How to improve the hill climb speed

[wishes]

Heya, heres some history,
I was severly overweight 9 months back, now im down to 85kg (60kg gone). Ive been cycling for about 6 months.
Ive moved from mountain bike to road bike (though always riding on the road) and now have a fairly decent bike.

So i just completed a 90km race yesterday at 3 hours (30km/ph) which im very happy with. My average speed on the flat was 35-40km/ph, downhills up to 75km/ph, uphills an average speed of 12km/ph !
Some of the guys were commenting on this saying they could not keep up with me anywhere, but on the hills they just drove on past me as if i was stopped :/
How can i improve my hill climb speed other than practicing (which i do already) ?
I do weight lifting currently, i can leg press 400lb (which is pretty good for a chick ), my calves are good, everything else i can think of.

Any suggestions?

 

[mikesbytes]

Hi Wishes,

85kg !!!!! your on fire. Congratulations on your race.

Hill climbing is pretty much about power to weight ratio. So you need to lighten your weight, as you are doing and/or make your legs stronger.

Hill climbing is the best training for hill climbing, can you add some more in your routine? I'm don't know which suburb you are in, but adding a hill like riding to the top of Mt Eden or the like will do wonders for improving your ability to climb.

I'm also a weight lifter. I'd recommend that you transition yourself off the leg press machine over to doing squats. Don't suppose the gym you go to is just off Sandingham Rd, near Eden? Park.

 

[wishes]

Hill climbing is the best training for hill climbing, can you add some more in your routine? I'm don't know which suburb you are in, but adding a hill like riding to the top of Mt Eden or the like will do wonders for improving your ability to climb.

I'm also a weight lifter. I'd recommend that you transition yourself off the leg press machine over to doing squats. Don't suppose the gym you go to is just off Sandingham Rd, near Eden? Park.

Oh heya Mike (again... you forum ***** lol)

Yeah im still working on the weight loss - goes a bit slower though when you have less to loose :/
Im on the shore, i go to Glenfield leisure center and i have a personal trainer over newmarket area. I generally cycle from glenfield up old albany highway (up albany hill etc) to silverdale and then back down via east coast bays rd. its a nice 50km loop with about 3 really good hills. Though i plan to change my route to be going out greenheithe -> kumeu -> parakai -> dairy flat -> albany to make a 90km loop soon if i can.
I do squats as well as leg press, heck i do a bit of everything - and the personal trainer loves to push me (hes fascinated with a female who can lift such heavy weights .. its funny to watch his face).

 

[mikesbytes]

What about riding with a local racing club, especially as you are looking at doing 90k rides, which would bring you into racing club training ride territory.

Female muscle has the same strength as male muscle. Males are stronger because they have more muscle. Some overweight females have more leg muscle than other females and if they can maintain that extra muscle while the cut the fat, they and end up with a dam hot pair of legs, that can give the boys a real run for their money.

How far are you coming down in the squats? Full/AFT squat? Saftey squat?

 

[wishes]

What about riding with a local racing club, especially as you are looking at doing 90k rides, which would bring you into racing club training ride territory.

Dont know of many clubs, and to be honest i prefer to cycle on my own so i can go my own pace. Dont get me wrong i love to socialize, But theres nothing worse than wanting to push myself and having to go a slower speed.

Female muscle has the same strength as male muscle. Males are stronger because they have more muscle. Some overweight females have more leg muscle than other females and if they can maintain that extra muscle while the cut the fat, they and end up with a dam hot pair of legs, that can give the boys a real run for their money.

well thats good news for me *G*. I already knew that muscle is muscle though (male/female). Im just happy that i have an abundance!

How far are you coming down in the squats? Full/AFT squat? Saftey squat?

i usually go for the dumbell squat, and go down to just off the floor (as low as i can go).
I hate it, its nasty, but it sure gives a great workout :/
I have trouble with any exercise that involves putting weight on my shoulders because of the amount of weight i take, i end up with massive bruises and marks on the shoulders arms etc. I have to wear my cycling gloves.

 

[mikesbytes]

Dont know of many clubs, and to be honest i prefer to cycle on my own so i can go my own pace. Dont get me wrong i love to socialize, But theres nothing worse than wanting to push myself and having to go a slower speed.

well thats good news for me *G*. I already knew that muscle is muscle though (male/female). Im just happy that i have an abundance!

i usually go for the dumbell squat, and go down to just off the floor (as low as i can go).
I hate it, its nasty, but it sure gives a great workout :/
I have trouble with any exercise that involves putting weight on my shoulders because of the amount of weight i take, i end up with massive bruises and marks on the shoulders arms etc. I have to wear my cycling gloves.

Make sure its a proper racing club, not some social group. And if you want to work harder, go to the front and do the work.

Doesn't sound right with the bar. A common mistake is to place it on the upper fibers of the Trapezius muscle, where it is usally better placed towards the bottom of the middle fibres.

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusMiddle.html

 

[wishes]

Make sure its a proper racing club, not some social group. And if you want to work harder, go to the front and do the work.

Doesn't sound right with the bar. A common mistake is to place it on the upper fibers of the Trapezius muscle, where it is usally better placed towards the bottom of the middle fibres.

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/TrapeziusMiddle.html

Oh cheers, thats handy.
And nah my form is fine - my PT wont allow that to be poor (hes anal about it .. which is good).
Having looked about i suspect my problem is actually the cadence. I use more muscle and less spin, great on most places except hills.
My cadence sucks so im going to see if i can improve it. which gives me just the excuse i needed to buy myself a Garmin Edge 305 for mothers day *G*

 

[mikesbytes]

Garmin Edge 305 for mothers day *G*

Did you rob a bank ?

 

[wishes]

Did you rob a bank ?

Computer programmer/sys admin.... dont need to rob it - i run their servers and have root access mwahahaha *evil cackle*

But in all seriousness, ive been debating it for some time. I have a very basic computer on the bike now, and ive been debating getting one with cadence, but i also want a heart rate monitor.
I thought about other options, but this sounds geeky enough for me - and the bonus is that it works in linux

 

[mikesbytes]

I ride technology naked. Better aerodynamics. If I want to know how fast I'm going, I look at Sogoods speedo.

My work wouldn't trust me with the root password....

Why don't you ride to Phia and back, via the upper harbour bridge.

 

[peterlip]

My two cents: You can get cadance & HR in a speedo for MUCH cheaper than a Edge 305. Echowell has one for about a quarter of the price.
Having said that, the Edge 305 that I got last July, it the best gadget I've ever owned. It's brilliant.

 

[saintsfan342000]

As another poster stated, doing hills is the best way to train for hills and to get better. One way to increase the effectiveness though is to do so on a heavier roadbike. If you can, buy an old chromoly bike and practice on that (just make sure it has the same fit and geometry). If you can get used to climbing on that iron-horse, then it'll feel like you're floating up hills when you switch to your regular bike.

 

[wishes]

As another poster stated, doing hills is the best way to train for hills and to get better. One way to increase the effectiveness though is to do so on a heavier roadbike. If you can, buy an old chromoly bike and practice on that (just make sure it has the same fit and geometry). If you can get used to climbing on that iron-horse, then it'll feel like you're floating up hills when you switch to your regular bike.

Funny you should say that, i have an old cromolly bike sitting in the garage heheh ... its my old bike :O

And as for the cycle computer - most semi-serious riders spend about 2k upwards on a bike, so why not spend $600 more on a decent computer that has virtual riders to compete with and push you to your limits.
I want to make sure i get a good workout. I did look at both polar and echowell, im still tossing up. but for the price, garmin has the extra features and i will most definatly use them (being a computer geek and all)

 

[mikesbytes]

Can you rip the data out and put it in your own custom built database ?

 

[wishes]

Can you rip the data out and put it in your own custom built database ?

The data is just in xml format, so yeah easy peasy. im sure i can write something to parse it
besides, this dude here has written an automated way of doing it -> http://www.marengo-ltd.com/map/
also bikely.com lets you up load them as routes