Advice on changing gears and powering up hills...

[MysteryLemon]

I've just purchased a new bike. Something a bit more road focused than my previous road tyred mountain bike. A 2013 Schwinn Slicker.

I actually sat down (on the bog, as you do) and skimmed the manual, just for a bit of light reading.

Now, my usual style of changing gears and powering up hills would be to shift up to a gear I would feel comfortable standing up to pedal and then going for it. Often this would turn into a bit of a slog and I would either switch up and carry on (at a slower pace) or switch up a bit more and continue to pedal whilst seated.

This is a fairly new style I had adopted (maybe last few months) as I found it got me to the top of hills far quicker, being able to stay in a low gear and just power up the hill rather than climbing with legs spinning wildly but doing little work.

Now the manual that came with the bike states that the best method for attacking hills is to try to maintain a constant leg RPM and switch up accordingly to where you are able to maintain leg RPM at a rate you are comfortable. It also says you shouldn't stand up to pedal unless you have run out of gears to switch up to.

I've tried this method on a ride yesterday and whilst it seemed to work quite well in that I didn't wear myself out too much on longer hills, I often found I would be in the highest gear with nothing else to switch up to, making slow progress and the leg RPM was too fast to make standing up comfortable.

So, what is the best method for attacking hills? I'm no pro athlete but am reasonably fit (tend to average around 20 miles per ride at the moment on hilly terrain) so some advice on how to best build my stamina rather than just knackering myself out would be great!

Cheers

[TKF]

Everyone has their own preference and there are no one size fits all approach for hills. However this

MysteryLemon said:

climbing with legs spinning wildly but doing little work.

is very wrong.

If you grind along at 60rpm rather than spin at 90rpm (or above) it might feel like you are producing more power. But what you are actually feeling is the torque through your knees which deceives you into thinking you are "doing more work".

Only a power meter will show you this for sure but a simple test you can do is simply time yourself standing in a big gear then do it again seated in a little gear. I know my results show I'm better seated and spinning.

Short sharp hills are different as you can power up them standing but longer hills you are normally better seated. I'm far from the best climber but even I go past people bobbing around whilst my shoulders are planted still.

Also worth noting that when you stand up your heart rate typically leaps about 5-10% so you'll be exhausted sooner.

[MysteryLemon]

Thanks for that, very interesting.

As you say, I always assumed that if it feels like i'm working hard, I probably am.

[WinstonWolf]

Went for a bike fit the other day and I was told to try and maintain 90 rpm everywhere. He said it'll feel wrong at first but I'll tire less in the long run as your legs are getting more oxygen and doing less actual work.

Currently experimenting and puffing a lot but going faster

[MysteryLemon]

WinstonWolf said:

Went for a bike fit the other day and I was told to try and maintain 90 rpm everywhere.

This is the general gist of what the manual said.

Probs worth sticking at it then and getting use to it. Feels odd with legs going at full pelt all the time.

[WinstonWolf]

It does, genuinely thought I would be faster changing up but Strava clocked me a minute quicker on an eighteen mile regular ride. The benefits were most noticeable into a strong wind, I didn't slow down as much. No idea about hills yet, there aren't any in the fens, just killer head winds. Always.

[Magic919]

90 rpm ceases to feel like full pelt after a while. Only feels fast at first, in my experience.