A reader asked a question about short hill climbs. “I am managing the long ones ok but am getting completely thrashed on the short ones!”
Short hill climbs just favour a different kind of build. And conversely, long hill climbs favour a different kind of rider too.
For example, when racing a rider like Robert Gough over the past few years.
- On Burrington Combe 2.3 miles at 5% – I might beat him by 20-30s.
- On Streatley hill 0.75 miles, he might beat me by 5-10 seconds
Rob is a foot shorter than me, and his legs are more muscular. Short climbs favour powerfully built riders with a higher % of fast twitch muscle fibres. I think he weighs more than me. I’m a real feather weight at 61Kg. Long climbs favour a rider with good endurance capacity and high power to weight ratio – fast twitch muscle fibres are much less important. For my ideal hill climb would be 10 km at 15%. – I would get benefit of endurance distance, and the very steep gradient would mean my super lightweight would have biggest impact. If the gradient was just 2% – powerful but heavier riders come have more of a chance.
If you take a climb like the Rake. To me it feels like an 800 metres running race. When really I’m a 1 mile to 5 Km specialist. Of course, a good hill climber can do well on every climb. But, some hills are always going to suit a particular kind of rider more than others. To some extent, you can train your weaknesses. I’ve been trying to train my sprinting this autumn. But, I can’t say my legs have started to resemble anything like Chris Hoy’s….
Just do your best, and know that next year on the Stang, you’ll probably do relatively better than this year.
These physiological differences also make hill climbing more interesting. Different riders can excel on different climbs.
Racing Short Hill Climbs.
The only thing to advise is to try and suffer as much as possible. Start off as fast as you dare, then just after half way start sprinting.
The only real technique is to be able to ride through the suffering and when every signal in the body is telling you to slow down.
It is possible to start off too fast. You shouldn’t sprint right from the start. But, quite often I’ve done these short hills and felt I held too much back.
But, also, there’s only so much to be picked up from advice at this stage. Just try to embrace the suffering. Don’t fear the gradient!
Related
Just read “how to ride Short hill climbs” and it answers my question.
Cheers Sean.
P.S. very good read.
10km @ 15%…like 15 or so Bec CC climbs in a row. Not sure I’d fancy that, somehow…
I think the 800m analogy is a good one. As someone who tries to juggle 800m running with hillclimbs I can say with some certainty that I prefer the shorter ones. As well as body type, training the correct energy systems is important. The shorter distances are a higher percentage anaerobic (at least 50%) whereas the longer climbs are mostly aerobic (albeit at threshold). So in terms of improving short hill climb performance, spending time in training above threshold to improve tolerance to lactic acid build up is probably key. Extending the 800m analogy, 800m runners would do reps varying from 200-600m simulating race intensity, to cope with the anaerobic aspect, on top of a solid aerobic base. I imagine you can translate that roughly to bike efforts (well, I try).
Like you say, though, (self-evident truth time) you’re always only ever going to be able to maximise your own ability in each aspect of climbing – you can’t exactly override your body’s limitations. Not everyone has the potential to be amazing at everything, you just have to find what suits you best.
Good points. interesting about 200-600m efforts.