Quick question for the SSers out there.
At what point do you decide a hill is too steep and walk up it?

Was out on my first proper hilly SS ride 13 days ago, came to a 15% hill, and it really ground my cadence to a standstill – out of the saddle, more like a stepping machine, pushing the pedals as hard as I could and pulling up on the bars too. (Recipe for lower back issue? – logic says it has a lot in common with doing a deadlift with terrible form).

First couple of days afterwards legs were sore, and lower back mildly stiff, but not bad.
However at 4 days afterwards back seized up completely to the point I couldn’t bend at all. Fast forward to today, and i’m getting better, but still very stiff for first 30mins after getting up, and minor pain when bending.

90% sure its just a strain, but is this a common newbie SS mistake?
And any experiences of how long to fully recover? Dr Google says 3-4 weeks which would be a bummer as it writes off my entire ‘fun’ month before getting back to training.

At what point do you decide a hill is too steep and walk up it?

Fear of a chain failure meaning a cracked kneecap ..!
In reality, cadence below a certain point, <30rpm, and a fair bit to go ie if I can’t keep the gear turning and my HR maxes out for more than a brief period. Straining at a near-standstill is for the last couple of cranks not most of a hill.

(Recipe for lower back issue? – logic says it has a lot in common with doing a deadlift with terrible form).

Which is why I’m a lot happier on uncool short-reach geometry bikes with middling to higher front ends for SSing.

Early on I found the trick was doing rides ,where you knew what terrain you were going to be riding,then you could plan the bits where you needed to hit them a bit faster.If I was ambushed like you were,I would have been off and walking,sounds too hard.

Maybe trying to push too big a gear for the conditions?

I find riding SS or fixed a very ‘honest’ approach to bike riding – if you haven’t got the legs or the fitness, it shows! Hope you recover quickly.

Stretch after riding. Single speeding always did my back in, because I was too lazy to stretch.

i’ll always try my best to get up any hill on a SS, but there’s usually a pretty sudden stop point, couldn’t tell at what degree this happens, it’s quite hill length and traction variant

i’m not a doctor so your bad back may be a deeper underlying problem but SSing can make your back hurt, you’re putting a lot of strain through it standing up and hauling on the bars compared to a geared bike, so if it’s your first time out then i wouldn’t be surprised for this to happen

changing your hill-climbing technique can help with back strain, focusing on using your legs and arms more, although SSing is very good at building up core strength (a sign of poor core strength can be getting a bad back after cycling) so the more you do it the less it should happen

but like i said, not a doctor, or a physio, just a singlespeeder at times

Doesn’t sound unusual!

I’ve pinged my back before, but it’s been when stomping hard way from the lights while twisted checking behind me.

My first proper SS mtb ride was SSUK13 in Swanage. Heading up 9 barrow down, I couldn’t believe how much everything hurt! In a “good” muscle-burny way rather than connective tissue stuff. lower back muscles and abs particularly.

One thing I’ve found to be very helpful is having bars a bit higher, so when you’re at full thrutch up a steep hill, you’ve got the right distance between feet on pedals and hands on bars that you’re hauling with a straight back, rather than bent – I guess this relates to the “form” you mentioned? –

Edit – And Jameso’s “short and high” geometry.

I used to have a really sore lower back but about a year of doing these-

along with other basic core stuff has really helped. I used to find that SSing actually loosened my back up though.

although SSing is very good at building up core strength (a sign of poor core strength can be getting a bad back after cycling) so the more you do it the less it should happen

Yes, that’s one of the reasons I got one. Also got myself a book of core exercises to incorporate into training next year.
Did a couple of rolling rides and a couple of lesser hills and was fine.
Sounds like i’ve just made a newbie mistake that others have made to some extent too. Too stubborn to accept defeat and get off and walk!

One thing I’ve found to be very helpful is having bars a bit higher, so when you’re at full thrutch up a steep hill, you’ve got the right distance between feet on pedals and hands on bars that you’re hauling with a straight back, rather than bent – I guess this relates to the “form” you mentioned

Yes, exactly – or at the very least I can make sure I focus on keeping hips forward to maintain straight back

Yeah, if it’s too steep to ride up there’s no shame in getting off and pushing! How much fun is sitting and twiddling anyway? 😆

conversely i (and others) prefer a longer and lower position, more room to stretch out on the bike and keep weight over the front wheel

a shorter higher bike can lead to the back wanting to ‘concave’ when standing up climbing which can lead to issues

Did my first SS ride in 2years last Friday. Spinning uncovered some core issues and grinding gave my back muscles a good workout.

I try to keep on going until I fall over. I’ve got up stuff I was convinced I was about to fall and just kept on going

SS usually improves my back/core. Just sounds like you did too much too soon. Lots of stretches to try and loosen it off now, then return more gently and hop off a bit earlier for a bit.

Once you are back in shape, then attack every hill until you spin out or completely stop. A quick thrutch can often get you past the stall point – it’s full body stuff on a SS. 🙂

Repeating the mantra “nowhere to hide!” to myself usually helps me misery my way up stuff.

Just sounds like you did too much too soon. Lots of stretches to try and loosen it off now, then return more gently and hop off a bit earlier for a bit.

Yes, thats what I think/hope.
Last week was spent feeling sorry for myself.
This week a bit of light stretching and some flat 30min Z1 rides in a nice spinny gear i think.