extremely steep hill climb

[Kenneth]

Today I made it up the first extremely steep hill that I've managed to climb with falling over, which I did several times last week.
After that experience I reconsidered how I had the bike set up and moved my handle bars so that my arms are almost straight. This was a great improvement and significantly increased my ability to apply force. On to conquering a longer one as this one was pretty short.

 

[DavidCH]

Longer hills you will need to pace yourself better with a power meter. IQ squared Kickstarter project looks ideal for us cruzbikers.

Cycling Power Meter at a Breakthrough Price, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1468298434/cycling-power-meter-at-a-breakthrough-price

 

[Kenneth]

Longer hills you will need to pace yourself better with a power meter. IQ squared Kickstarter project looks ideal for us cruzbikers.

Cycling Power Meter at a Breakthrough Price, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1468298434/cycling-power-meter-at-a-breakthrough-price

I have zero experience using power meters or of how they affect one's riding. I admit I've considered using one out of curiosity, just to see how much power I put out.

 

[RojoRacing]

Power meters are useless for 99.9% of us. Get used to your comfort zone is and what it feels like to ride a bit above it as well as the discomfort that comes with pushing your body. What you can learn from pushing you body and listening to what it tells you will take you 10 times further than messing with a gadget.

Remember a climb has very little difference from riding on the flat ground as long as you have the gears to hold your preferred cadence. The only real difference the speed at which you roll at a given effort.

 

[jond]

Power meters are useless for 99.9% of us. Get used to your comfort zone is and what it feels like to ride a bit above it as well as the discomfort that comes with pushing your body. What you can learn from pushing you body and listening to what it tells you will take you 10 times further than messing with a gadget.

Remember a climb has very little difference from riding on the flat ground as long as you have the gears to hold your preferred cadence. The only real difference the speed at which you roll at a given effort.

Drop me a donut.

99.9% can’t agree with that ........

Power meters are for mine the most useful meaningful metric of all inside or outside.
I don’t display outside anything else except power and heart rate. In conjunction with your experience and known capacities these two metrics alone can identify and avert many things.

Early dehydration. Excite ability and the opposite. Further they allow exact exertion
Irrespective of topography temperature humidity emotions or the lead group. And of course on a trainer they are pretty much necessary for a full and optimal training experience.

I totally agree with knowing your body as being most important.... but that can be an inexplicable moving feast with good and bad days. So it is personal fallible interpretation but when you are many klm in technology can tell you exactly what is going on.

So do you have to have a power meter . No way. In fact it can be liberating like riding totally free of any electronics occasionally.
But a power meter always truthfully tells all. That’s why 99.9% of cyclists have or want one.

 

[KiwiGuy]

Power meters are for mine the most useful meaningful metric of all inside or outside.
I don’t display outside anything else except power and heart rate. In conjunction with your experience and known capacities these two metrics alone can identify and avert many things. Irrespective of topography temperature humidity emotions or the lead group. And of course on a trainer they are pretty much necessary for a full and optimal training experience.

I completely agree jd

 

[Kenneth]

Saturday I rode up the steepest hill I normally rode on my DF. It's a 10% grade with some length compared to the really short hill of the other day.. I realized that I was trying to pedal too fast and that was causing most of the tire slip I was having. After slowing down my cadence to a more reasonable pace and increasing the gearing it wasn't that bad. Only milestone left is to be a able to ride hands free

 

[DavidCH]

A wider tire would grip better

 

[RojoRacing]

It's not a matter if pedaling too fast or slow it's a matter of pedaling smoothly and that can be hard to be at ether extreme of cadence or level a fatigue.

 

[jond]

Saturday I rode up the steepest hill I normally rode on my DF. It's a 10% grade with some length compared to the really short hill of the other day.. I realized that I was trying to pedal too fast and that was causing most of the tire slip I was having. After slowing down my cadence to a more reasonable pace and increasing the gearing it wasn't that bad. Only milestone left is to be a able to ride hands free

Riding hands free is something I don’t cant won’t do. I don’t think that milestone should be seen as such lol largely because I can’t do it. Oh no it has become a millstone around my neck. Like removing replacing bidons behind my head. Nyada.

In all seriousness having no hands riding is a good skill set to have and handy as a
Bidet when you’re out of dunny paper.

 

[paco1961]

Second Rojo’s comment on smooth cadence on climbs. If you are grinding too hard and at too low a cadence you run major risk of spin out and definitely don’t want to hit a stick, some gravel/sand or even a crack in the pavement. Too high a cadence and you end up wobbling all over the place. Moderate, even cadence will get you up an 18% -20% grade w reasonable gearing.

 

[bladderhead]

I also agree with Jason. It is too easy to push the seat or pull the bars and push forwards as the pedal points upwards. Natural thing to do. Concentrate on pushing down as your pedal points forwards.

 

[ElyDave]

my tuppence worth...

a power meter won't get you up a hill, matching your gears to your ability to maintain a steady comfortable cadence will. A power meter and HR monitor may help you understand the physiology behind your comfortable cadence/gearing adn may help you see how you are improving.

My most useful tool on a hill climb is the cadence sensor and gear shifters, knowing that less than about 80 starts to really stress the knees so is not sustainable, and more than about 95 induces comedy wobbles uphill (in my case into a bank of nettles ), that gives me my parameters. Get lower than 80 for any length of time and it may be a get off and walk situation, though I've not got there yet.

 

[RojoRacing]

That's the beauty of a DF bike, I can stand at 50rpm for 10 mins at a time to get up those extra steep grades. On the V20 anything above 70 is sustainable for long climbs.

 

[ElyDave]

Yes, for me if it drops much below 60 on a DF I'm struggling

 

[Charles.Plager]

Power meters are useless for 99.9% of us. Get used to your comfort zone is and what it feels like to ride a bit above it as well as the discomfort that comes with pushing your body. What you can learn from pushing you body and listening to what it tells you will take you 10 times further than messing with a gadget.

Remember a climb has very little difference from riding on the flat ground as long as you have the gears to hold your preferred cadence. The only real difference the speed at which you roll at a given effort.

This is why I like having very low gears. I don't get up hills quickly, but I generally get up them.

I find the exception to this is very steep hills where I find I need to sit up to move my weight over the front wheel to help with slippage. I can only do this for short hills, but I've made it up very steep hills.

 

[jond]

my tuppence worth...

a power meter won't get you up a hill, matching your gears to your ability to maintain a steady comfortable cadence will. A power meter and HR monitor may help you understand the physiology behind your comfortable cadence/gearing adn may help you see how you are improving.

My most useful tool on a hill climb is the cadence sensor and gear shifters, knowing that less than about 80 starts to really stress the knees so is not sustainable, and more than about 95 induces comedy wobbles uphill (in my case into a bank of nettles ), that gives me my parameters. Get lower than 80 for any length of time and it may be a get off and walk situation, though I've not got there yet.

No a power meter nor a cadence sensor or gadget will ever actually get you up a hill.
But will it help ? A resounding yes.

know what you can do or can’t and have that displayed in front of you .
you can then make informed decisions . Since power is not subjectively interpreted then it is the most useful metric. And can help you get up the twenty fifth hill later in the day through non subjective fatigue management.

For example. I’m excited we’ll rested and on a v I’ve just got to go go go .

I look down and see 260 270 280 watts climbing a steady 5-6% grade. Im an excited 40 klm into a 300 audax with 4000 m climbing. I know I need to back it off to 220 watts if I want to finish and ride similar again tomorrow.
No way can I feel the difference between 220 and 260 watts well rested till it’s too late. Thank you power meter.

You helped me climb those last hills.

Our platform is as described by rojo in terms of cadence and maintaining smoothness for climbing . And pinch points will always be tough. That’s extra weight and position and the only time a df has any possible advantage.

As stated if I’m going mountain climbing I’m reluctantly taking my disused 6.8 kg df wonder bike. But the earth really is flat so who needs a sore everything.

Matching your gears in the mountains is tough with the tooth gaps on 11 - 32/plus

Ultimately low speed stability and climbing strength up a steep climb is the deciding factor. Got to love cresting for that downhill....... oh no it was a false flat lol.

And last of all if I’m straining cahone bustin up a steep pinch close to failure cadence power heart rate style composure wheel slip don’t matter one jot. All there is the crest or unclipping in time.

 

[jond]

That's the beauty of a DF bike, I can stand at 50rpm for 10 mins at a time to get up those extra steep grades. On the V20 anything above 70 is sustainable for long climbs.

That’s pretty much the only beauty of a df. Lol. Totally agree on smooth climbing and cadence measure.

Dam hard to love a saddle anymore though even one you’ve loved and fashioned to your unique bits. Selle smp lite in my case.

Learn to love hills came the refrain. But I never quite managed to. Now I actively seek out flatter ish audax rides to float my boat on.

 

[bladderhead]

My power meter is my cardiovascular system. When the gradient keeps changing it is hard to keep a constant effort. Maybe I should move to Holland.

On my original Claud Butler, which thieves took from me, was a Brooks suede saddle. Very comfortable.

 

[CuHead]

Since you're talking steep hills, I've got to mention a switchback or two. Been riding my Silvio 1.0 from home to Fort Hunt park (on the Potomac river) a few times a week. On the Mt Vernon Bike Trail there's one switchback uphill that causes me some problems. It's a short uphill, I'm in lowest gear (30x28 I believe) and feel like I'm hanging on the bars as I go up, and usually feel a little tire slip (slick 25mm Continental Gatorskin tires). I've been riding through neighborhoods to get close to Fort Hunt, only the last half mile is on the bike trail. There are 2-3 more much longer uphills on the neighborhood roads. I use low gear on these, but no tire slip. For me, successful attainment through that one switchback is one of the highlights of this short ride.

I vaguely remember one serious switchback on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. Big gouges in the blacktop because of winter snowplowing. I can't remember the approximate mile location though.

Fwiw, in Fort Hunt there is a large canon mount installation right near the entrance (no canons anymore). I once saw a red fox relaxing on the highest point of the old canon mount. It appeared to be enjoying the shade while watching the people go by.