If 100 of cyclists were asked if they like cycling uphill and I bet only 10% out of them gives you a “YES”! The reason why climbing uphill is not favorable among big group of cyclists as your body is stretched extremely, this will make you feeling exhausted, indeed!
However, challenging terrain is what cycling is all about, isn’t it? Unless you are a natural born talented cyclist, there is no other shortcut to attempt success other than keep on riding and riding =)
Whether you like uphill or not, here we share several tips (not shortcut, you still need to train gradually to overcome it ) which would help to improve the cycling uphill skill and make you a better climber.
Slow and Easy
Avoid falling into the trap where too many riders go off too hard at the beginning of a hill climb because they feel fresh and heart rate is still much lower than maximum heart rate. Stay in saddle and shift into a gear that you can do the entire climb in, even if it’s slow. Relax your upper body and take the ride slow and easy, control and make the pace of pedaling and breathing consistently.
Keep on Spinning
Spinning is far more effective for climbing uphill. Ideally the pedaling cadence of 70-80rpm is optimum, hence you need to choose the right gearing that allows you to maintain the cadence. Utilize the smaller gear for steeper or longer climbs while heavier gear for shorter climbs.
Loose Body Weight
Yes, loosing body weight will definitely make you a better climber.
Focus
I have to agree that sometimes we get distracted while we can’t see to top of the grade but please note that do not tend to breathe shallowly, maintain your focus and shift to smaller gear if necessary.
Practice Makes Perfect
You’ll definitely see significant improvement to schedule your ride schedule twice a week at least. Enjoy the ride and if possible find yourself a riding partner that equally strong or even stronger than you which you can try to catch up if possible.
A Trick?
You may consider reversing the stem (flip the stem over to angle downward on the steerer), we think that it would help the cyclist to lean forward on the handlebar for better pedaling position especially while we ride up the steep hill.
