RIDE THE RIVET ON SHORT STEEPS, IN DROPS.

My position has changed a lot as my style of riding has changed. I'm 15 lbs lighter than my early years, but pure leg strength is less. My saddle position is much more forward, higher, and I sit further forward generally. I used to really squat way behind the bb.

Man, I'm only on the rivet if i'm desperate not to go otb. By the time I realize I'm that far forward, I'm praying the pace drops real fast or I'm blowing up.

From an mtb perspective: man, the stick I get for my bar-ends. Apparently bar-ends with riser bars is SO infra-dig lamer n00b unfashionable. Whatevs. I got riser bars 'cause that's what the bike came with and who gives a shit; and bar ends give me at least two extra hand positions which I am ALL OVER for climbs.

Short, technical MTB climbs OTM

Bar ends too, fuck fashion.

can we change thread title to "riding up that hill"?

if i knew how...

i like long not too steep climbs in the small hours with some trees around

and going up bridges fast like flying

think i am better at hills than i used to be cos dunwich dynamo in july was really no prob and last year the last ten miles were f'in hard (it is like 115 miles or sth)

also bike is +++++ though

long, slow climbs on road bike: great
long, slow climbs with stuff on yr back: fine

short, steep climbs on road bike: kickass
short, steep, TECHY climbs on MTB: double-kickass

long, slow, steep-ish climbs on a MTB when it's sort of technical: ASS

i may not "be" a climber, but i really like it.

all the MTB rides I did in montana (counted on one hand, sadly) involved up/out and down/back. the long ones (like, 10 miles out, 1500-2000+ ft, on a fire road), were fucking great for climbing. the shorter, more brutal ones (similar elevation gain, half the distance, singletrack) were gutbusters, but the downhill was spectacular.

I've always been (even when i was very slim) a bad climber. There's one really beautiful climb kind of near me that I do like doing. In a rainforest, and there's a waterfall at the top and a natural bridge over the other side. It's very gentle and about 8kms long.

Once or twice i grinded my way up it in the 53 chainring. No way I'd be able to do that now though ;_;

This is natch bridge
http://www.rochedalss.qld.edu.au/australiaday/photos/ph11.jpg

wow

x infinity

what about "changing uphill going slowly"

how do i shot thread titel changes

tell us

ask somebody who can edits posts

why cannot i edit posts i am admin

An interesting tool for those who climb teh hillz: http://toporoute.com/

I worked out last night that I need hands on the tops for climbing, either side-by-side on the straight section, or rotated either way on the corners. Actually I like the corner positions best for most riding. I could prob stand to lower my bars, though.

my commute home from work, courtesy of dan m's link:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2230/1638159993_08acf092aa_o.gif

That's rad! Here's my commute to work - no wonder I prefer coming home (NB it's all a fraud cos my route is so close to flat it's untrue).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/biondino/elevation.jpg

The only hills I like are basically the ones I can burst up in under 30 seconds. Anything more than that kills me. Putney Bridge (north to south) is my favourite as it's exactly the right length, has an inevitable downslope after the apex and there are always lots of other cyclists to overtake :)

PLZ ATTEND TO Y-AXIS PPL

This was my recent ride round Epping Forest. Essex isn't really the hilliest part of the country, but there's a climb up into the forest from Loughton that gets me gasping.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/cycle.jpg
(BTW - how do you save the image of the elevation graph? I had to resort to taking a photo of my screen in the end)

the battle of epping forest uphill

Press the Prnt Scrn button, then paste into an image manipulation prog (even MS Paint will do fine). Then resize the pic if necessary, save as a jpeg, and upload the saved pic to a photo hosting site (I use photobucket.com), then copy the url it gives you for the pic and paste it here with the img tags around it (see formatting help below).

The lap round Richmond Park. I do it on the cycle path whereas this is the road route - the cycle path is dustier, harder and about 3/4 of a mile longer - but you get the idea. The killer climb is the one just before 4 miles - I'll usually stop halfway up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/biondino/richmondparkelevation.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2233/1698684346_1892a2bad2.jpg?v=0

^^^ one of the last MTB rides I did in Montana (up part only)

(roughly...hard to find the trail on gmaps)

"killer climb" rofl. Think you need to try tackling a few bigger hills, Mark!

That climb looks like fun gbx. That height gain there is about twice the height of the biggest hill around here (SE England) - no surprise there I guess.

"killer climb" rofl

Yep, a climb of 20 metres shouldn't really have you getting off and walking. Thanks for 'print screen' tip, by the way - I'd never even noticed that button before.

That height gain there is about twice the height of the biggest hill around here (SE England)

Nick - are you in Sussex? When I lived round there (and was much fitter) I used to go up a nasty climb from Steyning up to the Downs. I think Ditchling Beacon was longer and went up higher, but wasn't as steep.

The worst I've been up for length was The Tumble in Wales, going up 400m or so in about 2.5 miles. For steepness, maybe Winnats Pass in the Peak District. These would just be considered bumps by Tour de France riders, though.

Oh, I know that Steyning climb pretty well - it's called the Bostal, good work out for the lungs that. It's used a fair bit in hill climb events I think.

The only riding I've ever done in the Black Mountains has been Hay-on-Wye to Abergavenny and back over the Gospel Pass. That's a cool road that is and one that I could totally bore people shitless about, in fact I might have even done that already in the other place - a couple of bizarre chapel's, some spooky ruins, stone circles, Lord Hereford's Knob.... weird, weird place. Cattle grids on the steep descent are a bit frigging scary though.

My route. Ah, the Thames Valley.

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5899/picture1tr4.png

That is my commute, by the way. Not very taxing.

The climb isn't a killer in any real sense but the way I ride the route I am *always* knackered by the time I get to it!

(A serious issue, too, is the path surface, which is basically rutted loose gravel which isn't too great for a road bike. And I didn't walk up it - I just rested halfway up :) But yeah, most of my inability is entirely being a big poof when it comes to hills)

this is probably irrational, but serious, fast road downhills seem way more terrifying to me than MTB downhills

TS: intact bone structure vs intact epidermis

i'd take flat surface over rutted trails anyday of the week. my kidneys would thank me for this decision as well.

Oh, I know that Steyning climb pretty well - it's called the Bostal, good work out for the lungs that. It's used a fair bit in hill climb events I think.

I was down in Sussex at the weekend and somehow dragged my heavy hybrid up that hill. First time I've ridden up it since about 1990. I actually thought I was going to have a heart attack. The right hand turn halfway up is particularly tricky - if there's any traffic you might as well just fall over and give up.