Have been doing structured training for three months now (5x per wk totalling average 8hrs, road and mtb and turbo intervals and 40min Z3 sessions, 3wks on/1wk easy). Nutrition, hydration, stretching, rollering, sleep are all going well. Strength and speed on flats and gentle ups has improved a lot. But steep hills (7% or greater, maybe) are really causing me to grind slowly. At this time of year I would usually be grinding up the steeps but I was half expecting the extra fitness to help with this sort of thing? Should it?

I’m running 34/25 compact and have a 28t cassette ready to install.

Or should I be doing more climbing specific work?

It’s hard to avoid hills in South Shropshire where I live but there are certainly hillier routes I can mix in.

Do more hills, and don’t forget to keep your cadence up – it’s critical on hills. Check your speeds, too, as you may find that while you’re still grinding up the hill, you’re actually doing it faster than last year.

It never gets easier, you just get faster.

cakefest

Hmmm 🙂

hmmm, cake’s not an excuse any more.

I’d now be sticking in Hill Climb intervals into your plan.

I’ve done and do structured training throughout the year, whilst you always see improvements on the flat and general heath/speed that unless you do specific training on target issues you’ll remain the same level, rather just continue getting fitter.

You need to find a steep hill of at least your 7%, needs to be at least 1k long and repeatable. Start off easy spinning, take your time and get a baseline for the climb. Then turnaround and repeat, and again until you have 5 in your bag then assess the overall baseline for that session.
Then, then build intervals out of those results, at certain parts of the climb sprint for 10sec’s then back to your base cadence, and repeat and so on both extending time in interval and pace.

Spinning is your friend when in this particular interval segment, but also do this standing up. So again, do the climb standing, get a baseline of 5 reps and then add intervals.

It’ll make you want to vom at the top but hey, it needs to be done.

If you don’t have any climbs like this near you you’ll either have to travel, or mock up something on what you have but try to replicate the effort.

HTH’s

Everyone talks about steep hills like they are all the same, but they aren’t; to generalise long steep climbs are power to weight, and short climbs about power and power delivery.

There is also a mental and pacing aspect to steep hills, that really only come from riding them more.

Could lose some weight off u/bike if you want to be faster up hills.

A couple of points: 7% isn’t steep 8) Trust me, it really isn’t.

Secondly there will be a gradient that you find awkward – 6% and 8% might be fine but 7% is a struggle. It’s just a function of your fitness, preferred cadence and gearing.

The only way you get good at hills is by doing them so as others have said get out and do hill reps.

Sounds like you’ve been doing lots of long steady sub threshold work, good for base fitness, and now feeling it hard when you try and push yourself hard over threshold power.

Nothing too surprising about this. As has been said, get out and practice the sorts of efforts you find hard.

Specificity – if you want to ride faster up hills then practice riding faster up hills.

There is also a mental and pacing aspect to steep hills

That’s the biggest aspect to me. I’ve often sat there slowly slogging up a climb feeling a bit knackered then had the urge to just get it over with and upped the pace. Suddenly the climb doesn’t feel that bad. Maybe wrong cadence or body position or just not putting enough effort in but something sort of clicks.

thanks for the tips, practice what you want to get better at, who’d have thought of that. nice one.

Find hill ride up hill
Repeat.

Find hill ride up hill
Repeat.

More like:

Find hill ride up hill aiming to go faster than normal despite the pain (enjoy the pain)
Repeat.

Get yee to the gym, build up some leg strength to go with all that endurance you’ve got!

Lack of top end power, I’m afraid to say. You’ve been training the motor to run efficiently for endurance on flattish rides. You now need to push yourself into the red. 7% is definitely not steep. Put the 28 on and spin, spin, spin.

Put the 28 on and spin, spin, spin.

No don’t, you shouldn’t need 34×28 for 7%. Leave as is, and learn to push a decent gear.

The steepest part of Cragg Vale is 7% and is doable in 50:21 without grinding even by an old dodderer like me. OK, it’s a road climb but the point stands.

Get yee to the gym, build up some leg strength to go with all that endurance you’ve got!

Yep, more muscle bulk is definitely the answer! 😉

Personally, I don’t think there’s much more to it than ride up more hills! hill reps is an efficient way to do lots of climbing, and it focuses the mind; you feel you have to try hard because it’s an interval, rather than merely a hill to be survived!

Cadence is personal. Some will spin at 120rpm. Some won’t. There really isn’t a ‘better’.

So Ashley… Go and find those >7% climbs! I need to do the same, seem to lost all ability to ride up hill 🙁

Sounds like your endurance is fine, but no speed. Intervals in the 1 min ute to 4 minute range easily done on the trails, just find a climb that lasts 1 min, 2 min, 3 min and 4 min and sprint up as fast as you can go (sustained pace). If at a trail centre you should have a nice descent to go down and then repeat 2-3 times at first and then build up the reps. Look at it as seasoning the downs and sprinting up to the top again – works wonders 🙂

Z3 is pretty low. Your sessions describe good endurance regime. I’d change your turbo training and include some harder interval sessions. Mix up your length, speed, hill work MTB road etc.

Lard innit.

I do ok until the hills at which point I’m off the back due to the 10kg long range fuel tank I carry.

What’s your weight and height ?

Height is 5’9in and weight is 11st13lbs.

Height is 5’9in and weight is 11st13lbs

Some of that can probably go.

Edit. I should probably clarify that I’m not trying to sound rude! But it’s one of the biggest factors when climbing. I’m 5’8″ and went from 13st+ to 10st6lbs roughly (and I’m a stocky build…no climber), and the difference I felt was massive. You don’t sound overweight, but I reckon if you shifted a few lbs, you’d notice it.

Cadence is personal. Some will spin at 120rpm. Some won’t. There really isn’t a ‘better’.

According to the bc coaching I had last night there is. Faster cadence is less taxing on the neuromuscular and more aerobic, so would it would suit the OP in his current guise to pedal faster.

See tonights Strava for evidence of 32 sprints in 54/21 for evidence Njee, 300w at 125 revs… 8)

+1 for the just ride up more hills.

I don’t know if this is the orthodox view but IME getting a singlespeed will teach your head and your legs a thing or two about how to get up hills through sheer effort 🙂