DaLoCo Posted May 2, 2011 Share Hey Robo Keep asking those questions... Some people will always have advice, and some are just smartarses That is the way of the forum...we all tend to hang out and chew the fat here On the hills....I will also add in that if you want to ride the hills, you have to train the hills. I did some hill training and some intervals, and it was amazing the difference it made to the way I climbed. A lot of it is mental too, so the more you kick up the hills the more your mind will allow you to know that it is beatable. And btw, I am heavier than 100 kg, so I am fat. A lot of good things were said: 1. Train hills2. Do intervals3. Run intervals4. Find a climbing rhythm5. Up your cadence6. Do not grind, find the right gear7. Find a program that builds your leg strength8. Don't be in a hurry for it to happen, it will come over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topwine Posted May 2, 2011 Share I will keep on asking the obvious questions because (some) people may give me stick, most people here will contribute to my life in a positive way and I love the sport. Robo Hi Roboluke It seems you are as technical and scientifically minded as I am. I have found the following website useful in explaining many concepts on training for cycling useful. It is written by a MD in a language that is easy to understand. Perhaps you can find some answers here. http://www.cptips.com/index.htm Training tips: http://www.cptips.com/toc.htm#trntips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swartpiet Posted May 2, 2011 Share Ive had some bad luck with crashes keeping me off the bike for 8weeks and 6 weeks respectively For Mtb, technical skills are often overlooked and all the training goes into fitness and speed. Make an effort to learn bike handling skills too, it'll reduce the number of silly crashes big time. If you do nothing else, learn to track stand to improve balance. (Sorry, I know it's got nothing to do with climbing.) I totally agree that You have spend at least 1/3 of your time on skills and technique. Just for the record on my two crashes, one was at Isuzu 3 towers. Was doing 33km/h on flat gravel road(light rain, nothing technical), front tyre suddenly slipped out underneath me, no warning nothing. Long story short, later realize there's a small strip of soap stone on the left-hand side of th road which you can barely see. If your wheel crosses that piece of hidden rock bed, you will slip, you cant even stand on it, that slippery. What I want to say is, I have the best technical skills of all my friends, I do a fountains (next to groenkloof) 7km lap in 18min. Sometimes all the technical skills in the world wont keep you from falling but it will surely help you to be faster and enjoy the technical part more. Check out our fountains trail video on www.alloutmtb.co.za Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swartpiet Posted May 2, 2011 Share get hold of Maryks in the training and nutrition section tell her what you want to achieve and she will send you a program it will cost a few hundred bucks but it will be money well spent you seem to have the discipline and you're not fat what a load of bollocks if you follow a program and maybe set yourself a goal of doing a race you will drop another 10 kgs the other thing is if you can do some road cycling( road bikelekker big gears to turn) definitely makes the legs stronger Last bit of advice learn to love the climbs ... Agree, get hold of Maryka Verster. She is really good at what she does and speciaises in mtb. She has done a few good article on our web site www.alloutmtb.co.za. Go have a look under the training section. You wll also find her contact details there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swartpiet Posted May 2, 2011 Share Go check out some of the articles written by Maryke. Im sure it help all of you guy a lot. You might learn something new. http://www.alloutmtb.co.za/alltraining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted May 2, 2011 Share It might help if this thread was moved to where it belongs???????????????????????(bigh said i can do this) I know the International Cycling thread has been a bit slow this year but surely this one belongs in the training and nutrition thread?????????? Edited May 2, 2011 by SwissVan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brakkies Sport Fotos Posted May 2, 2011 Share I do agree on a couple of things , but most important i that the real problem is that you re telling yourself that you sucks at hills Why do you think so? because you cannot keep up with a 60kg lean guy? Change your thinking, start and do hills on your own, ride your pace, en first enjoy it. If you try to keep up with guys lighter and quicker than you on the uphills, you will never become a good climber. Climbing good is not a one season training thing, it comes with years of riding them, So, firstly, change the way you think about it, it wil not happened overnight or in 6 months. I got buddies that weight over 80kgs and climb like bergbokke, but they ride for many uears, they know how to control the clims, the speeed they start, the way they breath as wellas the gears they use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RacerX Posted May 2, 2011 Share You only ride "every weekend" and weigh 84Kg's... Train more and lose some weight. Training more will improve everything, and losing weight will increase your power to weight ratio. That's what you need to go up hill faster.+1 Nothing will help if you don't train consistently, at least 3 times per week. A weekly ride is pretty much useless for fitness. It may help with form, technique and of course, be fun, but to climb well you need to be fit, period. No amount of light weight, technique, gear choice, feather-weight equipment will get you up the hill fast if you are unfit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJVDM Posted May 2, 2011 Share Im also not a big climber, but something that helped me was a decent bike fit. They moved my saddle approx 3 cm higher, cleats to the back of my shoes, handlebars up ect ect. I was a road cyclist for many yrs and thought i had the bike fitted correctly, but Pieter at CWC sorted me out quickly. Riding a bike is a lot more enjoyable these days. Also, what the guys above said, training, intervals ect. But if you havnt had a proper bike fit done, i would really consider that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted May 2, 2011 Share +1 Nothing will help if you don't train consistently, at least 3 times per week. A weekly ride is pretty much useless for fitness. It may help with form, technique and of course, be fun, but to climb well you need to be fit, period. No amount of light weight, technique, gear choice, feather-weight equipment will get you up the hill fast if you are unfit! Yes all true. I just proved this very point to myself.I normaly do a fair amount of cross training (Swim, run and cycle) but since Nov 2010 I concentrated on cycling and only ran 5km once a week (thinking it would help maintain my running fitness), WRONG !!!!!!!!! Now I'm battling like a beginner all over again with running ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traaidmark Posted May 2, 2011 Share I am 26, weigh in at between 92kg and 96kg. I am not even close to fat. not even slightly overweight. I am 2 meters tall though. Some people are just heavier than others. If I drop my weight to the 70's then I am just skin and bones and unhealthy. I also used to struggle with the hills, big time, but I also never made them part of my weekly training. I would be fit, but as soon as I hit Sabie I die. The only way to get good on climbing is to climb, lot's. Sure there are many techniques that help you, but they don't count for anything if you don't go climb hills as much as you possibly can. Just take it easy to begin with, give it a few weeks and you will eventually notice that you are getting stronger and better at it. Then go try those techniques. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldron Posted May 4, 2011 Share I've gotta agree with some of the other posters - once a week is just not enough training to turn you into a climber. I would guess 3 times a week (maybe 3-4 hours in total) would be the minimum time needed to be able to climb moderate hills comfortably. It all depends on your goals - if this is for fun and fitness then continue with the once/week thing and enjoy. If you want to start riding further and stronger with an eye on racing then you gotta pay your dues in sweat "Do what you hate" is always good advice - bad at hills? Ride more hills! Bad at sprinting? Do more sprint work! It might sounds slightly masochistic but every drop of sweat in training makes for a more comfortable ride/race. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr-T Posted May 4, 2011 Share To do nice training for climbs is at kyalami, you get a short steep hill every 4.2km, then you get some time to recover, you should be able to do 8 laps, that helped me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldron Posted May 4, 2011 Share To do nice training for climbs is at kyalami, you get a short steep hill every 4.2km, then you get some time to recover, you should be able to do 8 laps, that helped me. Agreed! I call Kyalami "the doctor" - not because it rides a GP bike well but because after a few visits to the doctor your fitness problems are cured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pookie Posted May 4, 2011 Share Roboluke, just keep up the training, but try to train during the week too. 2 Days max out of 7 does not improve muscle strength and development much. Also, doing nothing until the weekend and then training will only lead to longer recovery time and the want to do more of nothing because of painful muscles. The only way to develop climbing is to actually climb, despite the fact that you dread it. If you're not a natural cyclist (riding from when you were little) it takes alot more work to gain the leg, back and general body strength to climb well. If you aint got the muscles yet, you can pretty much eat what you want, it just won't help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebenvn Posted May 4, 2011 Share I'm 93, 6.1" and will still give the 10 year old boys (a.k.a men who just haven't gone past puberty yet, who the **** are you to call someone 84 kilos fat @velo???) a good run for their money up the hills. yes if you have a pubescent body, you will fly up hills but that automatically doesn't mean every skinny man is a climber. Start by training on hills as everyone here has mentioned. Don't grind the crap out of them, spin bitch spin. aim for as high a cadence as you can. the attitude on this forum sucks sometimes. Yeez, Dsan - your 93 and giving people 83 years younger than you a hiding - thats impressive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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