Hill training with no hills!!

[DaLoCo]

DaLoCo a couple questions' date=' why not do some riding in Empangeni, you may get ridden over by the taxi's but you'll have hills around every corner?

Which suburb do you live in? Meerensee will offer a couple "hills", Bream Hill, the beach road by Aklanstrand, bugger trying to remember these street names and hoping no name changes have taken place like in Durban. I grew up in Meerensee and as a kid any incline felt like a hill, so perhaps they aren't as big as I remember. Come to think of it I can see why you will struggle to string sufficient climbs together in Rcb.

What does Zululand Cycles do for club rides and to be quite honest Sean Merredew would be the right person to speak to if you want advice, he has lived there all his life and has a great race record.


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Meerensee is made of of very short but very sharp inclines. Before you really start working hard, you are "over the hill". I agree, Empangeni is much better, but time does not allow me to go there on training rides, except for the occasional weekend ride.

 

I have spoken to Sean, his advice and that received from the hubbers till now match completely. I do however like the detail of the advice received here, as I have not gone that deep into the topic with Sean. He is an absolute machine on uphills, his advice was simply "Put it in a heavy gear and grind it!" I join them on Saturday mornings, but that is normally a 70km ride to Kwambo or such. I am a club member.

 

I am starting the heavy gear training, and can feel myself working harder. Yesterday morning my legs felt the same despair as in the Tour Durban, albeit for a short while. That tells me that this course of training will work. I ride along the canal, it takes me about 7 minutes to do a side, five riding hard, and then two resting. As I turn around I push it again.

 

Thanks to all the guys here for the interest and advice.....see you on a hill somewhere in the near future