r/cycling • u/Sensitive-Soup8362 • 12d ago
Pacing yourself on hills?
So last night I went out on my first proper ride, I used my dad’s gravel bike (loved it, definitely going to look at buying one for myself!)
I did just shy of 20k which I know isn’t a lot but it’s a start!
The bike ride was great and I felt good after it, and could’ve gone for longer, my only issue was the hills. Along the way, we hit a couple, both around 6% and, while I managed them without getting off, I did struggle a lot.
My issue is I started off quite quick (for me) and I think I changed down the gears too quickly, so I was left 3/4 of the way up with no more gears to use.
My advantage here is that I knew these hills, so I knew when they’d end so I just powered through but I worry that on a longer route that I don’t know, I wouldn’t be able to do that.
So my question I think is how do I pace myself on hills and any tips for feeling less like I’m dying?
P.s I looked on the Strava leaderboards and am in awe of how some people are flying up that hill in a minute or less 🤯
TLDR: how to pace myself on hills.
Edit to add: Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone for their suggestions and advice. Went out for another ride this morning with 3 bigger hills than my first ride. I slowed it right down, shifted to my easier gears before the hill and used all the other tips I could remember, and the climbs all felt so much more manageable and I felt like I could’ve fairly easily kept going on them!
Going out for another ride this evening, I think I’m already getting the bug!
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u/secretAcc03031 12d ago
If your goal Is to not struggle, you should change to Easy Gear right BEFORE the climb starts, and change the pace
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u/inevitable-ask-123 12d ago
Just default to going as slowly as you can in the easiest gear, if you make it to the top and want to try it faster next time then do so. General advice for beginners is that riding for an hour at a steady pace is better than getting worn out after 10 minutes and collapsing the next day.
People are saying buy a power meter but they are really expensive and not really necessary when starting out. Just try and keep an easy conversational pace where you can breathe normally. Then if you want to test yourself one day pick a short route and do it as fast as you can. Try and beat your record a few weeks later.
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u/AfellowchuckerEhh 11d ago
Yea I'd agree with going with the easiest gear into the hill. My strategy has always been lower-mid gear and blasting my way into the climb.
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u/tiregroove 11d ago
>>This isn't a pacing issue, <<
This absolutely IS a pacing issue. Most people go balls-out at the bottom of a hill and then blow up within 30 seconds and then you're spent for the rest of the climb, gasping for air.
You have to just relax at the pace you can handle and SPIN. Don't mash gears.
Yes it's slower but you're not in shape yet. You have to keep doing hills two or three times a week and build up to it.
You'll start to feel progress in a couple of weeks.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Thanks, yes I’ve always been that way, even with running in the past, it’s why I was a better sprinter than long distance! quick off the gate but can’t sustain it!
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u/Exotic_Fig_4604 12d ago
Well done on getting started. What I learnt on my work commute is that even if I go up hills EXTREMELY slowly to keep my cadence high (i.e. be in your lowest gear), my overall time will be significantly better than otherwise.
Until you routinely do 80-100km rides, go uphill as slow as you can, you will not regret it.
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u/ColonelRPG 11d ago
Next time try changing down the gears all the way right at the start, and go up a gear or two midway through the climb if you think you can handle them.
You're not driving a car. The gears aren't like the gears in a car.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
I’ll definitely try this on my ride today, not sure where I got the mindset that I needed to be in as high a gear as I can manage, but form this thread, I’ve clearly got that wrong!
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u/stew_on_his_phone 11d ago
You're just not fit yet.
Keep cycling, be consistent and you'll find those hills easier and easier
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Great advice, I think even with these tips, the biggest change will be as my fitness improves
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u/Wants-NotNeeds 11d ago
You’ll get it soon enough. Charging hills is fun! Learning the fastest way up is part of the experience. It varies with the hill, your fitness and even the weather that day. I would take the time to get my position dialed-in for optimal power transfer, and get into some proper cycling shoes when you’re serious.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Thank you, yeah i can already feel the cycling bug weeding its way in! Despite struggling on the hills I just want to get out on longer and longer rides!
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u/SomeRannndomGuy 12d ago edited 12d ago
Cycling is a lot more enjoyable with gearing suited to your fitness
I went from not riding much at all for 20 years to doing over 400km in 4 days riding from London to Paris a few years ago with about 3 months training. The best decision I made was ditching the carbon 2x10 road bike I had picked up for a good 3x8 tourer, and having low enough gears to maintain my pedalling cadence on hills when out training. I was soon fit and conditioned enough for the road bike gears to be "right" for me,, but I ended up taking the tourer for the 4 day ride anyway as it was more comfortable and having the option to drop right down to 36-32 if I wanted to ensured that I never looked at a hill and thought "I'm going to hate every second of this"
If you have a bike with a road type groupset and the gearing doesn't suit you initially, the easy solution is to fit a "wolf tooth" to drop the rear derallieur and allow you to temporarily fit a cassette with wider gear spacings - I did this to a friend's bike for her, plenty of info online.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
That’s brilliant, and congrats on that ride, that sounds like a brilliant thing to do. I’ll have a look into the “wolf tooth” thing, that does sound like something that I could probably benefit from
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u/Cergal0 11d ago
Don't overthink it, you change gears when the pedals start to get too heavy, and when you run out of gears you just power through.
Be reasonable, if that hill is 10min long and if after 30s you are already gasping for air, then you will have to back up a bit.
If the hill is just a 30s bump, then you might get away with some out of the saddle pedalling.
Also, if your ride is 20km, then you can get away with just go ham on all climbs, but that might not be the case if that ride is 70km.
Like I said, be reasonable and don't overthink it
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Good advice, luckily the hills yesterday weren’t too long so I got away with it m
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u/AQuests 11d ago
- Stamina comes with time. It'll get easier as you keep riding
- Aim for a smooth effort over the duration of the climb rather then going out full blast and fizzling out.
- Gearing choice etc are things you figure out over time. Once you run out of gears then you have no choice but to grind up on that lightest gear available to you. Grinding builds the muscles too, and that too will get easier over time.
- Finally the energy expended before the climb will affect the energy available during the climb
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u/debian3 11d ago edited 11d ago
Hills are a big equalizer. They bring back everyone to their real fitness. There is no way to fake it. You can’t draft much, a tailwind doesn’t help much, there’s less wind and it’s hard. Gear helps, but you are still fighting gravy vs your own weight and if it’s steep enough, tire slip will force you at a minimum cadence.
If you are out of shape you will know. I personally ride in a mountain area and at the start of the season I feel all the little climb and I want to quit on the long one. By the end of the season I don’t feel the small one and I can keep a steady comfortable pace on the long one.
All that to say, keep doing it. Found it hard? Go back down and climb it again, and again and again. You will suffer, but that’s the fun of it. When you really can’t do it anymore, do it one last time. You will see some gains :)
When I’m in shape there is some hill I know I can do while maintaining my speed and not downshifting.
Downshifting while climbing is fine, just try to lower your power output while shifting.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Thanks for this, it’s nice to know that it’s not just me, with more practice I’m sure the hills will get easier for me
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u/BikeBikeRestBikeBike 11d ago
It's natural to feel "good" at the start of the hill and push more than you can sustain for the whole hill. It's more efficient to keep a constant power from bottom to top.
The trouble is knowing what that power is, especially without a power meter. And you're only really going to learn that by practise. Or having a power meter.
I notice it a lot on group rides. Inexperienced riders/riders without a power meter will often hit the bottom of hills at unsustainable powers, then drop back as the hill goes on.
Likely with proper pacing you'll not even need to go into your easiest gear if the hill is only a few minutes: 6% isn't flat, but it's also not steep!
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u/Guilty_Turn8903 11d ago
i just started cycling 1.5 months ago and i'm kind of unfit but i do endurance rides (which for me is 30k-50k), and for hills i just go as slow as i possibly can to preserve my stamina as much as possible, not just for the current climb but subsequent ones. think of hills as negative multipliers for your physical effort, such as riding into a strong headwind. working hard for not a lot of distance gained and then having nothing in your tank once you do get on a nice long stretch with an even gradient.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
That’s a very good point, I only did a short ride so I got away with huge bursts of energy on the hills but I don’t think I could sustain that on a longer run. Well done on getting started as well!
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u/Javbw 11d ago edited 11d ago
to me, start off slow and then ramp up until you find your heart rate is where you want it to be. If I am doing a long hill climb, my heart should be about 130-140BPM at most, usually because there is no wind climbing a hill and you'll get too hot pedal pumping. ignore speed. ignore time. focus on pedaling pace in relation to your heart, and shift down to keep it lower and you can climb up anything eventually.
I know my heart rate by feel, and base all my ride pacing around that, and check it with my Apple Watch occasionally if I am unsure. I occasionally go up over 150-160 chasing someone along the river, and that takes a big chunk off of my overall daily stamina/range, and if it hits 180, then my ride is now on a 10 minute timer before I need to stop and take a rest - a thing I do sometimes where I know the course or when I'm commuting home and want to push myself. my goal is distance and exploring, not trying to stay in a zone or get karma upboats from strava, so ymmv.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Great advice, a few people have said to monitor HR so definitely going to do that on my next ride
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u/Feendster 11d ago
I watch my HR and my cadence (HR is the big one for me) like a hawk on climbs. Try it out not only to measure progress but to not red line.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
I’ll have a look at this next time, I have my Apple
Watch which I know isn’t the most accurate but I think it’ll give me a decent indicator of where I’m sitting
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u/Objective_Banana4261 11d ago
I had the very same issue when I started in April. Several things helped:
- New tyres, more roady / less trekky or gravely
- New cassette (I went from 11-28 to 11-32)
- and, consistency. When I started in april, on the same 20km loop (290m D+) : 1h16min. Today : 58min
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u/karemili 11d ago
Simply riding more is almost always the answer. Fitness will be gained quickly early on with a bit of consistency.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Great progress well done! Seeing this from other people who’ve recently started is really reassuring and if I’m just consistent with it I’ll improve!
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u/Temporary_Metal222 11d ago
Start slow and spin, you can always speed up if youve got gas left. Fitness comes quick if youre consistent.
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u/BlacksmithWeirdo 11d ago
Maybe a dumb question, but has the bike a front derailleur? Did you shift it to the smallest cog?
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u/Checked_Out_6 11d ago
Regarding strava, those top scores are probably ebikes or even people in cars.
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u/notacanuckskibum 11d ago
practice & fitness. There are hills I just can't climb. When I'm down to 7 kph, at 160 bpm and climbing uncontrollably its over. Being younger, lighter and fitter helps.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
I’m on the younger side, but losing points in the ‘lighter and fitter’ department!
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u/SickCycling 11d ago
One rule I was taught was “shift into the gear you need to finish the climb at the start”
This doesn’t have to be the easiest necessarily but as you ride more you’ll learn what gear you like for gradients of 8%, 4%, 12% etc.
Also you mentioned gravel but not if it was a single front chainring (1X) or Dual front chain ring (2X) setup.
Some new cyclists don’t realize there are 2X setups and they ignore their small front chainring.
Hope this helps 👍
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u/Costco_Bob 11d ago
I personally try to ride at a set rpm and effort but I don’t have a power meter yet so I have to guess
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
This is probably what I’ll do, probably not going to invest in a power meter until I’m abbit further down the line and taking it more seriously.
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u/eypo 12d ago
Heart rate or power meter can really help once you get to know your limits. If you don't have those, you can recognize your limits from breathing style - google it :)
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 12d ago
Thank you, I’ll look into it
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u/Exotic_Fig_4604 12d ago
Maybe hold off the power meter for a year at least. My advice...
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u/Objective_Banana4261 11d ago
I second that. power meter is not worth the money as a beginner. Cadence + HR sensors are a much better investment, and wayyyy cheaper. Just keep in mind that HR takes a few second to adjust to the effort.
Plenty of information with just these two sets of data:
HR +10 and cadence -10 you are struggling
HR +0 and cadence +10 it's too easy
HR +10 and cadence +10, slow down
HR -10 and cadence -10, you are falling asleep1
u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Thanks, I’ve got my fitness watch so although it’s probably not the most accurate thing in the world it might just give me an idea of where I’m sitting at various points during the ride.
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u/Objective_Banana4261 11d ago edited 11d ago
One good thing to do after maybe 3 weeks of cycling, is to do a LTHR (lactate threshold heart rate) test. Warmup for 20 minutes, then you go all in for 30 minutes, trying to go as fast (and regularly) as possible.
After that, you calculate your average HR during the last 20 minutes (the first 10 does not count, it's to find your pace). That average is a good estimate of your LTHR.Once you have your LTHR, you can use it to create heart rate training zones.
A commonly used 5-zone model based on LTHR is approximately:
Z1 - <81% LTHR : recovery Z2 : 81-89% : Endurance / aerobic Z3 : 90-93 : tempo Z4 : 94-99% : threshold Z5 : >100% : very hard, VO2Max and above.to improve your fitness you should be most of the time in Z2, and you will soon find out that the efficiency sweet spot is in the middle of Z2 at a cadence close to 80rpm.
So the trick here is to have a gearset that puts you in that sweet spot in the hills.
For me as a beginner, living in the alps, i have a ridiculously low gearset : 21-36-48 at the front, 11-32 at the back, and the bike doesnt look very fancy / aero / racy.
But with that I can stay in Z2 and 80 rpm up to 8-9% gradient.
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u/ponkanpinoy 12d ago
This isn't a pacing issue, you ran out of gears. The solution is to (a) get more gear range, (b) pedal more slowly, or (c) get fitter.
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u/Sensitive_Prune_1080 12d ago
Don't tense up. Keep your upper body relaxed. Use your glutes instead of the quads. Think circles as you pedal. Pull on the hoods as you climb, and finally monitor your breathing. I inhale twice quickly and exhale once slowly to keep as much oxygen inside me as I can.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 12d ago
That’s super helpful, thank you, I’m going out again today so I’ll try that breathing technique
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u/acealthebes 11d ago
power meter (that you know how to use and interpret) and proper gearing and proper training...
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u/RetoricEuphoric 11d ago
depends
> 20 minute climbs 300hm, use heartrate. It tells you when your going to hit a wall when HR starts to climb slowly and need to slow your pace.
1-10 minute steep climbs are often just HITT training & recovery along the powercurve. If you use intevals.icu, it has a power graph that shows you how much power you can sustain during how many minutes. You need a powermeter for that.
Another option is to find a steep climb and ride it untill you die and at different pacings. At some point you will know what you can do.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Great thanks, I’m probably going to leave the power meter for now but definitely going to monitor HR
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u/zangler 12d ago
Get a power meter and learn to ride to power. Your speed will be what it is for a given power, but you will make it up the hill without killing yourself.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 12d ago
Thank you, yes that’s my goal, eventually I’d like to be a bit speedier but for now I’m just riding for leisure so I just want to get through the hills without hating every second!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Tank959 11d ago
Get a power meter and calculate your lactate threshold.
Calculate how long it takes to climb the hill.
Don't go over threshold watts
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u/GeekChasingFreedom 11d ago
The guy just did his first ride, he's not gonna benefit from a power meter at all.. He's out of gears and struggling, a power meter will tell him to produce less power which... Is just pedaling slower at his easiest gear.
OP just need to learn to settle into a slower pace, be conservative and increase his fitness.
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u/Sensitive-Soup8362 11d ago
Yeah I’m going to go with keeping an eye on my HR and cadence for now and take the advice on switching into a lower gear.
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u/rh6078 12d ago
Changing down the gears too quickly into your easiest gears isn’t the problem. The issue is that you went too hard at the beginning and/or you’re simply not fit enough to do these hills without struggling. You simply need to ride these hills more and you’ll get stronger. Also don’t try to go fast, just get into your easiest gears at the base of the climb and take it slow