Up, up and away

The request for some pointers on climbing from Paul Dean popped up following my last post, so here goes. One of the common mistakes newcomers to cycling make is to confuse their new bicycle with an iron and by that I mean an iron which makes the landscape flat. Sadly, the chances are the roads and trails we all ride on a not flat. They may be flat in places but generally we will either be going up or going down.  Even roads which you think are flat won't be, there will be some form of gradient however shallow. Generally anywhere outside of Norfolk or bits of Suffolk is going to have an incline. Let's break things down in to some manageable chunks.

Read the road
By "read the road" I mean look at the way the road ahead is shaping itself. Look at the horizon and how the road (or trail - these principles are equally valid off road too) fits in to the landscape. Even if you cannot see the road itself you can often see hedge lines and where trees or woods are split. Taking note of these things should help you anticipate where you are going to be in the five to ten minutes.

So from having an eye on the road we can then begin to anticipate what's in store for the brain, bike and body.

Anticipation
Getting a feel for the incline, decline or flat should allow you to think about your gear choice and cadence (how fast you spin the pedals in revolutions per minute). Spinning a lower gear at higher cadence will usually be more efficient than cranking a big gear at a slower rate although
there is a grey area where what may be deemed "small" or "big" gears may be hard to differentiate. If you are in doubt as to which gear you should be in though, err on the side of the smaller gear.

Try and find a gear which is comfortable to turn as you near the start of a hill.

Let's imagine we are going up the half-mile long climb from Gosmore to Preston you should have spotted where the road peaks and turns to the right (in to a wooded area) so you can now focus on the point you can see, get in to that comfortable gear and do the following:

• stay in the saddle
• focus on smooth and efficient pedalling
• sit well back on the saddle to give traction to the back wheel but keep your torso forward
• keep your trunk and arms strong
• hold your bars at the widest part if you are on an MTB or place them on the hoods of your road bike (on top of the levers)

Where you see the road incline increase consider changing gear before you get to it. Changing when you get to such a point will stall you slightly and interrupt your rhythm. The other thing it can do is put stress on the rear mech. You will have heard people changing gear in such a fashion as it's like a misfiring Bren Gun as the chain clanks up the cassette.

Try and keep your chain as straight as you can. There is no point in riding on the 39T inner ring and having the chain stretched across to the 11T sprocket. The stress on the chain won't be good for the bike or you. 

Power Rangers
Concentrating on the road and your position should allow you to be efficient in the way you apply your energy in to propelling you upwards. Ultimately you will be trying to balance the amount of power you can generate, without going in to oxygen debt (or blowing up), so as to get the combined mass of you and your bike upwards and forward. The power to weight ratio is pretty pivotal here so you may want to consider how you can reduce the mass of you and your bike - it will be cheaper for you to lose 8lbs than it will be to reduce that mass on the bike. Your credit card will only get you so far. The other thing to do is to increase the amount of power you can generate. This may mean doing some turbo training or weights work to get your quads and glutes a bit beefier. If you want to make climbing easier see that next bar of Dairy Milk or the packet of Hob Nobs as gravity's satanic helpers. Resist the temptation and have some fruit or a glass of water.

Think your way up
One comment I often hear is "I'm not really a good climber". If you go back to my earlier point about the nature of topography in the UK, you need to dispel that thought as you will need to be good at going up or at least improve as you get more miles in and develop your experience and knowledge. I like to "dial in" to a climb by visualising myself going up it quickly and lightly. And by lightly I try to think myself "light" and commit to picking a nice comfortable gear which I can firstly accelerate on and then settle down in to a nice flowing rhythm. As the road stretches out ahead it will also vary in its camber. If you visualise the road's profile the middle of the road may be higher than the gutters or sides. As the road bends these changes in gradient will also affect how you ride. Look at the gradient and pick the shallowest bit to ride. This may not be the shortest line around a corner or hairpin bend but it may well be the easiest.

Out of the saddle?
Sometimes you will have to get out of the saddle, this will tire you out more rapidly than being seated as your body will be elevated and your heart will need to work harder to get the oxygenated blood around. The advantage is that you can inject some pace or a kick to escape the bunch or deal with some technical surfaces. You won't be able to hold that position for too long but do remember to look forward, keep the torso forward and still keep the cadence smooth and flowing. As you begin to accelerate out of the saddle you may actually want to change gear up (to a bigger gear/ smaller sprocket) and then change back down 10-20 seconds later. That will depend on how strong you are and also what the road is like. Try it but do remember not to change the gear at the same time you pretend to be Chris Froome on the Ventoux. Change before and then attack.

Your upper core and arms will be in need of more control so keep steady. You may end up rocking from side to side if you are racing or time-trialling, in which case you should get a good grip on the bars so as to avoid sliding off the bike. When you are out of the saddle you can also generate a lot of torque which can lift the front wheel of the ground if you are in a small gear. This is essentially how you do a wheelie but unless you are Peter Sagan you may not want to create that effect. Good traction is delivered seated.


Ride your own ride
When on club runs or sportives there can be a temptation to follow someone else who looks like they are a keen climber. Unless you know that rider and know how you compare to them, don't. Ride within yourself and make sure you get to the top without your eyeballs popping out or your legs pinging with lactic acid. The Team Sky approach is a good example to follow. When attacked in the mountains by the Contadors and Quintanas, the Sky boys keep to their own pace. They tend to be driven more by Power Meters and Wattage but the principle is the same.  James Gomm and I rode the Chiltern 100 earlier this year and saw the after affects of someone attempting to track us and attempt to drop us on a climb after 70 miles or so. Ironically that rider had "Rule #5 Applies" on his jersey. The irony was that it obviously didn't as he was crumpled in a heap as we pottered past him and onwards.

There's little point being the first person half way up the hill. Or even the first to the top and then watching the rest of the club sail past as you catch your breath. You need to remember that the hill is part of a wider landscape and to dial in to the fact that there will be some "flat" or "down" within a few minutes. There aren't too many big climbs in the UK so if you can get in to the practice of climbing effectively for 5-10 minutes you can then work on your speed.

Remember that what goes up has the joy of blasting down the other side with a grin on its face.