Most of my cycling is just for exercise and I ride the same one or two fairly flat routes before work in the mornings. On the weekend I did a much longer ride than normal which put a few hills into my ride. I noticed that if i stayed on the seat I naturally had to gear down a lot to cope with the incline while sliding back in the saddle and pushing harder. I tried standing a couple of times but found the gearing too low, pedals turning too fast. Is it the 'normal' thing to either gear down a notch and stay seated, or alternatively gear up a notch and get off the seat? My legs soon ached if I tried standing for too long but i think maybe that's just because I'm not used to hills and don't have any practice at it at all. Do all you hill climbers 'gear up' and then stand up??
Originally posted by Peter S Forgive this novice question ;o)
Most of my cycling is just for exercise and I ride the same one or two fairly flat routes before work in the mornings. On the weekend I did a much longer ride than normal which put a few hills into my ride. I noticed that if i stayed on the seat I naturally had to gear down a lot to cope with the incline while sliding back in the saddle and pushing harder. I tried standing a couple of times but found the gearing too low, pedals turning too fast. Is it the 'normal' thing to either gear down a notch and stay seated, or alternatively gear up a notch and get off the seat? My legs soon ached if I tried standing for too long but i think maybe that's just because I'm not used to hills and don't have any practice at it at all. Do all you hill climbers 'gear up' and then stand up??
I'm no hill climber, but from what I've read there are lots of different studies that have been done on the best way to approach this. You can go for the Lance Armstrong approach and go for a high candence (rpm) climb, or the Jan Ullrich approach where you stay in a bigger gear and grind your way to the top. Standing out of your seat increases the power to the pedals, but requires more energy, so you won't be able to do that for long.
I usually try to maintain a constant cadence up the hill to reduce fatigue, so this involves changing gears. I also lean back a little and some say you should pull slightly on your handlebars. Practice will definately help you maintain bigger gears up the hill. You can also "pull" yourself up if you use clipless pedals which utilises different muscle groups.
