Due to a small child and work commitments I get little chance to get out on the bike for hours on end. Before Christmas I started using a turbo trainer to get my fitness back up after 2-3 years off the bike.

This is working reasonably well, but what I have found is that I lack power on climbs and have to use the granny ring where others use middle ring.

So whats the quickest and best way to develop power for climbing? Is it literally just a case of finding a hill and riding up and down it as many times as I can in an hour in the middle ring, or is there a more effective training method?

Ta

Do some squats or step ups, with a weight would be good. Heavy and slow repetitions for stregth improvements, lighter and faster but for longer for endurance improvements.

try this on the turbo….Angels is particularly good

FunkyDunc – Member

Is it literally* just a case of finding a hill and riding up and down it as many times as I can in an hour in the middle ring …

that should be about as effective as any other approach.

try riding ride a singlespeed, it will make you strong, like bull.

(*no need for that at all)

You don’t need to be on the bike for hours. Some short sharp hill reps or leg weight exercises. Or lose weight 🙂

[edited to oblivion]

“Is it literally just a case of finding a hill and riding up and down it as many times as I can in an hour in the middle ring”

In essence, yes. Try to find a reasonably big (but not massive, miles and miles on end) climb, and do reps of it. Instead of tapering off and going easier when you reach the top, try to push even harder and smash the crest of it, then turn back round and ride down, making sure you keep turning the pedals to clear the lactic acid away from your legs, and breathe deeply to get your heart rate back down. Little cool down spin at the bottom, then do it again, and again, and again… If you’re doing it properly I’d be surprised if you managed an hour! It’s a hard form of training but the best way to improve.

Doing an interesting climb helps as well, eg, something with some sections where you have to think a bit rather than just a straight road or fireroad.

If you have a local gym with one of those stepper machines, put it on something like 7 – which is a slower, more forceful stroke than the harder 10 where you have to go like the clappers to keep your height.

then push this hard for 20 minutes or so – you get a big increase in leg power.

As mentioned, get a singlespeed, and, and this is the important bit; smoke cigs.

‘But Elfin, that’s just insane and stupid!’ I hear you cry.

No it’s not, for you see, it’s motivational: there is no greater reward at the top of a big climb than a nice ciggie, made all the more pleasurable when you get to the top then see all the non-smoking geared riders still struggling upwards. 🙂

Well, works for me, anyway….

Mmmmm…. lovely, juicy, succulent, cool and refreshing ciggies….

I would use a road with no technical ability you are destroying your legs to make you strong you dont need to be worrying about line choice whilst grimacing with the pain

Six months on a singlespeed. It’s more than just leg power.

I’d recommend a technical off-road climb, the kind where you HAVE to pedal like hell or you’ll stop. Good technical practice too.

Doesn’t need to be too long of a hill to develop strength.

Hill reps.

I popped ribs out last summer and had to get strength back PDQ for a sportive (Bealach Mor). Found a short quiet hill on the road about 10-15 mins pedal from home. Was about 40m climb in 400m and got steeper towards the top so pretty much perfect.

Did an hour session – 15 mins out, smash myself in up and down it 10-12 times (alternating seated and standing) and 15 mins home. Made a huge difference to my climbing strength for an hour a week for a month.

At risk of stating the obvious – losing weight helps too (if you have any to loose). Climbing is all about power to weight – hill reps help with power, diet helps with weight.

Start at bottom of hill. Put 10 stones in your pockets/Camelbak. Ride up hill, drop one stone off, ride back down. Repeat. When there is a pile of stones at the top and none in the Camelbak, then you can go home. 🙂

ride hills

as above i find a mix of hills best so some short sharp ones then longer steadier climbs, tech off road climbs, as summer is coming some muddy grass climbs.
Mix the time some short some long
Spinning……..give it a try particulary if you can find a class for cyclists…big difference

Some gym work but not just strength you need strength/endurance.

Above all enjoy as it will reap benefits

as above i find a mix of hills best so some short sharp ones then longer steadier climbs, tech off road climbs, as summer is coming some muddy grass climbs.

Sounds just like the Quantocks. 😆

Ride up some hills ?

Fixie.

buzz-lightyear – Member
Six months on a singlespeed. It’s more than just leg power.

+1

You don’t have to stick a hard ratio on it. It’s the climbing techniques you’ll learn that counts, although you’ll pick up a bit of leg strength too.

Always attack hills.

Ride hills as much of the above suggests. You could try finding a decent middle ring climb (say five + minutes), ride it on the steady side of hard & time how long it takes, then repete climb until you can no longer keep within that time, steady ride home.. 🙂

It’s more than just leg power.

This is true. I see too many people sitting down, grinding away in a low gear, and not getting anywhere very fast. Watch les grimpeurs in the TDF or other big road races. See the way they ‘dance’ out of the saddle, on big steep climbs. Learn to move your body to maximise your pedalling efficiency. I have regularly outclimbed riders with far more ‘power’ than me. Technique is very important.

definitely singlespeeding.

Mrs S is a 3hr marathon runner, but out on our bikes the other evening (is it wrong to get a babysitter so you and the Mrs can go riding together? 😉 ) it was clear she just doesnt have any hill strength. She could probably tank along on her PX Carbon all day, but me on the pompino can sprint up a hill in a fraction of the time she takes – and Im horrendously unfit. Its just that I only ever ride SS whereas she never gets any proper resistance training for strength.

buy a road bike.

best mtb training you can get.

buy a road bike.

best mtb training you can get.

Yeah, but surprisingly useless for short, sharp efforts, like, say boosting a singlespeed over a few rocky Peak District bedrock steps on a climb.

It’s quite a confusing thread this. I gather that the best way to boost power on climbs is… to ride a singlespeed, to do weights, to ride a road bike, to smerk tabs, to ride up ‘some hills’, to try spinning at the gym, to build a pile of stones at the top of a hill, to ride a non technical climb repeatedly, to ride a technical climb repeatedly, to do animated US turbo sessions with crap music, to use a stepper, to dance on the pedals like a Tour de France Pro… and so on.

Are you having trouble with long climbs? Short sharp ones? Fwiw, as a very average rider, I had a training programme off iDave before he was iDave and the most effective stuff for off-road climbing power were a series of brutal, painful but relatively short hill sprint intervals, but I don’t think it’s fair to detail them on a public forum. I’d be looking into something like that

get a fixed gear bike……did it for me

development of a strong core aka stomach and back muscles will develop your power the most!

Get some sandals, grow a beard AND GET A SINGLESPEED 😆

SS changed the way I ride. I had a Scandal SS and rode a horrible SS work bike for ages . Got rid of both in the end but I select bigger gears now on my 2×9 and get up faster than I did. (I run 11/32 : 26/38 )

If I wasn’t dreadfully fat I would be even faster

“SS changed the way I ride.”

I completely agree, at least on my HT. I always sat and span low gears. 6 months singlespeeding taught me basic standing climbing technique and is very useful on the trails. Despite going back to gears, the change in style seems permanent.

Different story on the FS – it doesn’t appreciate standing climbing.

buy a road bike.

best mtb training you can get.

Rubbish.

Maybe long fast sustained rides without stops are good training – makes no difference if it’s on the road.

And as for SS – that just forces you to try hard. If you’ve got any commitment you can do the same on a geared bike.

“If you’ve got any commitment you can do the same on a geared bike.”

Yes, I’d say I lack commitment!

Can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or not 🙂

Have you lot not done things like challenge yourself to make it up a climb in say the middle ring, or big ring? Or one gear higher than the last time you did something?

Ride up some hills as fast as you can. Buy a very light bike and lose some weight, this also helps.

you need more pork scratchings in your life.

Why do so many of you seem to think you need to buy stuff to get better at doing the stuff you already have all the equipment for?

Having swapped bikes with a buddy at the weekend to ride the bike I feel I need he beat me up the hill on the bike I have and told me how much he liked it.

Eat well train harder and save money.

NB: it is ok to spend money on shiny bike stuff just admit that it is mostly because you want to not because it will make you better.

Now sat waiting for all the fixie single speed types to tell me I am wrong and how they have become better.

As a cheaper alternative to getting a SS, is it OK to just stop changing gear? If so, do you HAVE to also grow a beard or as long as you have some sort of dormant gear shifting capability can you remain clean shaven?

😉

Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades.

You can buy fitness. It’s called a coached training plan. As a mate once said to me, what do you think is going to make you quicker? Spending 400 quid on XTR cranks or spending that money with a good coach and following a well htought out, structured training plan. When you look at it like that, it’s a bit of a no-brainer.

SS is good, more so because it takes away the need to be disciplined when it comes to snatching away at gears which inevitably leads to being seated in the granny.