How do I get climbing legs?

[FrankTank]

Use the hill training regime from the late legend Ertjies Bezuidenhout:

 

"So common was the sight of Ertjies pedalling the ‘hills’ around his home town that locals named the steepest one Ertjiesberg – a formidable wall outside Parys. ‘That’s where I would do all my power training. It was 41km from home, so we would ride out there and then I would just go up and down, up and down. There isn’t a signpost, but everyone knows it as Ertjiesberg. It’s actually a bitch, hey. It’s a real bastard,’ Ertjies confesses. ‘I would ride it in a 53×12, and I would force myself to sit and not get out of the saddle. And when I was getting ready for the Rapport Toer or South African Champs I would do sprints. The hill was 2.1km, and I’d do a 200m sprint and then 100m to recover, then another 200m, then 100m to recover, then 200m again… all the way up. So when we had the mountain sprints or the King of the Mountains [in a race] I could wear the guys down – it was just another training ride for me. I wouldn’t wait till the final sprint."

 

Full article - http://www.bicycling...s-bezuidenhout/

Edited July 26, 2012 by FrankTank

[sias]

Hahaha - with a 53x12 I would just stop dead and topple over on Ertjiesberg! That is some serious power to keep that ratio rolling on that hill!

[Bos]

Dude you probably need to get fit as leg strength allone might just make you a sprinter.

so train vo2MAX. So do some intervals in the 90% of max heart rate bracket. Anerobic intervals.. google it and stick to it.

Do long slow rides to get your aerobic engine running smooth and you'll lose excess weight whilst still at it. THis is more important than a lot of peope think..when combined with hard, hard days

 

Wiggens didnt only learn to climb because of climbing. He lost something like 8kg's.. he was a track cyclist before he became GC ace.. you dont get more leg muscles than that..

[arendoog]

I often find myself not breathing optimally when i am crunching a climb .Always try to relax your upperbody .Not only do you increase your lung capacity,but you arn.t wasting Oxygen in your upperbody