This is the worst edited video I've seen from you guys. It's so distracting and discombobulated. Creative idea, but didn't really work for me to be honest.
I recommend hill repeats, belly (diaphragm) breathing, hamstring "scrape" pedaling for 90-95% of climb, and quadriceps/calf out of the saddle pedaling for 5-10% of climb/attack. By alternating muscle groups, you can prevent early fatigue. I wrote a book coauthored with Greg LeMond "The Science of Fitness".
Thanks for the encouragement, and the laugh when Hank's voice goes up a couple octaves at 3:46. I've always liked climbs because of the rewarding view from the top and the massively fun downhills, plus that great feeling of accomplishment. In the last couple of years, I've taken to riding up steep long grades on a fixed gear and it has taught me: 1.) Proper pacing, 2.) The most effective pedaling techniques in the saddle, 3.) How to use my full body to climb including arms, shoulders, back, core, and, 4.) Proper posture to maximize leverage when out of the saddle. I'd encourage you to get a full, deep muscle contractions using a taller gear to gain strength and power; it translates nicely to winning sprints and maintaining speed with endurance in a headwind. Make sure you keep your nutrition spot on and get plenty of rest to fully recover and to avoid injury the next time you train. Don't worry about climbing fast at first, just work on technique and in about 3 to 6 months you'll find you're going plenty fast. Don't be surprised if other riders are amazed by your ability to keep going at a such a good pace, and then when they ask what you've been doing, you can share your story of how you got such deep power reserves. Oh yeah, I also use two psychological tricks to keep my pedals turning over on long, challenging climbs: 1.) I imagine there's a magnet at the top of the hill/mountain pulling me up towards it just a little bit with each pedal turn so each push doesn't feel as hard as it could. I pretend I getting a little "free energy" from the magnetic pull, and what ends up happening is I positively reinforce my good effort and good attitude, rewarding myself for trying hard, but not being too hard on myself. The last trick: I imagine colors in my mind's eye that match how I feel, and these colors produce energy and positive motivation to make things easier. This ends up distracting me from the difficulty of the work and focusing me on feeling good or not as bad as I would feel if I weren't seeing these amazing iridescent blues, translucent neon greens, intense shades of yellow, and reds that transition from burgundy to radiant pink hues. After doing this for a few minutes, a sort of synesthesia occurs where these colors automatically transition with my emotions surrounding my present efforts on the bike and the inspirational beauty of the natural environment. I imagine each of these colors as having a unique emotional characteristics and positive physical effects, including helping me to get more in touch with my abilities and tap my full potential. These neat tricks work for me, and if you try them, I hope they work for you too! Happy riding : )
My old cycling coach used to say "Train your weaknesses, race your strengths." Wanna be a better climber? Climb. Ride with better climbers, stay on their wheel as long as possible.
Aerobic work on the bike alone will get you at least 90% of the way there, and while I agree that strength work is important, unless your climbs are 1 min sprint effort you aren't going to see that much direct benefit from strength training alone.
@@lomtlt5017 for me it's the other way around. Terrible indoors, but on a nice mountain I can do 3 mins max. :) I think its due to the bike wipping left to right which helps me oit
Yep, and then he goes on to say that after that you should try 10 minutes !!! I never saw a Tour De France racer staying out of the saddle for more than one ot two minutes max without sitting back on the saddle !
@@radiocontrolled9181 Alberto Contador does 20 min out of the saddle in training rides. But I think it´s to get used to doing 3 min max. Even 1 minute is not efficient. On plus 10% it´s more doable as you lower the impact on the back muscles and knees and it feels good for short periods of time. But after 30 Secs you notice the heart rate just popping up. RIP your stamina on long rides.
These will definitely help, thanks. I climbed (well, tried.. stopped more than I care to admit) a very small portion of the course used in the 1984 Olympic men's road race in Mission Viejo a couple days ago and it was so bad it didn't qualify as pitiful. Now, I was 17.5 years old back then so I'm...um.. a bit older (read: I qualify for the senior discount in restaurants in the USA in 5 weeks) but still. I've been riding on and mostly off since back then. I got re-bitten by the cycling bug a couple years ago and have been going 2-3 times a week since then, I should be further along. These tips will give me some structure to work with. Many thanks
yeah, I think you've also recommended this in previous vids, but the final answer is to lose weight. I was a "heavy" cyclist (track-oriented) with 78kg, and I hated climbing almost anything that took longer than 1~2m. I start taking spinning lessons, and even when my intention wasn't to lose weight, it burned like 8% of my fat, and now I'm 64kg. All hills I hated feel like nothing now. But again, I hate all hills ;) And on long rides I try to avoid them as much as possible. But yeah, no matter how much you train, I think in the end it is just that biomechanically and muscularly speaking, you have to be thin/light to get full potential of your legs on increasing inclination terrain.
A drill I’ve incorporated into my workouts is climbing out of the saddle but hands on the drops then back down onto the saddle but still in the drops. This helps when the gradient changes frequently but the speed is quick enough for aero gains to matter.
I’ve been consistently training with you on the fantastically challenging indoor training rides this winter past. It’s springtime in Utah, USA 🇺🇸. I love that my skills seem to have improved significantly! I just turned 68 years-old and climbing out of the saddle for five minutes seems impossible! Yikes 😳!
Getting out of the saddle for me it's a constant training,every time I get a hill I'm out of the saddle and stay in that position for as long as my legs can take it,I hate it but it works well,depends how I feel that day and sometimes I will ride out a hill from the bottom to the top out of the saddle,besides cycling I do many squads to,you can't believe the difference it makes,Unbelievable !
Biked up the Alpe D'Huez, on my TT bike. Pretty much 1:19hr of standing and starting at my stem. Standing is the way to go. I did stop for some views, and did enjoy the ride down a bit more than the up.
The Sufferfest workout Who Dares is designed to do exactly what they recommend at 4:25 (three sets of max sprint, then tempo). Plus, it features killer footage from the Women's Strade Bianche, Ghent Wevelgem and Amstel Gold.
Here's a screenshot of Hank at the 5 second mark where he points to the mountain goat. You can add anything you like to the top of the rocks. i.postimg.cc/43Kbsztr/GCN-Hank-pointing.jpg
Or you could just try climbing more hills or include routes with higher elevation. I find turning off the yahoo and ignoring your urge to beat your PB on a segment coming up, will help you focus on the climbs. The more you do it the quicker you can recover. The hills never get easier but your tolerance to them improves. Find what’s easiest for you, we are all different.
Been climbing a really long steep road(about 20 minutes straight, fuck.) for days now because of this person who really just impressed me climbing really fast. I tried his pace hoping the higher cadence will help me, turns out I was wrong. Ended up practicing on the lowest gears and trained using one gear up after a rest and kept trying to break my records. It improves and hoping it doesn't take so many months.
It's difficult to explain in comments and would require reviewing the basics of human performance but actually what people need to learn is (above improving their lab test generated performance data) is what I call governing doctrines. What that means is that it's not enough to have a list of zones and so forth. You can come up with the statistically perfect training scheme by zones and so forth and still not understand how to pace yourself to continue improving. Status quo protocols and status quo explanations lead to status quo results. What athletes need to do is learn to use the data and results to continue to improve their "perceived exertion" while performing and using that nuanced insight to learn more about how to improve not just ever narrower zones (matched to goals) but also how to make adjustments in and out of those controlled (interval) periods. That means when to shift, when to breathe, and even when to jump, shift down (first lower cadence without reducing power, sometimes then higher cadence at slightly reduced power), while forcing deep breathing for a moment in order to - get this - recover slightly before carrying on. All of those things happen intuitively already. The question is how much we learn about perceived exertion and governing/efficiency doctrines (and ever improved intuitive reactions) while doing the "zone" training that impresses the coaches or whoever else is reading the data. If you're not tracking HR curves with power curves and never look at torque data, you're not going to be even looking for nuanced "perceived exertion" that can help you find the ideal pace and break through those artificial performance ceilings. You have to learn how to continue to raise the ceilings, learn when (and how) to recover, when to rethink what gears you use on training rides and so forth. The very first thing I recommend is getting dedicated climbing cogs. Something like a 15-28 would be perfect for most people interested in having a regularly scheduled weekday climbing session. That is when you really learn how to pace yourself while climbing, closing gaps, recovering while staying within your goals, and so forth. More important than having a 'bailout' gear is having the smallest possible gaps in between gears when you're attempting to hold a narrow "power zone." If you don't understand why I say this none of my advice will make any sense to you.
All I can say is enduring the pain of burning legs will bring rewards. I've fairly recently returned to cycling. I ride a flat bar hybrid with a 44/32 chainrings and 12-32 7-speed cassette, 26" wheels. I initially struggled on any incline, and most steeper climbs would see me either grinding in 44-32 or even dropping into the small chainring on the front, or even worse having to stop before the top. After about 3 months of perseverance and trying to keep my cadence up on the climbs (with some serious leg burning) I am now managing to power up my regular climb in 3rd gear (21t) on the 44 chainring and still have the legs at the top of the climb to keep going. I'm obviously not going to be winning a polka dot jersey anytime soon, but I'm certainly getting faster and fitter. It still hurts though 😂
"most steeper climbs would see me [...] even dropping into the small chainring on the front" Er... That's what it's there for!!! What's the point of having two chainrings if you only ever use one of them?
I live in a relatively flat area so when I visit my Daughter there is a ride of 1000m of climb in about 38kms with some real stiff climbs two days of that really helps when I get back to the more rolling gentle hills of home
So, it's so cold that you need arm warmers and full tights but not gloves? I cannot figure out the motivation and idea behind being kitted up like this.
Coll de la Creueta shoutout Climbed that on a Backroads trip, that was an epic day - sure earned that freewheeling downhill! Not any hills that big around Boston
I hate hills, I love hills, it’s a strange relationship. They hurt, they make me feel like I should just sell all my bikes, and I just can’t get enough of them. Getting used to riding at 50 rpm for long periods has helped me... but mostly, getting the gearing right for my strength and age has been the big win for me.
This is a very good video. My problem is figuring out intervals. Thirty seconds followed by 2 minutes isn't easy to keep track of when you are out on a ride facing varying terrain. Of course they are much easier to do on an indoor trainer.
You can pick terrain that suits the intervals you are going for, or only go halfway up the hill and then roll down again slowly. Of course it's more difficult to find a perfect match, but really you are training to be effective in the real world, and in the real world there is never a 20 minute hill at an exact and unwavering 8%.
For all those rides living in flattish areas , I remember hearing a statement from 6 times TDF kom Lucien Van Impe to that in his early years of training the biggest hill near where he lived was like 600 meters long and his coach at the time use to make he ride it 20 times ,
not all of us take training trips to spain… i was expecting something like tips for how to train for big hills when you don't live near them. all the climbs around here are measured in seconds :D some of these things can be done in flat areas, but they're not quite the same
biggest problem is that you can attack a short hill as if it were a sprint and be over it almost before your heart catches up. but you need to pace a long climb properly. next biggest problem is there isn't a risk of running out of gears on short climbs.
Basically, for me works out of the saddle all the time, without pushing, because I can reduce the lactic acid behind my knees as I stretch in every pedal stroke
One thing I found was do different intervals on a climb similar to the ones you will be racing on or sportive or whatever.Seems obvious but there’s no point in training on 15 percent climbs if your going to be racing on 5 percenters.😁Listen to Dunne,he’s current.☘️
respectanation it's recommended to do that to train more effectively. However in races it might be better to sit down and stay within your ideal cadence
I'm a very long way from being an expert but I think getting out of the saddle for periods during a climb is a good thing. You change how you legs are working and it will increase overall leg strength it can also be a bit of a rest as you will be using bodyweight to drive the pedal and taking the strain off quads and the top of your thighs for a while. I think it's good to mix it up. Also, if you want to power up shorter hills and try and race up them then out of the saddle is the way to go 😤
Contador is famous for climbing out of the saddle, while Chris Froome sits and spins, so clearly both styles are effective. It's much like cadence... while personal preference is king and you should do what feels best when you're going all out, it can be really useful to train different things to avoid getting stuck with a bad or less optimal habit simply because you haven't tried anything else
I just put any weight that I possibly can put on me/my bike (extra bottle filled with water, 2 big multi tools, extra inner tuber, all the bags that the bike can carry without looking too weird, baggy clothing). More weight=more effort=more gains.
In Switzerland you got no choice than getting better at climbing.... Just did 160k with 2600m+ . Do you think this is too much for training? On average I ride at 85 % of ftp. Would it be more beneficial to make shorter rides?
I climb when my weight loss plateaus. Climbing fat is no fun, but when my regular rides stop producing weight loss in spite of my diet work, I don't starve, I climb. Everything goes into shock, so I don't over do it. Weight loss is immediate for me, making climbing easier. When I happily return to the flats, all of my numbers improve, I lose still more weight, and then I start eating like a pig...sigh...
Gary The start of the Lighthouse ride (Cap de Formentor) Majorca / Mallorca at the North East tip of the Island.....a ride with surprisingly very varied terrain
My guess would be that it is a rented bike, since they are on Mallorca, and that he's a fairly new presenter, he probably haven't received a presenter's bike in his size yet
Use headwind as resistance and shift to a slightly heavier gear. Look at guys like Bauke Mollema, grew up in the flattest part of the flattest country in the world, and he can climb with the best of them. In the end there is no real substitute for a real climb though, because on a real climb, the resistance is combined with a slower speed and a shifted position in your bike due to the gradient. You can train to deliver the power necessary in a climb and how to apply it, but really learning to climb can't be done on the flat
Oh and it's good to remember that climbing isn't really a trick you can learn. The most important thing is your power to weight ratio, after that how comfortable you are in higher intensity zones, and only after that the 'feel' of climbing (a hard to explain concept that includes your pedal stroke, how you hold your weight over the bike etc). That last part comes naturally to some, and develops with experience for others
Set aside a day to ride one hill and just go up and down that one challenging hill until you are exhausted. Do at least seven miles on that hill. So the hill should not be like a mountain that is a long ride but one that is less than a kilometer.
What are your best climbing tips?
My favoring climbing tip is to ride hills. Any questions?
This is the worst edited video I've seen from you guys. It's so distracting and discombobulated. Creative idea, but didn't really work for me to be honest.
Don't be fat.
Go as fast as you can until your heart explodes, get off the bike and push the remaining meters
João Neto pedal hard enough for your lungs to leak out your ears... then allow your heart to explode🤪
A GCN video came up in my recommended videos a few weeks ago, gave it a watch and now I've got my own road bike and am hooked on the sport already!
Just checking if you are still riding?
I recommend hill repeats, belly (diaphragm) breathing, hamstring "scrape" pedaling for 90-95% of climb, and quadriceps/calf out of the saddle pedaling for 5-10% of climb/attack. By alternating muscle groups, you can prevent early fatigue. I wrote a book coauthored with Greg LeMond "The Science of Fitness".
Hank says “try it on your favorite climb.” Hahahahaha! Favorite climb! Like there is such a thing.
Yeah how could You possiblt choose only one! haha
@@eisina6640 yeah. Nervous laughter*
@@eisina6640 haha facts!!
5 minutes out of the saddle is my speciality. I'll usually combine that with a coffee stop...
how tf do u even do that
i can only go out of the saddle for like 30 max, i ride an mtb but on a road setup
@@charesu8 he's joking...
😂👍🏻
Yeah it's become 30 minutes if you choose hot black coffee and tuna sandwich
GCN: What are your best climbing tips?
Me: Avoids climbing area 😆
Can i get 1 jersy from gcn plssss
Pahlawan Basikal hahaha ade kat sini salam satu basikal
Walk it up lad
That's pretty hard where I live...
Lose weight
Thanks for the encouragement, and the laugh when Hank's voice goes up a couple octaves at 3:46. I've always liked climbs because of the rewarding view from the top and the massively fun downhills, plus that great feeling of accomplishment. In the last couple of years, I've taken to riding up steep long grades on a fixed gear and it has taught me: 1.) Proper pacing, 2.) The most effective pedaling techniques in the saddle, 3.) How to use my full body to climb including arms, shoulders, back, core, and, 4.) Proper posture to maximize leverage when out of the saddle. I'd encourage you to get a full, deep muscle contractions using a taller gear to gain strength and power; it translates nicely to winning sprints and maintaining speed with endurance in a headwind. Make sure you keep your nutrition spot on and get plenty of rest to fully recover and to avoid injury the next time you train. Don't worry about climbing fast at first, just work on technique and in about 3 to 6 months you'll find you're going plenty fast. Don't be surprised if other riders are amazed by your ability to keep going at a such a good pace, and then when they ask what you've been doing, you can share your story of how you got such deep power reserves. Oh yeah, I also use two psychological tricks to keep my pedals turning over on long, challenging climbs: 1.) I imagine there's a magnet at the top of the hill/mountain pulling me up towards it just a little bit with each pedal turn so each push doesn't feel as hard as it could. I pretend I getting a little "free energy" from the magnetic pull, and what ends up happening is I positively reinforce my good effort and good attitude, rewarding myself for trying hard, but not being too hard on myself. The last trick: I imagine colors in my mind's eye that match how I feel, and these colors produce energy and positive motivation to make things easier. This ends up distracting me from the difficulty of the work and focusing me on feeling good or not as bad as I would feel if I weren't seeing these amazing iridescent blues, translucent neon greens, intense shades of yellow, and reds that transition from burgundy to radiant pink hues. After doing this for a few minutes, a sort of synesthesia occurs where these colors automatically transition with my emotions surrounding my present efforts on the bike and the inspirational beauty of the natural environment. I imagine each of these colors as having a unique emotional characteristics and positive physical effects, including helping me to get more in touch with my abilities and tap my full potential. These neat tricks work for me, and if you try them, I hope they work for you too! Happy riding : )
Does your nutritional advice including large doses of magic mushrooms, too? ; )
@@mikebrown600 No, but hey, that might also help!
The magnet requires a steel bike.
Great tips...thanks
It would be helpful if GCN included all the different interval training options discussed in the video in the description area on UA-cam.
maybe they want us to view this video over and over, for more youtube views .. lol !!
i don't mind though .. lol !!
This would be more than helpful 🙏
We could just take notes too.. I can see how much effort is put into all of this. I'll put my effort in too. Thanks gcn
It's the same reason they don't ever put timestamps in the descriptions
My old cycling coach used to say "Train your weaknesses, race your strengths." Wanna be a better climber? Climb. Ride with better climbers, stay on their wheel as long as possible.
Thanks
It really helps me to increase the three/four gears when I go out of the saddle.
Or just stay in the same gear if the road incline increases suddenly . . .
Best training for climbing is climbing.. or gym work, leg press, quad extension, hamstring extension.. IMO
Aerobic work on the bike alone will get you at least 90% of the way there, and while I agree that strength work is important, unless your climbs are 1 min sprint effort you aren't going to see that much direct benefit from strength training alone.
@@philipk4475 I've always found that gym work had a significant impact.. that's just my experience.
Five minutes out of the saddle is 'surprisingly difficult'... I think they forgot most of us are mere mortals.
I can be out of the saddle for five minutes during my indoor cycling class; however, outside is really hard!
@@lomtlt5017 for me it's the other way around. Terrible indoors, but on a nice mountain I can do 3 mins max. :) I think its due to the bike wipping left to right which helps me oit
Yep, and then he goes on to say that after that you should try 10 minutes !!! I never saw a Tour De France racer staying out of the saddle for more than one ot two minutes max without sitting back on the saddle !
@@radiocontrolled9181 Alberto Contador does 20 min out of the saddle in training rides. But I think it´s to get used to doing 3 min max. Even 1 minute is not efficient. On plus 10% it´s more doable as you lower the impact on the back muscles and knees and it feels good for short periods of time. But after 30 Secs you notice the heart rate just popping up. RIP your stamina on long rides.
These will definitely help, thanks. I climbed (well, tried.. stopped more than I care to admit) a very small portion of the course used in the 1984 Olympic men's road race in Mission Viejo a couple days ago and it was so bad it didn't qualify as pitiful. Now, I was 17.5 years old back then so I'm...um.. a bit older (read: I qualify for the senior discount in restaurants in the USA in 5 weeks) but still. I've been riding on and mostly off since back then. I got re-bitten by the cycling bug a couple years ago and have been going 2-3 times a week since then, I should be further along. These tips will give me some structure to work with. Many thanks
yeah, I think you've also recommended this in previous vids, but the final answer is to lose weight. I was a "heavy" cyclist (track-oriented) with 78kg, and I hated climbing almost anything that took longer than 1~2m. I start taking spinning lessons, and even when my intention wasn't to lose weight, it burned like 8% of my fat, and now I'm 64kg. All hills I hated feel like nothing now. But again, I hate all hills ;) And on long rides I try to avoid them as much as possible. But yeah, no matter how much you train, I think in the end it is just that biomechanically and muscularly speaking, you have to be thin/light to get full potential of your legs on increasing inclination terrain.
@@sathyaki I was overweight. I'm under/avg weight now ;)
@@zerocooljpn what is your height? Im 175cm tall and 77kg of weight I want to lose more weight too to get better on climbs
@@bawidamann939 that sounds pretty fit already man. I'm 165cm
Some random person on the internet said once... The best way to get better at riding up hills is by riding up hills.
1:37 I looked for Hank at the recent Academy Awards, but he wasn't nominated for some strange reason.
Are we going to have "Meet the Presenter" videos for Manon and Conner? Pretty please?
Hopefully soon!!!
I just do Cadance and Out of the Saddle style, now i'm adding more...
Great Video! The new presenters did really well. Very clear, relaxed, energetic presentation! Nicely done!
Come to Pittsburgh and commute around the city. All the hills all the time.
Coming to the Dirty Dozen this fall!
@@aemediainc You won't be disappointed
Come to Dutch Flat Ca, 10,000ft in 85 miles.
Side effects include saying "yins."
@@guardrailbiter Or being Yelled at by Jags in Cars
I am a simple man, I see a great gcn video and I press like
A drill I’ve incorporated into my workouts is climbing out of the saddle but hands on the drops then back down onto the saddle but still in the drops. This helps when the gradient changes frequently but the speed is quick enough for aero gains to matter.
Come here in Philippines we have uphills that can make your front wheel go up
✔️
Atok
HAHAHAHA True
Try in Mangatarem, Pangasinan, Philippines
I’ve been consistently training with you on the fantastically challenging indoor training rides this winter past. It’s springtime in Utah, USA 🇺🇸. I love that my skills seem to have improved significantly! I just turned 68 years-old and climbing out of the saddle for five minutes seems impossible! Yikes 😳!
Getting out of the saddle for me it's a constant training,every time I get a hill I'm out of the saddle and stay in that position for as long as my legs can take it,I hate it but it works well,depends how I feel that day and sometimes I will ride out a hill from the bottom to the top out of the saddle,besides cycling I do many squads to,you can't believe the difference it makes,Unbelievable !
Great video! Hills! HILLS & MORE HILLS 👍🏻🔨
Biked up the Alpe D'Huez, on my TT bike. Pretty much 1:19hr of standing and starting at my stem. Standing is the way to go. I did stop for some views, and did enjoy the ride down a bit more than the up.
Is that a random shot of Ollie at 6:14?
Climbing isn’t inevitable here in the Netherlands, love it 😌
The Sufferfest workout Who Dares is designed to do exactly what they recommend at 4:25 (three sets of max sprint, then tempo). Plus, it features killer footage from the Women's Strade Bianche, Ghent Wevelgem and Amstel Gold.
The Sufferfest Yep-died on that a couple of weeks back-great footage, tough session after recent FTP recalibration...
Could someone please photoshop the thumbnail to have him pointing at all sorts of random objects?
like a meme?
@@ugastronomie1237 Yes.
Here's a screenshot of Hank at the 5 second mark where he points to the mountain goat. You can add anything you like to the top of the rocks. i.postimg.cc/43Kbsztr/GCN-Hank-pointing.jpg
Or you could just try climbing more hills or include routes with higher elevation. I find turning off the yahoo and ignoring your urge to beat your PB on a segment coming up, will help you focus on the climbs. The more you do it the quicker you can recover. The hills never get easier but your tolerance to them improves. Find what’s easiest for you, we are all different.
Been climbing a really long steep road(about 20 minutes straight, fuck.) for days now because of this person who really just impressed me climbing really fast. I tried his pace hoping the higher cadence will help me, turns out I was wrong. Ended up practicing on the lowest gears and trained using one gear up after a rest and kept trying to break my records. It improves and hoping it doesn't take so many months.
Man I need this video. In fact I need anything I can get to improve my climbing.
Cheers 🍻
Awesome “out of saddle” tip! Thanks so much!
I literally just led a 2x15min Sweet Spot workout with my cycling group on indoor trainers yesterday with the exact goal of improving climbing.
Love your show guys - DANKE and regards from Germany
Yesss the terrific trio returns!
Ride out of the saddle for 5 mins???? I wouldn't be able to walk for days if I did that.
It's difficult to explain in comments and would require reviewing the basics of human performance but actually what people need to learn is (above improving their lab test generated performance data) is what I call governing doctrines. What that means is that it's not enough to have a list of zones and so forth. You can come up with the statistically perfect training scheme by zones and so forth and still not understand how to pace yourself to continue improving. Status quo protocols and status quo explanations lead to status quo results. What athletes need to do is learn to use the data and results to continue to improve their "perceived exertion" while performing and using that nuanced insight to learn more about how to improve not just ever narrower zones (matched to goals) but also how to make adjustments in and out of those controlled (interval) periods. That means when to shift, when to breathe, and even when to jump, shift down (first lower cadence without reducing power, sometimes then higher cadence at slightly reduced power), while forcing deep breathing for a moment in order to - get this - recover slightly before carrying on. All of those things happen intuitively already. The question is how much we learn about perceived exertion and governing/efficiency doctrines (and ever improved intuitive reactions) while doing the "zone" training that impresses the coaches or whoever else is reading the data. If you're not tracking HR curves with power curves and never look at torque data, you're not going to be even looking for nuanced "perceived exertion" that can help you find the ideal pace and break through those artificial performance ceilings. You have to learn how to continue to raise the ceilings, learn when (and how) to recover, when to rethink what gears you use on training rides and so forth.
The very first thing I recommend is getting dedicated climbing cogs. Something like a 15-28 would be perfect for most people interested in having a regularly scheduled weekday climbing session. That is when you really learn how to pace yourself while climbing, closing gaps, recovering while staying within your goals, and so forth. More important than having a 'bailout' gear is having the smallest possible gaps in between gears when you're attempting to hold a narrow "power zone." If you don't understand why I say this none of my advice will make any sense to you.
Hard to do this when most grades around here start at 8% and go up from there. British Columbia.
All I can say is enduring the pain of burning legs will bring rewards.
I've fairly recently returned to cycling. I ride a flat bar hybrid with a 44/32 chainrings and 12-32 7-speed cassette, 26" wheels.
I initially struggled on any incline, and most steeper climbs would see me either grinding in 44-32 or even dropping into the small chainring on the front, or even worse having to stop before the top.
After about 3 months of perseverance and trying to keep my cadence up on the climbs (with some serious leg burning) I am now managing to power up my regular climb in 3rd gear (21t) on the 44 chainring and still have the legs at the top of the climb to keep going.
I'm obviously not going to be winning a polka dot jersey anytime soon, but I'm certainly getting faster and fitter. It still hurts though 😂
"most steeper climbs would see me [...] even dropping into the small chainring on the front" Er... That's what it's there for!!! What's the point of having two chainrings if you only ever use one of them?
Loving the 80s sounding music nowadays, and funk also
6. sing hime-hime with the whole squad
Hahahaha right!
hahaha that's awesome 😎
The best tip for being a better climber is to say "no" to that extra serving of cake.
Out of the saddle is one thing I really need to learn, my place has a lot of steep roads
I live in a relatively flat area so when I visit my Daughter there is a ride of 1000m of climb in about 38kms with some real stiff climbs two days of that really helps when I get back to the more rolling gentle hills of home
So, it's so cold that you need arm warmers and full tights but not gloves? I cannot figure out the motivation and idea behind being kitted up like this.
Coll de la Creueta shoutout
Climbed that on a Backroads trip, that was an epic day - sure earned that freewheeling downhill!
Not any hills that big around Boston
Is smaller chainring faster to go uphill?
We need more GCN content filmed in Mallorca. Those streets 😍
How on earth do you do 120 cadence up a hill ? What sort hearing would you need ? 🚲
32 or 34 on the back
I only ride out of my saddle during climbs to get the momentum, aft dat I will sit back down
The new bridges over the M4 in the Slough area are about 9%. Up and doesn't a few times is useful training.
I like the opening
I enjoy trying to top and/climb the strava leaderboards on local routes. It’s a great way to gamify my efforts and gives me reasonable goals. L
The real question is whether Conor can climb as well as Eros Poli, a man of similar stature who won a TDF mountain stage. EP is my hero.
ironhanglider Classic stage 👍🏻 over the Ventoux wasn’t it ?
@@okantichrist Unfortunately Conor is unlikely to remember it, since he was probably still in nappies at the time.
I find repeating a short steep section of a climb, in quick succession very efficient.
Excellent Mallorca footage 👏🙌
I hate hills, I love hills, it’s a strange relationship. They hurt, they make me feel like I should just sell all my bikes, and I just can’t get enough of them. Getting used to riding at 50 rpm for long periods has helped me... but mostly, getting the gearing right for my strength and age has been the big win for me.
Very thorough discussion of standing vs. sitting cycling with references and science in the debate. Liked it very much.
Looking this video cause i live 10 min away from Formentor and want to climb it faster and you’re there in the video 😂 (nice video btw!)
3:19 look how massive his bike is
That’s a camel 🐪
My legs felt like they were going to fall off. 😅 But man, going downhill after that feels so good. That wind is amazing.
This is a very good video. My problem is figuring out intervals. Thirty seconds followed by 2 minutes isn't easy to keep track of when you are out on a ride facing varying terrain. Of course they are much easier to do on an indoor trainer.
You can pick terrain that suits the intervals you are going for, or only go halfway up the hill and then roll down again slowly. Of course it's more difficult to find a perfect match, but really you are training to be effective in the real world, and in the real world there is never a 20 minute hill at an exact and unwavering 8%.
A lot of head units can be programmed for workouts. They can even be set for heart rate or power goals.
Tha ks for the tips
fun intro
For all those rides living in flattish areas , I remember hearing a statement from 6 times TDF kom Lucien Van Impe to that in his early years of training the biggest hill near where he lived was like 600 meters long and his coach at the time use to make he ride it 20 times ,
I like the way you're suggesting training methodology that contradicts Sufferfest, one of your biggest advertisers .....
The sound of Hank's final laugh reminds me of Matt!
My favourite part of any hill is downing down the other side
not all of us take training trips to spain… i was expecting something like tips for how to train for big hills when you don't live near them. all the climbs around here are measured in seconds :D some of these things can be done in flat areas, but they're not quite the same
tried simulating hills with your gears?
biggest problem is that you can attack a short hill as if it were a sprint and be over it almost before your heart catches up. but you need to pace a long climb properly. next biggest problem is there isn't a risk of running out of gears on short climbs.
Basically, for me works out of the saddle all the time, without pushing, because I can reduce the lactic acid behind my knees as I stretch in every pedal stroke
How would you change gears on a hilly mountain road that changes gradient without damaging your drivetrain
One thing I found was do different intervals on a climb similar to the ones you will be racing on or sportive or whatever.Seems obvious but there’s no point in training on 15 percent climbs if your going to be racing on 5 percenters.😁Listen to Dunne,he’s current.☘️
Now watching master cycling ❤
Brilliant
great tips awesome
Love hills. Thought out of the saddle was to be avoided if possible as more energy is consumed. No?
respectanation it's recommended to do that to train more effectively. However in races it might be better to sit down and stay within your ideal cadence
I'm a very long way from being an expert but I think getting out of the saddle for periods during a climb is a good thing. You change how you legs are working and it will increase overall leg strength it can also be a bit of a rest as you will be using bodyweight to drive the pedal and taking the strain off quads and the top of your thighs for a while. I think it's good to mix it up. Also, if you want to power up shorter hills and try and race up them then out of the saddle is the way to go 😤
Contador is famous for climbing out of the saddle, while Chris Froome sits and spins, so clearly both styles are effective. It's much like cadence... while personal preference is king and you should do what feels best when you're going all out, it can be really useful to train different things to avoid getting stuck with a bad or less optimal habit simply because you haven't tried anything else
Great stuff 👏 👍 👌 I really appreciate it all. My subscription is in 😃👍👏
Thanks for the sub! You've got lots of videos to catch up on 🙌
mostly i found that the more i climbed the better , by mixing steep climbs and small climbs going from standing and sitting ,
Great vid!
Great frase “3.3, 6%”
Cheers from NYC
Climb is the most rewarding part of the ride!
#8000Watt immer großes Blatt for those German viewers 6:08
I just put any weight that I possibly can put on me/my bike (extra bottle filled with water, 2 big multi tools, extra inner tuber, all the bags that the bike can carry without looking too weird, baggy clothing). More weight=more effort=more gains.
Global Cycling Network What model of Pinarello are u using ?
@Dagger 33 Same.
In Switzerland you got no choice than getting better at climbing.... Just did 160k with 2600m+ . Do you think this is too much for training? On average I ride at 85 % of ftp. Would it be more beneficial to make shorter rides?
Using the bridges across the amsterdam rhine canal with 15 liters of water in bottles in my saddle bags.
If there are no climbs around use head wind as a substitute ;)
When I get tired of the wind, I often upshift and do 4x5 min. standing intervals using the wind, and the rest of the ride goes by seemingly quickly.
I climb when my weight loss plateaus. Climbing fat is no fun, but when my regular rides stop producing weight loss in spite of my diet work, I don't starve, I climb. Everything goes into shock, so I don't over do it. Weight loss is immediate for me, making climbing easier. When I happily return to the flats, all of my numbers improve, I lose still more weight, and then I start eating like a pig...sigh...
What’s the best drill for climbing 1km of 15-20% steep hill.
Where is this filmed? Beautiful setting
Where was this shot? Stunning view! 😎
Gary The start of the Lighthouse ride (Cap de Formentor) Majorca / Mallorca at the North East tip of the Island.....a ride with surprisingly very varied terrain
why does conor have the old pinnarelo?
I think the hosts get to personally pick basically whatever bike they want and manufacturers just give it to them.
My guess would be that it is a rented bike, since they are on Mallorca, and that he's a fairly new presenter, he probably haven't received a presenter's bike in his size yet
Connor's bike looks big, we need a pro bike feature
How can I train myself for climbing when I live in a flat area?
Use headwind as resistance and shift to a slightly heavier gear. Look at guys like Bauke Mollema, grew up in the flattest part of the flattest country in the world, and he can climb with the best of them.
In the end there is no real substitute for a real climb though, because on a real climb, the resistance is combined with a slower speed and a shifted position in your bike due to the gradient. You can train to deliver the power necessary in a climb and how to apply it, but really learning to climb can't be done on the flat
Oh and it's good to remember that climbing isn't really a trick you can learn. The most important thing is your power to weight ratio, after that how comfortable you are in higher intensity zones, and only after that the 'feel' of climbing (a hard to explain concept that includes your pedal stroke, how you hold your weight over the bike etc). That last part comes naturally to some, and develops with experience for others
Do what froome used to do and hold on your brakes
Set aside a day to ride one hill and just go up and down that one challenging hill until you are exhausted. Do at least seven miles on that hill. So the hill should not be like a mountain that is a long ride but one that is less than a kilometer.
Can I do cross chaining on climb? Like increasing my torque by Big Chain ring in front and big chain ring at the rear?
You can, but it might wear your gears and chain a little faster.
What if you live in the Netherlands and you don't have a local climb?
Then try out harder surface. Gravel or MTB tracks.
Gergő Ollé yeaaah, not much of that here either😂
You are lucky! 😅. Groetjes!
You to travel to Norway.
Big ring on 53 front & 11 cog on the back