[Closed] Spinning classes and hill climbing

No experience of spinning classes.

If you want to ride up hills faster, practice riding up hills. Blah blah blah. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I thought my hill climbing skills had improved, they have but not enough.

Also, whaddya mean "not enough"?

I really struggled on the hills today, from where I was when I started whihc was walking up hills I have improved. However they just totally annihilated me once up so nothing for the downs.

I know riding up hills will help, and was thinking of doing interval training on my local hills.

Ride up hills and get a bit lighter (if you can), it all helps.

Also, practice climbing out of the saddle, I find hills are easier if you vary the amount of sitting and standing climbing.

nothing beats miles on the bike, even a spin bike. Big road rides on the roadie are good for your endurance fitness

Hills never get easier, you just go up them a bit quicker

Hills never get easier, you just go up them a bit quicker

Well, they definitely do get easier if you want them to.

Try this
Box jumps - tabata style 20 secs x 8
Deep squats as above

Ensure you are warmed up before and stretch off after

May i suggest doing this on a field/quiet area whilst out on ride.

Won't hurt but still a poorer substitute for the real thing. But (given weather and the season) if it's spin or nothing, go spinning. It's fun whatever the results.

Standing up more helps - I commute (it's not far!) on my BMX, it's uphill all the way and I swear it's making me quicker on the MTB. I alternate standing stomping and seated spinning on longer hills.

Given the weather this year, I imagine racing up muddy hills with racing tyres would hurt most people!!

Ride a singlespeed.

Cheers for all the responses, think I will recover from the race and then go and smash out some hill reps of an evening. Hopefully that will work!

Hill reps where you try and go faster each time in blocks of ten.

If you feel like you're going to puke at the end or you want to get off and throw your bike in a hedge; you're putting enough effort in

Grow a tash/beard and ride single speed

nothing beats miles on the bike, even a spin bike.

Except specific training on the areas you are weak perhaps?

You can complement hill reps with spinning and it will help with cardio, I found a real improvement in keeping up the pace when you get to the top and your hr is at max, helps to keep pushing.

Hills never get easier, you just go up them a bit quicker

True!

Spin will not improve your skills.
I did a few ended up disliking spending an hour in a sweaty room listening to chav dance. It's good for cardio and the bikes are better than a gym exercise bike. However nothing beats getting on the bike. Extra fitness will allow you more time to get the skills sorted

I find running has built up my leg muscles for standing up hill climbing - then again , I mainly single speed.

specific training on the areas you are weak

Depends on how you view training. Aside from the reducing oxygen and the bike being at a slightly different angle the body doesn't know it's going uphill, it just knows it's doing work at rate X and it hurts amount Y. You could train for long alpine climbs riding into headwinds in Belgium.

So if the hills you want to be quick on are short and sharp (say, under 5 min) and come frequently, then yes, spinning classes might be just what you need.

Just bear in mind that the shorter/harder the intervals the quicker those benefits disappear again. That's why people training seriously do their endurance work in the winter, threshold work in the spring then taper their workouts towards sprints in time for a certain event. So aiming to peak your 5min power in November might not be of much long term benefit if you're aiming to do some racing in the summer. Better using the winter races as moral boosting motivation through the winter, the spring races to gauge yourself against the competition and fine tune your training then taper for some summer events.

Cheers spoon. Think I will just go out find a relatively long hill, and climb it, ride down and then climb up it faster, then come down and ride up it faster.

Thanks for the advice.

There really is no better advice than ride more. Intervals are all well and good but if you don't have excellent fitness they can be pretty demoralising. A 1-2 hour road ride with a couple of mates where you race as fast as you can up every hill provides superb results as does a day on the trails where you give it the beans up some of the climbs.
The main thing to alter is your perception of when to back off. Gasping, mild nausea and screaming legs are good things if you want to improve. If you can't embrace and revel in these feelings then it's easy to hit a plateau.
Good luck!

Brass Monkeys Rd1: 9th Male 4hrs

Completely agree with the OP. I've only been on my bike for 3 months with no fitness ever in my life. The hills killed me on Sunday which I was surprised at, as on lap 1 I should have at least made all the fire road climbs. Nearly booked into a spinning class but maybe that isnt the right thing to do.

Thinking just get on the bike more might be better? But long rides or sharp sprints?

If you feel like you're going to puke at the end or you want to get off and throw your bike in a hedge; you're putting enough effort in

This is wrong, you've not put enough in until you either collapse on the bike or are actually sick in your mouth. 😉

Got to be honest, I was having a day where I looked at the hills and thought I'm not getting up that, which doesn't help.

I know I can climb, as I can now climb concrete hill at tunnel hill ( it's bloody hard but I can do it). Doughnut excellent result for you, I know I'm not going to get to that level this series but want to ensure I'm doing the right things to improve my position.

I think a lot of it with me is mental attitude, if I put my mind to it I can do it, but Sunday I was suffering from the stitch from hell, and just looked at the hills I thought sod that. But bizarre
Y rode up more of the hills on the second than the first.

Dudders look forward to meeting you at r2? And you doughnut?

I'll be there. Brought myself up from 26th in rd3 last year to 9th this year with a lot of playing and some dedicated training (but more playing). Main thing is I consider a ride a bit of a faliure if I'm not completely wiped out the next day from it. Even playing we'll put in say 30 miles at Peaslake and I'll have ridden for 5 hours with my saddle right down on my 29lbs Blue Pig forcing me to stand for every climb; now THAT'S a workout!

Spinning helps if you do it properly. Finding a slight improvement from using Sufferfest Angels but not sure if that's also riding a lot anyway

If I can improve like that donut I will be happy. Going to spend a lot more time with a roady mate and pound the hills!

To be honest I'm still prancing round the house shouting yipeeee!

this time of year is the time to build muscle mass.

once a week
Find a couple of hills about 1min in length.

Now do 2-3 reps of each hill
riding seated in the largest gear possible. this will build muscle.

whilst I endorse the train to fatigue recommendation if you're starting out stop doing reps when your performance drops dramatically.

early Jan
use the same format but this time any gear and just race up as fast as you can.

it's also the time of year to think about form.
Single leg drills (best done in the dark or at the spin class)
30 seconds one leg 30 seconds other 30 seconds both.
Helps to improve your pedal stroke.
spins ups
30 seconds as fast as you can spin in a V low gear 30 recovery work on those fast twitch fibres.

Oh and enjoy it!

Works for me.

Rob
Vet 6th 12hr solo Euro Solo Champs
Vet winner 12hr Twentyfour12
Riding for Royal Navy Cycling
Live's with real hills in Cornwall.