Trevize1138
07-24-2004, 10:36 AM
In the past couple weeks I've found myself absolutely loving the long hill climb thrown into the middle of the dream trail. I wasn't sure why at first, but I recently deconstructed how it was happening. Basically, the key is this:
* Accelerate through the flat parts
That hill is a perfect study in how to fly up hills with significantly less effort. Typically, I see riders doing exactly the opposite of what I've just recommended above: they coast through the flat parts. Then, when the little steep uphills come up they struggle their way up.
I can almost guarantee you'll go up this hill twice as fast if you simply flip this order. This hill is made up of just the right length flats and hills to do it on, too. Get your bike in a good, upper-middle gear (I'm usually middle chainring and 3rd or 4th smallest sprocket) then stand up and pump on the flats. Continue this through the first 1/2 of the uphill, except sit down as soon as you start climing and, most importantly, relax because believe it or not this uphill part will be your brief rest before the next burst of speed.
Once you begin to round the top toward the next flat section, stand up a bit and start pumping hard again. Sit down when it goes up again ... repeat until the top.
If done right, you'll find yourself reaching for your brakes before you even think about shifting into larger rear sprockets :). And, once you've got this hill figured out, try this very same technique on the long climb in the intermediate loop just before the upper bypass that takes you to the entrance of the X loop. This hill has a very similar configuration of flats and rises.
Once you get these figured out, you'll realize that just about every hill climb is like this: flatter, then steeper, then flatter, then steeper.
Once you reverse your thinking from work on the steep, rest on the flats to work on the flats and rest on the steep, you'll be amazed at how much faster and easier you take those hills. You'll also realize how stupid and pointless tall knobbies are for a rear tire, but that's another thread :crazy: .
* Accelerate through the flat parts
That hill is a perfect study in how to fly up hills with significantly less effort. Typically, I see riders doing exactly the opposite of what I've just recommended above: they coast through the flat parts. Then, when the little steep uphills come up they struggle their way up.
I can almost guarantee you'll go up this hill twice as fast if you simply flip this order. This hill is made up of just the right length flats and hills to do it on, too. Get your bike in a good, upper-middle gear (I'm usually middle chainring and 3rd or 4th smallest sprocket) then stand up and pump on the flats. Continue this through the first 1/2 of the uphill, except sit down as soon as you start climing and, most importantly, relax because believe it or not this uphill part will be your brief rest before the next burst of speed.
Once you begin to round the top toward the next flat section, stand up a bit and start pumping hard again. Sit down when it goes up again ... repeat until the top.
If done right, you'll find yourself reaching for your brakes before you even think about shifting into larger rear sprockets :). And, once you've got this hill figured out, try this very same technique on the long climb in the intermediate loop just before the upper bypass that takes you to the entrance of the X loop. This hill has a very similar configuration of flats and rises.
Once you get these figured out, you'll realize that just about every hill climb is like this: flatter, then steeper, then flatter, then steeper.
Once you reverse your thinking from work on the steep, rest on the flats to work on the flats and rest on the steep, you'll be amazed at how much faster and easier you take those hills. You'll also realize how stupid and pointless tall knobbies are for a rear tire, but that's another thread :crazy: .