Have been riding for about 18 months now and really need to do something about increasing my speed on the climbs. Recently I have been using middle ring to try to achieve this and although my strength has increased my speed hasn't. So I was wondering about doing interval training but not sure where to start ie amount of intervals, steepness and length of hills (I have a huge choice). Has anyone got any advice?

it's simple really, just pedal faster.

Lose weight.

And that means you, not your bike.

Unless youre already less then 10 stone.

1: Find a big **** off hill
2: ride up it
3: ride back down it
4: ride up it again
5: ride back down it
6: ride up it again
7: etc

Cut down on the beer; the best XC guys are the skinny ones. Also, 18 months isn't that long to get good at riding. Ditching the car and cycling everywhere is really good training.

PEDAL

Lose weight, give it death. I do neither.

Pedal in circles (i know pedals go in circles…)much better and how pro xc riders climb

But if you practice pedaling with one leg on the flat it teaches you to use a complete pedal loop. Only works clipped in mind. I do it on my darkside bike and it helps.

18 months is a pretty good amount of time to become if you work for it thou.

pedal faster, put more effort in…

Rape yourself on every climb, you will reap the rewards.

Oh, and MTFU.

Find a club who go fast up hills.

ATTACK.

Every hill.

Win.

Get a single speed, it will have you going up them hills faster.

You need FARTLEK

Is it painful leg burn as in joints = sports physio
Or muscular burning = training for lactic acid = fartlek

And get professional help / coaching if you're that keen!

short hills you almost want to sprint.

longish hills sit down and push a gear higher than you normally would, try different gears, always try and beat what you did last time,

just think of it as a race against yourself and have a laugh,

I'm a girly by the way with lots of stamina and determination and the type who will pedal forever but I just don't seem to be getting faster on the climbs. When I push hard I get really painful leg burn almost straight away – so do I start with short, frequent intervals, on the road or offroad and do I start on gentle climbs or go for the big ones and ride it as fast and hard as I can?

I'd be looking at doing some 20 second hill sprints, with 40 seconds recovery, hard as you can from a rolling start on a gradual sort of hill, roll back and do it again. Start with sets of five. After the first set, have a five minute rest – just roll around to keep your legs moving – then do another set and repeat, so you do three sets in total. Try that a couple of times a week, then after three weeks, go to 30-second sprints with 30 seconds of recovery.

You can build power and lactic tolerance pretty quickly and that should help. I'm not a coach though, it's just what works for me and you may be quite different physiologically. If you do do that, or similar, make sure you warm up properly for around 20 minutes first including some short, hard efforts.

First off I'd get a heart rate monitor, time yourself up a hill and take HR readings top and bottom.

Find somewhere flat and after a warm up pedal fast n hard for 3 minutes till you hit 85% max HR, then cruise for 3 mins.

Repeat about 6 – 9 times, twice a week.

After two or three weeks try the hill again, maybe try shorter intensity down to 90 secs.

Singlespeeding works wonders for my climbing, as I can now power down far better than before when I'm back on my geared bike.

Buy a training book and read it rather than take random advice online!

Proper training is fairly scientific…just "riding harder" won't get you very far.

You need to use my patented PLF method for climbing. Pedal Like F*ck.

But if you practice pedaling with one leg on the flat it teaches you to use a complete pedal loop. Only works clipped in mind.

er… I think you'll find you can do it on flats too.

When I push hard I get really painful leg burn almost straight away – so do I start with short, frequent intervals, on the road or offroad and do I start on gentle climbs or go for the big ones and ride it as fast and hard as I can?

I was in the same boat as you when i started riding, many moons ago! what worked for me was lactic threashold training. Once you have a good base, which it sounds like you have then you have to increase muscles tolerance to lactate, and train it to be used by your muscles. The way i did this was training at high intensity (just on the point of feeling your legs burn)but for times of around 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours. One of the least boring ways to do this is crit training or crit racing. Although there are no hills doing this, it is a sustained effort at near threashold, which it basically what you need to get up a hill quicker.

Eddy Merckx was from Belgium, pretty flat there, so hills are not compleatly necessary to improve climbing fitness.

Not as efficiently.

Don't use a higher gear. Spin a lower gear, but faster- it's better for your legs and quicker. I finally drummed this into the girlfriend (she's a roadie and considers climbs to be the point!) and she says it's much better.

A singlespeed will make you faster at singlespeeding and give you a very inefficient pedalling style for your geared bike.

Don't be scared of the granny ring- the littlest cog is there to help and there's no shame in using it. Sit and spin rather than mashing a higher gear, you'll be faster for it in the long run.

Why the hell would you want to get your legs used to using lactate? I would much prefer to get my legs used to getting rid of that stuff as quickly as possible.

Rolf has a point. Some folk seem to find something macho in not using your low gears but there is a cadence at which you produce the most power the most efficiently and this is a fairly fast spin – IIRC 70+. Mashing a low gear builds strength but you still produce the best power spinning. Going into a geaar that is too high for you will slow you down.

Cynic al is also right that real training if thats what you want takes real knowledge – and sorting the wheat from the chaff on here is hard.

PJ266 – Member

Rape yourself on every climb, you will reap the rewards.

Oh, and MTFU.

Anyone else but me find this offensive?

Sorry to hijack but- Jeremy, please can you e-mail me on lleebb76 @ googlemail.com please?

smee, it's the same thing.

TJ I see your point but I think you'll be in the minority.

rolf – will do

Al – of course I will – its the STW way not to want to think about these things

Sorry! no offense intended. Its a phrase regularly used by myself and my riding buddies.

Rolf has a point. Some folk seem to find something macho in not using your low gears but there is a cadence at which you produce the most power the most efficiently and this is a fairly fast spin – IIRC 70+. Mashing a low gear builds strength but you still produce the best power spinning. Going into a geaar that is too high for you will slow you down.

Cynic al is also right that real training if thats what you want takes real knowledge – and sorting the wheat from the chaff on here is hard.

Studies have actually shown that the most power is produced most efficiently at around 60 rpm. But because of the whole slow twitch fast twitch muscle stuff, you will be less fatigued keeping it at 80.

i ALWAYS tell myself on the climbs (sometimes even talk to myself :s)

dont pedal, wind.

actively concentrate on making your legs spin in as smooooth a circle as possible.
dont press down on the pedal at the horizontal position, wind it all the way around.

wiiiinnnd
wiiiiiiiiind

gear choice, the most comfortable for the movement!
hard enough to keep constant pressure on the pedals, not so hard that it upsets the winding motion.

In a similar vein, i like to think im winching myself up.

It might be in your head.
Go for a ride with your mates and give them a head start up a hill. Ride as fast as you can to see if you can pick them off one by one. Compare the time in climbing this hill overtaking your mates, to your time in riding it solo.