Training for climbs in Florida

darthtuttle said:

I live in a particularly flat part of Florida but I'm taking my bike up to Virginia in a couple of months to a place where "there's now here to go but up". I'm looking for advice on how to prepare my legs for this.

Climbing well is just a function of power:weight ratio. You can develop that on any terrain. How are you training now?

darthtuttle said:

I live in a particularly flat part of Florida but I'm taking my bike up to Virginia in a couple of months to a place where "there's now here to go but up". I'm looking for advice on how to prepare my legs for this.

Put the largest, heaviest tires you can on your bike ...

Tow a BOB/any trailer ... in ONE higher gear higher than is comfortable.

Sure you can develop strength on the flats, but you do use different muscles for climbing so I would suggest trying to get at least a little hill climbing in.
I seem to remember somone asking a similar question before and the best reply I saw was to try doing "hill repeats" in a multi level parking garage. If you have a trainer you can raise your front wheel to simulate hill climbing (putting a phone book under the training block will probably simulate about a 9-10% grade)

Eden said:

Sure you can develop strength on the flats, but you do use different muscles for climbing so I would suggest trying to get at least a little hill climbing in.
I seem to remember somone asking a similar question before and the best reply I saw was to try doing "hill repeats" in a multi level parking garage. If you have a trainer you can raise your front wheel to simulate hill climbing (putting a phone book under the training block will probably simulate about a 9-10% grade)

W = F x D x H ... work equals force (mass * acceleration) * distance * height

Changing the posture of the bike may help a little, but the "easiest" (?) way to balance the equation is with the variables available in the equation is probably to increase the MASS of what is being propelled ...

alfeng said:

W = F x D x H ... work equals force (mass * acceleration) * distance * height

Changing the posture of the bike may help a little, but the "easiest" (?) way to balance the equation is with the variables available in the equation is probably to increase the MASS of what is being propelled ...

I respectfully disagee, not with your equation, but with the concept. Sure, you can get stronger by pulling more weight, but if you are not training the correct muscles then it isn't going to do you much good. Also, there is technique that you will not learn on a flat road - how to change your posture/hand position, how to stand on a climb, how to shift for the varying terrain, how to spin up a hill. I really don't think just pulling around more weight is the answer. Good hillclimbers train on hills.

Eden said:

I respectfully disagee, not with your equation, but with the concept. Sure, you can get stronger by pulling more weight, but if you are not training the correct muscles then it isn't going to do you much good. Also, there is technique that you will not learn on a flat road - how to change your posture/hand position, how to stand on a climb, how to shift for the varying terrain, how to spin up a hill. I really don't think just pulling around more weight is the answer. Good hillclimbers train on hills.

Okay, not for nuttin', but I live in Albuquerque and 99% of the rides over the past several years have been on mountain roads to the east of the city ... elevation begins at 6500 feet ... I stop at about 9000 feet ... others routinely go up to 11000 feet. Until you've ridden on mountain roads where everything is either an ascent or descent and the flats are false flats, I don't think you can fully appreciate the difference effort it takes from an occasional 1/4 mile long hill.

Elevating the front of the bike is such a far cry from the actual added work load of actually climbing that you unfortunately have to become formulaic when trying to advise someone who is living at sea level with flat terrain.

The idea of riding the ramps in a parking structure is a good idea, but those ramps will probably be steeper than the inclines that will be experienced in Virginia.

alfeng said:

Okay, not for nuttin', but I live in Albuquerque and 99% of the rides over the past several years have been on mountain roads to the east of the city ... elevation begins at 6500 feet ... I stop at about 9000 feet ... others routinely go up to 11000 feet. Until you've ridden on mountain roads where everything is either an ascent or descent and the flats are false flats, I don't think you can fully appreciate the difference effort it takes from an occasional 1/4 mile long hill.

You can ride hard regardless of terrain, with the exception of downhills steep enough to spin your gears out. It's really easy: push on the pedals harder. Just because you ride up mountains doesn't change anything.

whoawhoa said:

You can ride hard regardless of terrain, with the exception of downhills steep enough to spin your gears out. It's really easy: push on the pedals harder. Just because you ride up mountains doesn't change anything.

And for you Flatlanders, as I said, pedal "in ONE higher gear higher than is comfortable."

There is NO COASTING during an ascent.

alfeng said:

And for you Flatlanders, as I said, pedal "in ONE higher gear higher than is comfortable."

I missed that part. Obviously, working harder will generally make one fitter, but using too big a gear is a little silly. Better to be at a cadence that you prefer.

alfeng said:

There is NO COASTING during an ascent.

Yeah, but you have to go downhill sometime, right? 😄

whoawhoa said:

I missed that part. Obviously, working harder will generally make one fitter, but using too big a gear is a little silly. Better to be at a cadence that you prefer.

Yeah, but you have to go downhill sometime, right? 😄

Yes, thank goodness for the "return" part of the loops!

Cadence often breaks down as you look for lower and lower gears ... until there aren't any more ...

Get thyself to the Intracoastal and do reps over the bridge there. I'm in St. Augustine, and we have lots of tall bridges that help with hill work. It still will mean big time pain when you hit real hills, but not as bad as if you train on flat land!

Find a stiff headwind (plenty here in Tampa), throw it into a big gear, and go hard.

Luckily, here in Tampa I am about 20 minutes away from some rolling hills up in the San Antonio area...more power mashing hills than spinning, endurance type.

Mark