HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CLIMBING PERFORMANCE ON BIKE/ RIDE STEEP UPHILLS WITHOUT GETTING TIRED - AN ULTIMATE BEGINNERS GUIDE(2021)
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CLIMBING PERFORMANCE ON A BIKE
Climbs are always seen as an enemy for cycling as it ruins your joy into a nightmare instantly.
And almost every beginner hates it to the maximum. It's just like having your exams right after a vacation.
If you ask any beginner, which is the most boring and hardest part of a ride, the majority of answers would be, riding uphill.
Is it the same case with you?
if yes, don't worry. You have come to the right place.
I have got a bunch of amazing tips and methods especially for you, which will increase your uphill cycling performance and climbs would be no more boring and hard for you.
We will cover all your quires about cycling uphill and discuss some of the easiest and effective solutions for it.
By the end of this blog, you will learn about,
- How to fuel up yourself properly on climbs.
- How to approach any climb in the correct way
- Know which gear to choose for a climb.
- How to pace a climb.
- when to ride in and out of your saddle.
- Ideal saddle height for riding uphill.
- correct tire pressure to climb faster.
- How to control your breathing on climbs
- Best ways for cornering on climbs
And many more exclusive extra tips and methods.
So stay tuned with us for the next few minutes to explore the secret of riding steep uphills faster, and make steep climbs into cakewalks, and fall in love with uphill cycling.
Let's begin the process of improving your climbing performance and conquer the hills.
so here it is:
The first golden tip to improve your uphill cycling is
Fuel up during the climb
Having the right supplementary can bring a very big change in performance. Trust me.
climbing on your bike is really demanding for your body as you lose a large amount of energy before even you realize it, especially on longer hilly rides.
No matter how powerful you become, you will most likely give up and get exhausted during the climb, if you don't know how to fuel yourself properly.
To make it more practical, try to imagine your toughest ride in which you went totally down and almost felt like you're in hell.
I'm sure you're sweating just by thinking about it.
An exhausted ride feels as if you're broken from inside and blown out and somehow you're not able to get that power to your legs.
And the most common reason is lack of nutrition and hydration.
Many riders don't remember or don't care to fuel up themselves or get hydrated at regular intervals during their ride until a coffee shop is on their stop.
And consequences include tiredness, discomfort, fatigue, and sometimes a sudden faintness on the move which could be really dangerous.
So to bring the maximum out of you make sure you take the right nutrition during climbing.
While you're on the climb try to carry an energy bar or a pair of bananas or anything rich in carbohydrates and have them at regular intervals so that you don't run out of energy.
your pre-ride food must be done before 1 to 2 from the ride.
just make sure you're not overdoing it and making yourself so full that you can't even move.
If you're curious, I have got a piece of detailed information on the right nutrition you should get during an uphill ride. Do check out what to eat and drink during a steep uphill ride
Having the correct nutrition and hydration is the best and easiest way to increase your climbing performance on your bike.
DO NOT RUSH AT THE BOTTOM OF A CLIMB
The way you start determines how you will finish.
We all do the most common mistake, which is to rush at the beginning of a climb by hoping we will finish it faster.
Rushing at the bottom of a climb may be pleasing for some time as you will be ahead of your fellow riders but this may not be the same case at top of the climb.
Riding uphill is not an easy task.
And by pushing yourself harder at the beginning of the climb you would lose all the precious power that is required for the entire climb just in a few seconds
And once you have lost all the precious power, it would be very difficult and painful for you to sustain the climb.
It would be even more painful when you see your co-rider is enjoying his victory at the top of the climb whereas you're struggling to finish it
And that's why I recommend you to pace the climb instead of rushing it which we will be discussing very shortly. So stay tuned with us.
climbs should be handled wisely, you are given only a fixed amount of energy and your climbing performance depends on how efficiently you use your energy throughout the climb.
Riding slowly at the beginning of the climb will give you enough room to counter the steeper sections of the climb.
The one who uses his energy effectively reaches the top first.
This technique is often followed by the pro climbers.
So, the next time when you see a steep climb, try to ride slowly at the beginning and gradually increase your pace according to the climb which will make you quicker and more efficient.
The next secret tip is:
CHOOSE THE RIGHT GEAR
Your gear selection will decide how difficult the climb would be.
Gears are present to ease your pedaling effort while riding, but if used in the wrong way, they can do the opposite of that
So it is important to know about gear selection and how to shift gears correctly for riding any climb
But there is always a question in a beginner's mind, Which gear should I choose for climbing and how would I know it?
Gear selection varies according to climb. So the best way is to fine-tune your gears according to your comfort while riding any uphill.
The ultimate goal is to maintain a healthy gear ratio that will make your climbing easy and avoid injuries by reducing unnecessary strain in your muscle and knees
In case, If you're wondering whats gear ratio is,
It's simply known as the no of rotations that a wheel would make in one full pedal stroke.
Our aim is to get a gear ratio where the rotation of the wheel is at the maximum in one full pedal stroke for easy and fast climbing.
So, here is how you should fine-tune your gears and find that ideal gear ratio for any climb.
Always lower your gears on both shifters while you're approaching a climb and ride for few seconds.
use your largest cog in the cassette with the smallest chainring for riding uphill.
Once you do this, you will notice is that pedaling is much smoother and easy.
But if you feel the pedaling is very smooth on the lowest gear, you can shift up your gears until your pedaling becomes moderately tuff.
But make sure you shift up gears gradually.
Don't shift to the highest gear at once, as it would quickly become super hard and you could drop off from the climb in no time.
Here are some secret tips that no one will tell you while riding uphill.
Avoid cross chaining while riding climbs. And always lower your gear before approaching the climb and avoid shifting your gears at the steeper sections of the climb
As you would be already exerting a large amount of force on the pedals during a climb. And in such conditions changing gears can cause damage to your entire drive train.
Now in case you want to lower your gears in a steeper section of the climb for some reason, you can accelerate for few seconds and lower your gears while decelerating.
As you would be exerting less force while decelerating the shifting becomes much smoother
Once you have known how to choose the right gear for climbs the next thing you want to know is how to use it properly which can be only done by,
PACING
Finding the correct pace for a climb is an achievement in itself, especially for longer hilly rides.
climbs are not tuff just because of the inclination, there are so many factors that come into play like the terrain, wind direction, etc...
And the ultimate solution for all these issues is, pacing. As pacing can be a boon if understood correctly.
let's see how you can find an optimal pace for any long climb
An optimal pace can be achieved only by analyzing the climb properly.
While you're approaching the climb don't pedal blindly. Instead, start judging the climb.
You may be familiar with the famous quote " don't judge a book by its cover", but sometimes being judgemental can be a wiser option.
Judging a climb from start will give you a clear vision of, how tuff exactly it's going to be for you to ride the climb.
it's just like knowing the difficulty of a boss fight in a game before you play.
While you're at the beginning of the climb slowly increase your pace and ride for few meters
Now aim at any object like a tree or a signboard in front of you, and ride at a comfortable pace towards the object that you saw.
While you ride towards the targeted object parallelly try to examine the difficulty level of the climb
whether it's difficult, medium, or damn easy. Based on your results you can change the pace gradually after you reach your target.
If the beginning section was easy, increase your pace by a bit, aim at the next object, and examine yourself with the climb until you reach your target.
If it was difficult this time, you can decrease your pace.
Repeat this process and keep tuning your pace until you feel the difficulty level is no more increasing.
And once you have reached that level, you have found your optimal pace which you can maintain throughout the climb.
Increase your pace by small increments as it will allow reaching the sweet spot very easily
In or out of the saddle
The in or out of the saddle is a never-ending debate just like the chicken or egg dilemma.
Many riders prefer to go out of the saddle while climbing and some decide to stay in the saddle.
But which one is better for you?
To understand this, let us see the exact difference between them, giving you a clear vision of which one is right for you?
Staying seated will help you conserve energy and not blow out completely, but your speed will be considerably less.
Going out of the saddle will give you a good thrust and help you climb fast but only for short periods.
Each one has its own pros and cons and it really depends on how effectively you switch between them according to the climb.
I always recommend being seated on the saddle and only go out of the saddle whenever there is a chance,.
As some parts of the climb might not be as difficult as you think and going out of the saddle would waste your precious energy.
In short, try to be seated while climbing and only go out of the saddle on flat or easier sections of the climb.
Talking about in and out of the saddle, your saddle height is also important while climbing.
A wrong saddle height will not allow you to efficiently put down your precious power to the pedals and cause muscle fatigue and knee pain.
so let's see how can you correct it easily
Saddle height for riding uphill
As discussed Your saddle is one of the crucial parts as it decides your efficiency while climbing. and having the right saddle height can bring some impressive changes which you never expected.
When you're slow or struggling at climbs they may be so many hidden factors that are slowing you while climbing and not allowing you to maximize your efficiency.
And one such factor that may be slowing you down is yours,
The power you put down to the pedals is largely controlled by the position of your saddle and a wrong saddle height can not only decrease your performance but also causes injuries to your muscles and knee.
knee pain is one such problem that I hear for ages. it's like hammering under your knee each time you pedal.
And in uphill cycling, the generated power is more compare to normal riding so we have to ensure that all the power you produce is transferred to the pedals efficiently.
so here is how you can maximize your performance by altering your saddle height.
Get on your bike with all the riding gears and pedal backward and place only your heel at the bottom of the pedal stroke and observe the position of your leg.
Your legs should be almost straight with your knees slightly bent.
if you find that your leg is bent too much you are having a low saddle height and pedaling in such conditions will not allow your leg to extend fully making power loss with your pedals
And it will also cause unnecessary compression in your knees causing knee pain and can damage your ligaments especially while climbing hills
If you find your leg barely touching the pedals, lower your saddle height to minimize excess use of muscles.
Maintain correct tire pressure for easy climbing
The right tire pressure will help you bring the maximum out of you and put some serious improvement in your climbing speed without any extra effort.
And in uphill cycling, your max energy is spent for countering the rolling resistance and gravity, and minimizing it with the right tire pressure will surely give you a great edge for easier climbing
So having high tire pressure will reduce rolling resistance and will help you climb faster right?
Well, that's a big NO from my side instead it can make the situation worse. And I have seen many riders doing it by thinking adding more pressure will make you climb faster.
High tire pressure will reduce the rolling resistance and you may think it's the right solution but what matters really is the area of contact while riding uphill.
And this is the most common mistake that we all do, maintaining a high tire pressure hoping to roll faster and reduce drag but what it actually does is reduces the area of contact between the road and the tire.
Maintaining a maximum grip with the road will avoid wheelspin especially while climbing out of the saddle.
Wheelspin is most common while riding in loose gravel, where the wheel often loses the grip, making you slow and inefficient and the same situation occurs on wet roads.
the same case often with climbs where wheelspin can take your speed like a salary from taxes.
So having a high tire pressure can reduce rolling resistance but can also reduce the area of contact between the tire and road which is the most important thing to be noted
If you're concerned more about knowing tire pressure and really want to squeeze the max out of it here is a detailed post especially for you on how to set the correct tire pressure for your bike
the next thing which you should see is
Monitor Your Breathing
Climbs are known to make you out of breath and feel like hell and your body runs out of oxygen instantly before you even realize it.
so it is important to have good supervision of your breathing.
Many riders naturally concentrate on inhaling more amount of oxygen when they climb which itself takes a lot of precious energy but the level of oxygen that you get at last is usually not sufficient and you remain exhausted throughout the ride.
But doing vice versa can give you greater results!
That's why I recommend you to concentrate on exhaling than inhaling.
Exhaling more will automatically help you inhale more oxygen without spending any extra energy that can be supplied to your body without any shortage.
why don't you give it a try now?
Exhale as much as you can and see how you grab oxygen to the fullest very easily.
Feeling the difference? this simple trick works like charm every time and increases the amount of oxygen to a great extent when you go out of breath.
so next time when you're on the bike and feel that you're going to run out of breath, try this trick it will make you very efficient and comfortable when riding uphills.
Bonus tip: if you're on a road bike try to use the hoods instead of drops of your handlebar as being on the hoods will help your chest to expand more so that you can get even more oxygen just by changing your position.
lose as much weight as you can
The lesser the weight, the faster you climb.
Reducing weight by removing unwanted parts from your bike like your mudguards, tool kit, the pump can make pedaling easier especially at long hilly rides.
Besides, there are two other extra ways to reduce weight.
The expensive way,
If you are an expert in hiding bills from your spouse, you could go for an expensive aero bike that would definitely feel like flying on climbs and increase your performance.
The harder way,
Reducing your own weight can also boost climbing performance and can make pedaling easier. If you're too fat I would recommend you to lose some amount of weight before you start practicing climbs for an easy start.
Cornering while uphill
Corners can bring a big smile to your face as it's one of the most interesting and thrilling parts of the ride, especially at high speeds, isn't it?
But at the same time, corners can turn into a very different animal, at the climbs.
As every corner on a climb tends to add extra steepness to your ride and it would be very difficult to ride when there are too many corners on a climb.
So we shall see how to encounter a corner when climbing.
When approaching a corner on a climb, our ultimate goal is to avoid the steeper sections of the corner. which can be solved by entering the corner as wide as possible
Now, this is how a typical corner looks like on a climb.
I have two imaginary lines running throughout the corner, which shows two possible ways to approach a corner.
If we follow the red line, it would be difficult to pedal as the path adds extra unnecessary steepness which could be avoided by following the blue line as it has less amount of steepness compared to the red line.
So always approach a corner as wide as possible to save your energy for the rest of the climb.
Keep your legs spinning
Sometimes, You don't have to ram the pedals to sustain the climb
Instead just keeping your legs spinning can easily maintain your momentum throughout the climb Even if you're not pedaling hard.
With your, every pedal stroke in a climb gravity pulls you stronger and stronger.
And it is extremely important to keep your pedals spinning by not giving gravity a chance to slow down you.
Once you stop spinning you will instantly lose all the momentum that you build up.
And also it would be difficult to catch up with the lost momentum again, you have to spend extra energy to be back at your pace.
This is the most common mistake that I see from beginners.
They would be going at a good pace, but they eventually slow down and stop due to the pain or going out of breath.
But even after they recover from their fatigue it will be difficult for them to catch up with their lost momentum.
So it's extremely important to keep your legs spinning till the end of the climb for faster and easy climbing.
Don't be a moron at the flats
Getting a flat section on a tuff climb is like getting water in a burning hot desert.
But do remember that you still have a long journey ahead so instead of drinking all the water at once, drink some amount of it and save the rest for your upcoming journey.
Many riders often do this mistake by thinking, flats are the only spots where they can take advantage of a climb to come first place.
But in reality, all they do is the preparation to come last.
As discussed before, only wiser actions can make you climb faster. So use flats as an opportunity to restore your energy to fight the upcoming climbs instead of pushing harder.
Secret tip:
Many riders climb repetitively to improve their performance which is fine, but I have a better option than that.
when it comes to improving climbing performance, many riders focus only on the steepest climbs nearby and start their training on them and completely ignore flat roads.
But we will avoid that mistake here.
When you're targeting the big climbs to increase your climbing speed, have a small look at the flat roads too.
Riding at flatter sections can train your legs to spin fast for a long duration and when riding a long climb you can pedal for a longer time without getting tired.
As keeping your legs spinning for a long time is no joke, it requires some special amount of training,.which could be done by riding flat roads.
In addition, I have got some extra mind-blowing advantages of riding flat sections, do check out for more information How riding flat terrains can help me ride uphill faster.
The next tip is super important to you, which is,
Know your limits
Sometimes, over-motivation can be dangerous as it blurs our limitations.
We are all unique which means we have got our own physical limits.
And our physical limits can be only be stretched by proper and consistent training, which grows organically and takes its own time.
So, If you're feeling exhausted and fully out of energy, I would advise you to stop and slowly push yourself forward day after day instead of going all red at once, which could be really dangerous.
If you're pushing yourself beyond your limits, you could develop severe muscle tears or a sudden faintness which could be really dangerous.
I always recommend you have a heart rate monitor to monitor yourself easily and avoid going into the red zone and train safely.
The next game-changer tip is,
Climbs are all about psychology
No matter how strong you become on the bike, your mental strength decides how actually you perform in the real world and always plays the behind the scene role.
Many think that climbs only test your physical strength, but in reality, your mental strength is being squeezed out.
Here are three easy proven tips that can boost your mental strength while riding uphill:
Don't rush on the first day
Never max yourself on the first day as you're most likely to fail. which causes less confidence and demotivation and eventually quit by saying, I think it's not for me.
And the chapter gets ended permanently despite having potential.
But if you start with shorter and easy climbs, you're confidence starts increasing and after each progress, your motivation to climb will pull you towards success, and you will improve yourself by saying, Man, I am getting really good at this!
Have a good playlist
A good goosebumpy song on your playlist is like having nitrous on a car.
Good music can increase the amount of adrenaline and can provide extra motivation when climbing.
I personally have a collection of workout music which really gives me extra energy and motivates me to complete my ride.at tuff times. And I strongly recommend you to have the same.
Read some motivational cycling Quotes
Before you leave for a ride, have a look at some motivational cycling quotes which can prepare you to give the fullest for any ride.
These quotes touch you so deep that you develop a high eagerness to ride more and more the moment you read them.
So have look at them. here are some which I personally like top cycling motivational quotes which makes you go harder
Last but not least,
Research the climb
Having a good knowledge about your climb can really give you an edge to perform better.
When you plan for a long hilly ride, I always recommend you to have proper knowledge about that climb.
It will give you a clear idea of how tuff it's going to be for you and you can plan your ride according to it.
Ask the riders who have been there and try to get their experiences and ask them, how is the weather there always, is it a windy area, how tuff it was for them, how did they manage to ride there.
Once you get answers to these questions, you will be well set to go for the ride and can easily ride your climb.
Bonus tip: If you're planning for the KOM challenge for a climb on strava, it's recommended to research the climb and to see for a tailwind and good weathered day
It will make things easier.
So these were the amazing tips that will make uphill cycling easier and boost your climbing performance.
See you guys in our next article.
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