Hill repeats - how?
Discussion
I know the obvious answer to the question in the title is "roll down a hill, ride up it and repeat...." but is there a particular way to get the max benefit from doing this, such as trying to maintain the same pace, cadence or effort each time? Or should I simply drag myself up as many times as possible as quickly as I can before my energy and/or time available run out?
Cheers,
L'rs
Cheers,
L'rs
As above
For hill training I just pack in as many hills as poss on a 2 hour ride and attack them hard, usually get 4 or 5 16-20% hills in over two hours
Or I do small circuits that feature the same hills, our town centre has a couple of small steepish ones, I go up one then down the other and repeat about 5 times....
Going up and down the same hill repeatedly doesn't appeal to me
For hill training I just pack in as many hills as poss on a 2 hour ride and attack them hard, usually get 4 or 5 16-20% hills in over two hours
Or I do small circuits that feature the same hills, our town centre has a couple of small steepish ones, I go up one then down the other and repeat about 5 times....
Going up and down the same hill repeatedly doesn't appeal to me
z4chris99 said:
nor me, but i live in london and hills are hard to find.. its usually find hill, go up to top, turn round, repeat.
The only hill close to me that's worth doing repeats on isn't overly long. As a result, I ride the hill at maximum effort then keep going hard over the top of the hill for about 1/2 a mile or so to the descent which brings me to the bottom of the initial hill. I then repeat it about half a dozen more times. I'm not sure if that's how I meant to do hill repeats but it seems to work for me!
There's no magic to hill reps, it is essentially just a variation of interval training. Arguably it might not even by optimal as you work the muscles used in climbing more - if your typical ride is flat as a pancake you'd be better off doing interval training on the flat. In my opinion the only difference is that hill reps are mentally easier to commit too because there's a physical target to achieve between reps rather than just a time or distance marker on the flat.
When I was doing some hills as training for a holiday in Majorca, I rode from London to Box Hill (this being the nearest I could find in terms of gradient to the mountains in Majorca) and just rode up and down until I could ride no more. I forgot I had to get back to London though and really struggled on the way back 
Leave a bit in the tank 
Leave a bit in the tank Hill repeats, you say? Near London, you say?
http://www.strava.com/activities/93725263 ...should sort you out. There's a ridge that runs from Guildford to Dorking, with any number of tasty climbs both up, and down both sides of the ridge. If you don't fancy riding all the way there, and back into London, the ride in that link starts and finishes at a free car park, with two cafes (I recommend 'The Barn' on the opposite side of the road from the car park) and toilets too. The ride itself is mainly on quiet roads, although the run down from (and back up to) Newlands Corner can be busy, and if it's a weekend, you can expect a lot of cars, motorcyles and cyclists on Box Hill. Generally the roads' surface quality ranges from 'fair' to 'feckin terrible' with a few smooth sections on the bigger 'A' roads.
(Please don't pay too much attention to my Av Speed on that ride, though
)
http://www.strava.com/activities/93725263 ...should sort you out. There's a ridge that runs from Guildford to Dorking, with any number of tasty climbs both up, and down both sides of the ridge. If you don't fancy riding all the way there, and back into London, the ride in that link starts and finishes at a free car park, with two cafes (I recommend 'The Barn' on the opposite side of the road from the car park) and toilets too. The ride itself is mainly on quiet roads, although the run down from (and back up to) Newlands Corner can be busy, and if it's a weekend, you can expect a lot of cars, motorcyles and cyclists on Box Hill. Generally the roads' surface quality ranges from 'fair' to 'feckin terrible' with a few smooth sections on the bigger 'A' roads.
(Please don't pay too much attention to my Av Speed on that ride, though
)I've done two types - 10 sets a mile each on the easy side of Steyning Bostal. I pushed myself hard on the 1st 3rd and 9th and took it easy on all the others.
Also done 3 sets of Ditchling a couple of times, going for it on the first time only.
I think it has benefitted the rest of my cycling but have also taken up running again so that may also help.
The 10 x was pretty dull - found it hard remembering what set I was on. It does give you a lot of data to look at on Strava after though!
Also done 3 sets of Ditchling a couple of times, going for it on the first time only.
I think it has benefitted the rest of my cycling but have also taken up running again so that may also help.
The 10 x was pretty dull - found it hard remembering what set I was on. It does give you a lot of data to look at on Strava after though!
z4chris99 said:
nor me, but i live in london and hills are hard to find.. its usually find hill, go up to top, turn round, repeat.
I used to go out to Crystal Palace, although Wimbledon is nicer:http://www.strava.com/activities/27920401
Zoom in around the bit that looks hilly, each one might only be about 200 vertical feet, but at least tree are different routes so you're not constantly doing the same bit. For extra fun, take a back pack full of bottles of water.
Just jam the rear brake on, then ride in the hardest gear whilst staying seated, with the seat faaaar too low, whilst wearing a warehouse high viz with steel toecapped boots thats what lots of the locals do near me , I always presumed it was some hardcore training routine to emulate hill repeats
Luckily there isn't a shortage of good hills where I live (in Rutland) so headed out last night.
I thought it would be a better way to spend an hour of a nice evening rather than on the turbo at home but I was surprised how dull I found it! Maybe when I'm on the turbo I don't think about actually riding, I just focus on the cadence/time/whatever I'm using to measure myself. However when I was repeating the same hill I was (obviously!) on my bike and just wanted to ride somewhere, probably because I could...
Will try it again and see if I feel any differently and maybe get some mates along to add an element of competition to keep it interesting. I may end up sticking to turbo intervals and proper rides in future
I thought it would be a better way to spend an hour of a nice evening rather than on the turbo at home but I was surprised how dull I found it! Maybe when I'm on the turbo I don't think about actually riding, I just focus on the cadence/time/whatever I'm using to measure myself. However when I was repeating the same hill I was (obviously!) on my bike and just wanted to ride somewhere, probably because I could...
Will try it again and see if I feel any differently and maybe get some mates along to add an element of competition to keep it interesting. I may end up sticking to turbo intervals and proper rides in future
mcelliott said:
What is interesting about that is that it shows how inaccurate GPS is at measuring altitude without a barometric pressure gauge.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff