Riding rolling hills

Badger_South said:

I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.

I normally train on a basically flat course with some
gentle hills, but I try to ride as hard and as long as I
can given my injury, age and short time back into cycling.

Surprisingly, although there was some heavy breathing (I
-think- it was me), I coped very well, and had no
burning thighs, and systemically, I felt totally fine
after reaching each crest; IOW, breathing rapidly
returned to normal.

I rode just 10 miles but I don't feel any more winded than
a fast flat ride of 15 - 20 miles.

Guess we'll see this pm when I go out again. Pretty good
feeling though, b/c at 225lbs and age 53, I've been
dreading the hills, and it wasn't that bad. Good to have a
Trek under me, though. (Thx, Mike
J.)

-Badger

Wait 'till you do a group ride on the same hills and those
60-70 y/o starts hammering away.

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.

Hills are much better training that flats, and generally
more scenic as well. On short hills try not to shift down
(too much) and keep your cadence up to sail over the hills.
If you shift down a lot, you slow down a lot and people who
put in a little extra effort will be way in front of you by
the time you get to the top.

Badger_South said:

I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.

Well there's the "18-wheeler option" to riding a bike over
rolling hills.

Get yourself a good heavy bike, like a touring bike with
"lots of stuff" in the panniers or bolted to the bike. You
could also go with a tandem if you've got a copilot.

Of course the mass helps you go down the hills nice and
quick and aids in maintaining your speed on the flats. It
will also keep you going up the next hill as all those
fellows on their lightweigh Al and Ti bikes start to fall
off in speed.

I experienced this during my first RAGBRAI back in '99. I
did really quite well to the point of getting pace lines
attached to me as I progressed across that very rolling,
hilly state.

Well, they stayed attached until the rolling hills countered
the laws of physics. If the hill is long, or very steep,
your momentum bleeds off, and then there's hell to pay in
maintaining speed.

There's just no getting around it. Sometimes life is cruel.

SMH

On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 16:28:09 GMT, "Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Badger_South said:

I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.

I normally train on a basically flat course with some
gentle hills, but I try to ride as hard and as long as I
can given my injury, age and short time back into
cycling.

Surprisingly, although there was some heavy breathing (I
-think- it was me), I coped very well, and had no burning
thighs, and systemically, I felt totally fine after
reaching each crest; IOW, breathing rapidly returned to
normal.

I rode just 10 miles but I don't feel any more winded
than a fast flat ride of 15 - 20 miles.

Guess we'll see this pm when I go out again. Pretty good
feeling though, b/c at 225lbs and age 53, I've been
dreading the hills, and it wasn't that bad. Good to have
a Trek under me, though. (Thx, Mike
J.)

-Badger

Wait 'till you do a group ride on the same hills and those
60-70 y/o starts hammering away.

Yeah, you mean the ones rehabbing from their THRs? I'm
cringing thinking about it, but I know they're out
there, heh.

-Badger

On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 13:35:56 -0400, Stephen Harding <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Badger_South said:

I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.

Well there's the "18-wheeler option" to riding a bike over
rolling hills.

Get yourself a good heavy bike, like a touring bike with
"lots of stuff" in the panniers or bolted to the bike. You
could also go with a tandem if you've got a copilot.

Of course the mass helps you go down the hills nice and
quick and aids in maintaining your speed on the flats. It
will also keep you going up the next hill as all those
fellows on their lightweigh Al and Ti bikes start to fall
off in speed.

Yeah, yeah. I'll get my cousin at PERN to make me some super-
heavy isotopes for them panniers...

-Badger

Badger_South said:

Per Elmsäter said:

Badger_South said:

I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.

I normally train on a basically flat course with some
gentle hills, but I try to ride as hard and as long as I
can given my injury, age and short time back into
cycling.

Surprisingly, although there was some heavy breathing (I
-think- it was me), I coped very well, and had no
burning thighs, and systemically, I felt totally fine
after reaching each crest; IOW, breathing rapidly
returned to normal.

I rode just 10 miles but I don't feel any more winded
than a fast flat ride of 15 - 20 miles.

Guess we'll see this pm when I go out again. Pretty good
feeling though, b/c at 225lbs and age 53, I've been
dreading the hills, and it wasn't that bad. Good to have
a Trek under me, though. (Thx, Mike
J.)

-Badger

Wait 'till you do a group ride on the same hills and
those 60-70 y/o starts hammering away.

Yeah, you mean the ones rehabbing from their THRs? I'm
cringing thinking about it, but I know they're out
there, heh.

-Badger

I don't know what THR is but I wasn't really joking. I
constantly get dropped by people 5 -15 years older than me
on our clubrides and I'm not a slow rider. I can get them
on the final sprint if I'm still in the pack. We have this
one dude that'll turn 69 this year. He does a 30 km TT in
47 minutes.

It is actually one of the things that make me happy.
Thinking that maybe, maybe I'll be that healthy when I turn
70.

--
Perre
"Me , yep I'm 53 like you"

On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 19:01:19 GMT, "Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yeah, you mean the ones rehabbing from their THRs? I'm
cringing thinking about it, but I know they're out
there, heh.

-Badger

I don't know what THR is but I wasn't really joking. I
constantly get dropped by people 5 -15 years older than me
on our clubrides and I'm not a slow rider. I can get them
on the final sprint if I'm still in the pack. We have this
one dude that'll turn 69 this year. He does a 30 km TT in
47 minutes.

(sound of jaw dropping) *kerplop* Whoa. Didja check him for
hollow bones, or a hidden jet pack? ;-p

Quoted message said:

It is actually one of the things that make me happy.
Thinking that maybe, maybe I'll be that healthy when
I turn 70.

Hell, I'd settle for that kind of ability at 60. Settle.
Sheyeah. As if.

Quoted message said:

--
Perre "Me , yep I'm 53 like you"

Oh, THR = Total Hip Replacement. (TKR=Total Knee)

-B

Stephen Harding wrote:
:: Badger_South wrote:
::
::: I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
::: rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.
::
:: Well there's the "18-wheeler option" to riding a bike
:: over rolling hills.
::
:: Get yourself a good heavy bike, like a touring bike with
:: "lots of stuff" in the panniers or bolted to the bike.
:: You could also go with a tandem if you've got a copilot.

Or you can just weigh in at 240 lbs! Same difference 🙂

::
:: Of course the mass helps you go down the hills nice and
:: quick and aids in maintaining your speed on the flats. It
:: will also keep you going up the next hill as all those
:: fellows on their lightweigh Al and Ti bikes start to fall
:: off in speed.

Yeah!

::
:: I experienced this during my first RAGBRAI back in '99. I
:: did really quite well to the point of getting pace lines
:: attached to me as I progressed across that very rolling,
:: hilly state.
::
:: Well, they stayed attached until the rolling hills
:: countered the laws of physics. If the hill is long, or
:: very steep, your momentum bleeds off, and then there's
:: hell to pay in maintaining speed.

Yep...and you get dropped by someone who weighs 60 lbs less.

::
:: There's just no getting around it. Sometimes life
:: is cruel.

Yep...I leave my ego at home on the couch.

Back in '92 I was driving from Calgary to Vancouver and
before a certain Roger's Pass there is a long long mountain
climb. Half way up this long hill I passed a cyclist
obviously geared for cross-country who seemed to be about 75
years old. He was casually but steadfastly climbing that
hill without any outwards signs of trouble.

John Allen said:

Back in '92 I was driving from Calgary to Vancouver and
before a certain Roger's Pass there is a long long
mountain climb. Half way up this long hill I passed a
cyclist obviously geared for cross-country who seemed to
be about 75 years old. He was casually but steadfastly
climbing that hill without any outwards signs of trouble.

back in summer '02 as i was cycling down the oregon coast
and up a rather nice extended climb a gentlemen in his mid-
70s on a fixed gear bike and a carradice bag rather merrily
passed me, said good afternoon and with a big grin offered
me his wheel. i took it and accompanied him to the top.

i hope to return the favour to some poor thirtysomething
when i'm in my 70s.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

Badger_South said:

I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots of
rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

I rode just 10 miles but I don't feel any more winded than
a fast flat ride of 15 - 20 miles.

Good going, Badger. Rollers are great training, you can
think of them as forced intervals. Go hard on the climb,
recover on the backside. The nice thing about intervals is
you can get in more training without getting wiped out, so
you can recover more quickly.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA bike.terrymorse.combike.terrymorse.comOpen ↗

John Allen said:

Back in '92 I was driving from Calgary to Vancouver and
before a certain Roger's Pass there is a long long
mountain climb. Half way up this long hill I passed a
cyclist obviously geared for cross-country who seemed to
be about 75 years old. He was casually but steadfastly
climbing that hill without any outwards signs of trouble.

We have a 70-year-old in our club who rides a tourer with
toe clips, fenders, large Carradice bag. He wears sneakers.
He can climb Old La Honda (3.3 miles, 7.5%) in 22 minutes.
Sometimes, he clamps onto my wheel on a climb and won't let
go. Boy, that's embarassing.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA bike.terrymorse.combike.terrymorse.comOpen ↗

Terry Morse said:

Sometimes, he clamps onto my wheel on a climb and won't
let go. Boy, that's embarassing.

ahem. yea..
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

"Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Badger_South said:

Per Elmsäter said:

Badger_South wrote:
> I rode a more difficult route today than usual, lots
> of rolling hills, and it was quite interesting.
>
> I normally train on a basically flat course with some
> gentle hills, but I try to ride as hard and as long as
> I can given my injury, age and short time back into
> cycling.
>
> Surprisingly, although there was some heavy breathing
> (I -think- it was me), I coped very well, and had no
> burning thighs, and systemically, I felt totally fine
> after reaching each crest; IOW, breathing rapidly
> returned to normal.
>
> I rode just 10 miles but I don't feel any more winded
> than a fast flat ride of 15 - 20 miles.
>
> Guess we'll see this pm when I go out again. Pretty
> good feeling though, b/c at 225lbs and age 53, I've
> been dreading the hills, and it wasn't that bad. Good
> to have a Trek under me, though. (Thx, Mike
> J.)
>
> -Badger

Wait 'till you do a group ride on the same hills and
those 60-70 y/o starts hammering away.

Yeah, you mean the ones rehabbing from their THRs? I'm
cringing thinking about it, but I know they're out
there, heh.

-Badger

I don't know what THR is but I wasn't really joking. I
constantly get dropped by people 5 -15 years older than me
on our clubrides and I'm not a slow rider. I can get them
on the final sprint if I'm still in the pack. We have this
one dude that'll turn 69 this year. He does a 30 km TT in
47 minutes.

It is actually one of the things that make me happy.
Thinking that maybe, maybe I'll be that healthy when I
turn 70.

--
Perre "Me , yep I'm 53 like you"

Thanks for making me (age 48) feel young again! That's
really cool!

Bob C.

Ageism on bike rides rock. I am only 33 but I love seeing
it. The best was a multi-group MTB rides a few back when I
early 50's guy that always drops me showed up on his old
bike, a early 90's Trek 830 with a rear rack. He crushed
everybody in the B group and caught the guys in the A group.
The guys and girls my age were doing everything to keep up
with him if they could.

Margot is 62 i think. She is not fast, but is very well
paced and steady. At the end of awful five hour rides, she
has embarrassed many 20-30 year old guys as she leads hangs
on their wheels for the final climbs. .