Training Help ….. coping with a lack of hills …..

Up until about four years ago I lived and rode in the south west.

Plenty of hills and varied terrain.

I then moved, with work, to the east of England. Whilst the terrain is varied it lacks the hills.

As such my riding and fitness have altered.

I entered MM last year for the first time as part of a 4 man team. Whilst knowing the area well I hadn’t give the hills a thought.

Result ….. it was a shock to the system! 😆

Entered again this year, four man team, and keen to improve on my performance.

So without actual hills what am I best of doing to increase fitness for tackling such terrain?

turbo train.
done right – you’ll not be walking properly for days.

Get one with good resistance. Which means avoiding the cheaper ones.
A fluid one with good, progressive resistance allowing you to up the ante by simply changing gears works for me.

mudsux – Member

turbo train.
done right – you’ll not be walking properly for days.

No space for my own 😕

Are gym classes worth doing?

Riding everywhere in a big gear is a half reasonable way to simulate hills without actually having any. Do a couple of miles in your top gear, so you’re fighting it.

Are gym classes worth doing?

Spin classes?

Not done any myself but might be worth a punt.
Personally, I’d find that space for a turbo trainer. Knock a wall down or something.

Riding everywhere in a big gear is a half reasonable way to simulate hills

Without monitoring power output – it isn’t.

I live in Cambridge. If I want to simulate long hills, I just do intervals into the wind. There are enough 1-3 minute hills that I can just do reps up those to replicate short sharp climbs in races.

I’d say a mix of strength training (big gears) and intervals (high intensity).

But I have read that only riding on hills trains you properly for riding on hills (i.e. fit flatlanders were outclimbed by identically fit hilly-area riders)

not sure – but in theory, if you could …
you’d use a powermeter.
you’d obtain your threshold power.
you would then change down to a gear allowing you to cadence at say 60-70rpm and also make your threshold power.
you could also use a higher rise block on the turbo trainer to simulate the bike positioning of a hill climb.

Sorry it doesn’t solve the OPs problem tho. due to lack of space.

Plenty of great climbers come from the flatlands. You’d be amazed at how effective wind resistance is….

Without monitoring power output – it isn’t.

Yes it is. You can ensure good form with a power meter, and make sure you’re not just ticking over in a big gear, but with a bit of common sense riding a couple of gears higher than you would is, like I said, a half reasonable way of doing it.

Threshold isn’t vastly relevant here, seeing as most people will climb above their threshold power anyway.

ourmaninthenorth – Member
Plenty of great climbers come from the flatlands. You’d be amazed at how effective wind resistance is….

Does “comes from” = “trained in”?

Riding everywhere in a big gear is a half reasonable way to simulate hills without actually having any.

really? how come?

Coming from the East side myself i can relate to that, the only way round it ive found is mulitple reps. There must be a reasonable slope somewhere near you. Its a bit boring and very hard work but it will pay off. Ideally the hill should take around 2 mins to get up at a reasonable pace try a few reps to start and steadily increase over the weeks. You’ll get some funny looks but it will work.

I get what njee20 is saying to a point, high gear work is good for endurance but i would argue that it isnt simulating the same conditions as a hill climb (except when on a hill of course!)

You can still put put as much power on the flats as you can the hills, of course. It’s just mentally a little more difficult to apply yourself. Get over this and you’ll be fine. In other words, get stuck in.

One I like is to pick a speed – 35mph, and try and hit it on the flat. Fun because you can either go all out for it and reach it quickly or take a little longer which is easier but you have to do it for longer… If you start making it, then increase the speed.

The only problem with riding on the flat in a hard gear is it doesnt really simulate out of the saddle climing. Can you not just find the biggest hill near you and crank up it out of the saddle in a tough gear?

Then just keep doing this over and over.

I may be talking bollocks though (not unusual)

One I like is to pick a speed – 35mph, and try and hit it on the flat.

Genius. Simplest outdoor intervals. Love it..!

molgrips – Member
One I like is to pick a speed – 35mph, and try and hit it on the flat. Fun because you can either go all out for it and reach it quickly or take a little longer which is easier but you have to do it for longer

has to be easier to get up to speed ASAP

davidtaylforth – Member
Can you not just find the biggest hill near you and crank up it out of the saddle in a tough gear?

Have you ever visited the East of England? 😉 😀

I live on the Cambs/Lincs border and it is as flat as a pancake. There are a few bumps in the terrain, but nothing I would class as hills.

I have the same problem with regards to training. Intervals help, but I don’t think there’s any substitute for decent hills to train on.

My Bro-in-Law brought his bike over to mine a while ago for the weekend (he’s from Bristol) and was gob smacked by how flat it was.

One advantage is that you are always pedalling though, I guess. There is no freewheeling time to recover a bit…..

Depends what you are trying to simulate. Unless you are Pantani you aren’t going to do 20 minute + climbs in the alps standing up.

The thing I have found is that I can maintain, and often improve on, my flatland power levels when doing long climbs but I need to have gears that allow me to keep pedalling at over 75-80 rpm.

Have you ever visited the East of England?

No I havent (thank god by the sounds of it)

When you say “there are a few bumps in the terrain”

What sort of a lakeland hill would that compare to?

I used to live near Cambridge, the biggest hill for miles was the road up to the local golf course.
I was mighty tough when I was 13 years old and had a shoulder bag full of Sunday papers.

I don’t think it would even be mentioned in a route guide as a climb, or a hill. Just a bit of road that is a little sloped. Sort of like your neighbours drive but a little longer.

When you say “there are a few bumps in the terrain”

What sort of a lakeland hill would that compare to?

Imagine the slip road from a dual carriageway up to the bridge to turn right – that passes for a reasonable bump

My mate used to leave me for dead on any climb. I recently started going to the gym doing the Stronglifts 5×5 training, which involves squats 3x a week. After a month of this, i now leave him behind. maybe he’s got less fit…or maybe i got stronger, either way, it worked for me in a short time. My legs feel much stronger and i find i can push a higher gear than i used to on sections of our regular ride.
Might be worth a try.

^^ Sounds like your issue was strength rather than endurance. Which might sound strange since most MTBs have a good spread of gearing.
Most climbers generate huge amounts of torque/power at the cranks with waif like physiques. Top climbers therefore have high power / weight.
But the true measure of a good climber is how much power they can output and sustain.

Get yourself a heart rate monitor or ideally a power meter and work out your training zones. In winter mid week use a turbo. For any other season or winter weekends as has been said above find a route with no sharp bends or junctions preferably into the wind and do long intervals from 20 mins to an hour close to your lactate threshold. Mix some shorter more intense intervals into the plan also. It takes more concentration to do this on the flat but its perfectly possible. Also do seated and standing sprints which will be good for your leg strength.