Can Bigger Guys Climb?

Why do you place your hands close grip on top of the bars? seems awkward.
Seems to me by doing that your closing your chest and perhaps not getting enough air. when you climb you want to open your chest as much as you can.

Right now I am at 202 pounds, last summer I was at 215, summer before that 180. Anyway my favorite thing to do is climb. For some reason I have just always been pretty good at it. I am usually in the front 10% on our group rides during climbs. I actually went out this past weekend and put in my best time ever up one of our local climbs. Only thing I can contribute this to is spending 4 - 5 days a week in the gym lately and working a lot on my cardio.

Anyway, I am pretty good at climbing now but I am definately looking forward to next season and hopefully weighing 180. I figure I will be climbing much better then.

BTW, why were your hands close together on the bars. On climbs my hands are generally wide to allow my chest to expand easier when my heart is trying to pound it's way out of my chest.

I will by no means say I am an excellent cyclist...but I weight right around 200 pounds and I can hold my own on climbs. I'm a bit of a gym rat, so my 200 pounds isn't because I'm out of shape at all. I'm not the first person up the hill usually but when I'm on a group ride I always hold my own and finish about average, sometimes a little better than average. I know most people are going to say that the heavier you are the worse climber you are, I would probably halfway agree with them, but I tend to think you can be good at anything if you train for it. If you think you're a little heavy and it's hurting your climbing, start climbing more and then you'll make it up the hill faster.

Interesting thoughts. Yes, the close grip is a very new thing I started doing. Most people would find it very awkward and it's something I got into by accident - it just happened.
I stand right up out of the seat and clench my hands close-grip-style a few inches apart. I get in a low gear and then pedal very fast at high cadence - no big gears. I find it a great way to climb and very comfortable but there's a drawback: it's not very good for lengthy climbs and the position will feel uncomfortable if you stay in it too long. If that happens, I drop back into the shifter position for the rest of the climb. I usually always climb out of the seat and try to get into a smooth technique.
Actually I just got back from a long climb into the country and I arrived back home soaked in sweat. It was a terrific session today but, of course, the climb was more long than steep.
Who says winter training isn't fun to do.

But do you find you climb best on lower gradient hills? Myself, I feel my weight makes the very steep grades tougher. The body seems to create its own resistance. I'm really feeling the extra pounds I put on since summer when I get onto hills around 13 per cent. The less steep ascents aren't as tough and I'm better on them.

Steve P said:

I will by no means say I am an excellent cyclist...but I weight right around 200 pounds and I can hold my own on climbs. I'm a bit of a gym rat, so my 200 pounds isn't because I'm out of shape at all. I'm not the first person up the hill usually but when I'm on a group ride I always hold my own and finish about average, sometimes a little better than average. I know most people are going to say that the heavier you are the worse climber you are, I would probably halfway agree with them, but I tend to think you can be good at anything if you train for it. If you think you're a little heavy and it's hurting your climbing, start climbing more and then you'll make it up the hill faster.

This site has a good calculator that allows you to workout what power is required at a given speed/weight etc.. analyticcycling.comForcesPower Page.htmlOpen ↗

cheers

i'm 6'2" 185 lbs plus and i love climbing (even won a small club uphill TT this year), i usually keep my hands on the hoods so that i don't feel cramped and can breath easier....i think getting better at climbing is more a function of practice than size, so i try to work in the mountains at least twice a week.

cheers,

jb

Given your height, you're probably fairly lean. Miguel Indurain was also about your height and he could climb.

jbbobj said:

i'm 6'2" 185 lbs plus and i love climbing (even won a small club uphill TT this year), i usually keep my hands on the hoods so that i don't feel cramped and can breath easier....i think getting better at climbing is more a function of practice than size, so i try to work in the mountains at least twice a week.

cheers,

jb

Okay, here's what happened.
First of all you should use the gears to help you up the first portion of a steep climb. The gears are created for you to keep the same cadence (or your feet spinning the same speed) regardless of terrain. You instead opted to stay in the same gear and stand up. Once you stood up, your body had to work at 100 percent and you ran out of energy in what used to be known as a BONK. Once you bonk it is over. You must stop and rest or eat, regardless of weight.
Next time start the hill by shifting to an easier to pedal gear and try to keep your feet spinning at the same speed. While sitting, place you hands on the top bars and rock the bike a little. Concentrate on not allowing your breathing to get out of control. The object is to not let your pulse rate go out the roof. Once you near the top of the hill, shift to a harder to pedal gear and stand up. Rock the bike a little and place you hands on the hoods of you brakes! This gives you much needed leverage. Once you hit the crest of the hill you will be speeding up for a confortable downhill. Control the hill, dont let it control you.

There's a specific reason why I do virtually all of my climbing standing: my knees.
Last Summer I now realise some of the mistakes I made and why I had knee pain. Basically, I'd been climbing in too high a gear and spent too much time climbing while seated. In fact, I was riding like a bull in a china shop.
Of course, those of you who are younger and have good knees don't have to stand as much as I do. My problem is my knees were dodgy before I even started cycling so I have to take care not to repeat former mistakes.
So, now what I do is climb out of the seat at higher cadence in lower gears than I used to use. I also wrap my knees up for insulation but not too tight. And, above all, I'm very careful over gear changes since I feel it's the lurch during acceleration that can stress the knee.
I'm finding my knees are getting better now I made these changes. And I also read in a physio book that if you stand while you climb, it does place less stress on the knee joint.
Of course, I'm aware people such as Jan Ullrich climb while seated and I guess I'd do the same if my knees were in better shape.
I agree with you that there's a lot of skill in knowing how to use gears correctly.

Hooben said:

Okay, here's what happened.
First of all you should use the gears to help you up the first portion of a steep climb. The gears are created for you to keep the same cadence (or your feet spinning the same speed) regardless of terrain. You instead opted to stay in the same gear and stand up. Once you stood up, your body had to work at 100 percent and you ran out of energy in what used to be known as a BONK. Once you bonk it is over. You must stop and rest or eat, regardless of weight.
Next time start the hill by shifting to an easier to pedal gear and try to keep your feet spinning at the same speed. While sitting, place you hands on the top bars and rock the bike a little. Concentrate on not allowing your breathing to get out of control. The object is to not let your pulse rate go out the roof. Once you near the top of the hill, shift to a harder to pedal gear and stand up. Rock the bike a little and place you hands on the hoods of you brakes! This gives you much needed leverage. Once you hit the crest of the hill you will be speeding up for a confortable downhill. Control the hill, dont let it control you.

Carrera said:

There's a specific reason why I do virtually all of my climbing standing: my knees.

If that is the case you might seriously consider looking into the fit of your bike. Climbing while standing is helpful for accelerations or to give one muscle group a bit of a break while recruiting another, and it looks cool as hell when Lance does it, but the bottom line is that climbing seated is much more efficient.

Proper bike fit can make a huge difference in strain on one's knees, lower back, elbows etc. Also in how efficiently you transfer power to the pedals.

I recently had my bike professionally fitted for the first time after having reached what I thought was a pretty good position on my own and I cannot believe the differenc it has made. I was riding with my back hunched, my saddle low, and my bars too high as well as my seat being moved too far back. The effect of this was that rather than transmitting power directly down into the pedalling motion, I was pushing more forward and also rocking side to side a bit. Having an experienced racer/professional bike fitter with years of fitting experience pay attention to my riding habits and make small incremental adjustments and helpful suggestions was, for me, an invaluable experience. It had never occured to me, for instance, to pay attention to lifting my hip flexors and trying to bend at the waist and keep my back flat. That may sound obvious to some, but I always figured hey, I'm flexible so what's a little hunch? Wrong! I now feel about ten times as efficient on the bike and I am climbing at a speed and cadence that I was not previously able to achieve.

YMMV I suppose, but I can now add my name to the list of cyclists who swear by proper fit making all the difference.

One last suggestion is to make sure that the person doing your fitting should understand and have experience with the type of riding you want to be doing. There is a pretty well respected bike fitter that I know of who is a chiropractor and is thus pre-disposed to set people up on their bikes in very upright, comfortable position that may be the most healthy for the back I suppose, but will do little to enhance the efficiency and speed of a racer/fast recreational rider. A performance road bike, after all, should not fit like a hybrid.

Cheers,

NW

Neither of my bikes has been tailored. The first one I purchased second hand and, fortunately, the frame size seems about right. My second bike I bought new and feels like it was made to measure for me - a little better than my first bike for some reason.
But I agree with you that a made-to-measure bike will give a rider an edge. Eventually I'll probably do just that. I guess I need to get serious about my riding and the type of fit I can acquire.
To be honest with you, when I rode before I had wrist pain, severe back pain and my knees were killing. But the crux of my problem was incorrect cycling technique and poor riding position - too much time in the drops. I got rid of 90% of these problems.
What I would recommend older riders (only from my own experiences) is to listen to any physical pain you have and act on it. That's why I said I personally stand more than ride in the sitting position - my knees are a little dodgy after 20 years of squats. I find that standing has definitely taken pressure off my knee joints and tendons since I can hit the pedal from a height and use my hip weight more than my legs and knees.
It wasn't so much the sitting that made my knees ache as the sitting while using big cogs and thinking I was being clever to use such big gears. So, I'm aware many of you guys can sit and climb with nothing to worry about.
I forgot to add that another thing I do is control my climbing. Again, many of the younger riders can climb the cols every day and be fine but I simply daren't overdo it. I tend to intersperse my climbing with some flat days and, when I do climb, I lower my gearing and try to move from gear to gear without any lurch or pull.
Have you ever tried moving from standing to sitting at intervals? That works fine for me. One thing I definitely do is use smaller cogs when I climb and my cadence is quite high.
P.S. Check out this months Cycle Sport for a feature on climbing and the great climbers. There are loads of tips.

NRW77 said:

If that is the case you might seriously consider looking into the fit of your bike. Climbing while standing is helpful for accelerations or to give one muscle group a bit of a break while recruiting another, and it looks cool as hell when Lance does it, but the bottom line is that climbing seated is much more efficient.

Proper bike fit can make a huge difference in strain on one's knees, lower back, elbows etc. Also in how efficiently you transfer power to the pedals.

I recently had my bike professionally fitted for the first time after having reached what I thought was a pretty good position on my own and I cannot believe the differenc it has made. I was riding with my back hunched, my saddle low, and my bars too high as well as my seat being moved too far back. The effect of this was that rather than transmitting power directly down into the pedalling motion, I was pushing more forward and also rocking side to side a bit. Having an experienced racer/professional bike fitter with years of fitting experience pay attention to my riding habits and make small incremental adjustments and helpful suggestions was, for me, an invaluable experience. It had never occured to me, for instance, to pay attention to lifting my hip flexors and trying to bend at the waist and keep my back flat. That may sound obvious to some, but I always figured hey, I'm flexible so what's a little hunch? Wrong! I now feel about ten times as efficient on the bike and I am climbing at a speed and cadence that I was not previously able to achieve.

YMMV I suppose, but I can now add my name to the list of cyclists who swear by proper fit making all the difference.

One last suggestion is to make sure that the person doing your fitting should understand and have experience with the type of riding you want to be doing. There is a pretty well respected bike fitter that I know of who is a chiropractor and is thus pre-disposed to set people up on their bikes in very upright, comfortable position that may be the most healthy for the back I suppose, but will do little to enhance the efficiency and speed of a racer/fast recreational rider. A performance road bike, after all, should not fit like a hybrid.

Cheers,

NW

I am noticing weight not only makes climbing hard because of the extra effort it takes to haul it uphill but the amount of oxygen per pound of body weight you can take in is always lower than the skinny guys.

Carrera,

Do you wear a HRM? For me, this has been one of the big advantages of wearing one. I know when I'm getting close to "blowing up" and can ramp down just enough to say below that threshold while maintaining good forward progress. While my peak speeds might be lower, I think my average speeds are higher in such situations. If I get significantly above 90%+maxHR, and I've got quite aways to go, I'll try to back the effort down to around the 85% maxHR zone. As I've ridden more and more, with my HRM, I can pretty much tell where I'm working based on my breathing and speedodmeter.

Good luck!
Lonnie

Carrera said:

I had a bit of a shock yesterday when I went out on the bike and climbed a steep hill (steeper than my usual route). As I've been doing 12 hour shifts every night and sleeping by day (plus the bad weather hindering my riding), I've gained a bit of weight.
What happened is I approached the steep part and then stood up. I placed my hands close grip on the top bars and began to power my way uphill. By the time I was halfway up, I started breathing really hard and my speed dropped. All of a sudden I was floundering and it felt like I wasn't going to make it. By the time I got to the top, I winded up sprawled over the handlebars, soaked in sweat. I tried to pick up my speed again on the flat but found I was still breathing hard and sweating after 20 minutes - such was the shock of the climb. This was a climb I was flying up in Summer.
What happened?
Well, I really think it's my weight. As I put a little weight on, it seems to trouble me on the very steep climbs. I guess I now weigh about 187 pounds
and that's what leads me to my question:
I'm wondering whether my decline has more to do with my body weight than fitness. So, I'd like to know how many bigger guys on the forum can climb well and, especially, if there's anybody around 200 lbs who can climb O.K. It's possible my poor performance is down to lack of training (as opposed to weight) but I thought I'd raise the topic of climbing and weight regardless.
How many climber weight over 175 lbs?

Me! I'm not a climber but I like to ride uphill. This season I've been about 182-183lbs (aargh! I got scales that lied to me for two years! they showed me I'm 175-177!). Not so fast as skinny guys do but I can do it! And I'm faster on flats and especially on downhills with less effort 😄

p.s. I was shocked when I had read about your job... I have never thought it's possible in England. I thought it happened only in third-world countries such mine.

Carrera said:

I had a bit of a shock yesterday when I went out on the bike and climbed a steep hill (steeper than my usual route). As I've been doing 12 hour shifts every night and sleeping by day (plus the bad weather hindering my riding), I've gained a bit of weight.
What happened is I approached the steep part and then stood up. I placed my hands close grip on the top bars and began to power my way uphill. By the time I was halfway up, I started breathing really hard and my speed dropped. All of a sudden I was floundering and it felt like I wasn't going to make it. By the time I got to the top, I winded up sprawled over the handlebars, soaked in sweat. I tried to pick up my speed again on the flat but found I was still breathing hard and sweating after 20 minutes - such was the shock of the climb. This was a climb I was flying up in Summer.
What happened?
Well, I really think it's my weight. As I put a little weight on, it seems to trouble me on the very steep climbs. I guess I now weigh about 187 pounds
and that's what leads me to my question:
I'm wondering whether my decline has more to do with my body weight than fitness. So, I'd like to know how many bigger guys on the forum can climb well and, especially, if there's anybody around 200 lbs who can climb O.K. It's possible my poor performance is down to lack of training (as opposed to weight) but I thought I'd raise the topic of climbing and weight regardless.
How many climber weight over 175 lbs?

Hi Carrera,
From first glance I would say it is a combination of increased body weight *and* loss of fitness, although trying to figure out how much of either without testing would be a waste of time. Climbing is almost entirely an issue of power-to-weight ratio, so an unfavourable change in both of those metrics would have a very unfavourable impact on your ability to climb.
At the end of the day, for someone who weighs 200lbs to climb as fast as someone who weights 150lbs they would have to produce 33% more power.
As far as 'bonking' is concerned, it's possible but you don't give details of what your ride had consisted of previously. If you had ridden for less than 90 minutes or so I would say it was extremely unlikely, unless you've been on a low-carb diet or similar.
Finally, although it's true that standing climbing is less efficient than seated climbing at moderate gradients that probably isn't the issue. Technique is rather overated in cycling.

Lindsay.

I just got back from a climb today but had been a bit worried how it would go.
I did a corkscrew climb that was, at a guess, about 18 per cent. Had to stand all the way up and when I got to the very top my chest was inflating (although just under control). I simply had to stop for a couple of minutes before I could continue on the flatter section of the course. I was literally pouring wirh sweat, my eyes blinded with salt and hair soaked.
My usual climbing routine isn't as steep as what I did today so today came as a shock.
Anther very intense strategy is to do a lot of standing on less steep climbs, spinning like crazy and riding at increases speed. There's a real burn if you're out of the seat for some time.

biker-linz said:

Hi Carrera,
From first glance I would say it is a combination of increased body weight *and* loss of fitness, although trying to figure out how much of either without testing would be a waste of time. Climbing is almost entirely an issue of power-to-weight ratio, so an unfavourable change in both of those metrics would have a very unfavourable impact on your ability to climb.
At the end of the day, for someone who weighs 200lbs to climb as fast as someone who weights 150lbs they would have to produce 33% more power.
As far as 'bonking' is concerned, it's possible but you don't give details of what your ride had consisted of previously. If you had ridden for less than 90 minutes or so I would say it was extremely unlikely, unless you've been on a low-carb diet or similar.
Finally, although it's true that standing climbing is less efficient than seated climbing at moderate gradients that probably isn't the issue. Technique is rather overated in cycling.

Lindsay.

Carrera said:

I did a corkscrew climb that was, at a guess, about 18 per cent.

Wow! That's impressive. How long was the climb? How fast did you go up it?

I think the most difficult climb I've ever done (consider me a wimp) from a combination of grade and distance perspective was a 5 mile climb at 7% average grade. 18% seems unimaginable to me! I've done shorter climbs where localized grade shot up to 12%, but never that steep on average.

Then again, there are those who ride 26% grade:

chainreaction.comsonora pass.htmOpen ↗

🙂

Berend

squidwranglr said:

Wow! That's impressive. How long was the climb? How fast did you go up it?

I think the most difficult climb I've ever done (consider me a wimp) from a combination of grade and distance perspective was a 5 mile climb at 7% average grade. 18% seems unimaginable to me! I've done shorter climbs where localized grade shot up to 12%, but never that steep on average.

Then again, there are those who ride 26% grade:

chainreaction.comsonora pass.htmOpen ↗

🙂

Berend

You should come for a ride or coaching session around here then 😄. My house is on the top of a 1-km, 16% climb with two switchbacks in, always fun after a long ride :eek:

There's another way to my house, with a shorter steeper climb that i can barely walk up. It's also cobbled all the way. Attempted it three times, fallen three times :o i'll crack it one day!