How to Climb Like a Goat

Cycling, much like any sport has athletes with various skills.  Baseball has it's sluggers, football has it's kick returners, you get the point.  Each sports has players that fall into a niche.

Cycling has it's own niche athletes.  Some may be good at time trialing, or sprinting, and some are good at climbing. 

Climbing is one of the most difficult skills to hone in cycling.  A good climber may be good at the big mountains, yet will struggle in the rolling hills. 

Climbers in general carry a certain mystique with them.  By this I mean if you watch cycling enough, you know that climbers are an unpredictable bunch.  They can fly up a mountain one day and quit all together the next.

I am going to share some tips on how to survive your next hilly ride.  Climbing was the one area in cycling I could excel at. 

I'm 5'9" and weigh 140 lbs.  This means that the power to weight ratio I put out is pretty high. 

The lighter you are, the faster you will climb. I'm not saying lose weight. I'm just saying think of ways to be lighter, lighter bike, lighter parts, lose a couple of pounds here and there.

The most important part of surviving the hills is mental. Train yourself. You know that climbing is going to hurt and it is going to suck going up the hill, but you have to stay focused on your task which is just getting to the top. 

Try to get focused on your cadence and breathing.  Try to think of a song or something with a rhythm. 

The more you focus on your breathing and "tapping" out a rhythm, the easier the hill will be. Try not to focus solely on your heart rate monitor.  Your heart rate is going to be higher anyways.

Don't be afraid of Granny.  I see too many cyclists trying to "mash" it uphill. 

This why a lot of riders are unsuccessful climbers. You have a ten or eleven speed cogset and a double or triple ring, use them. 

Make your life as easy as you can.  You will at some point reach the top.

Don't stop pedaling.  This is the hardest thing to learn and tell other riders.

You've reached the summit of the hill and now it is break time.  Not quite. 

Pedal all the way to the top and over the crest of the hill.  This elementary skill pays dividends in a race situation.  Even pros are guilty of this one.

Stay seated.  This is another habit that is hard for some people to break. 

Most people will try to get out of the saddle as much as possible on a climb.  This will cause a yo-yo effect. 

The increase and decrease in speed wastes energy.  Stay seated and focus on maintaining a high cadence.  Keep your arms and hands relaxed. 

If you are on an extended climb.  Meaning more than say, 5-10 minutes make sure you keep your hands relaxed. 

Do not have a death grip on the bars.  Use the hoods or the tops of the bars and change your hand position.

Climb, rest, repeat.  Hill repeats on smaller hills will help develop the skills needed to do well in the bigger hills. 

Find a section of road with three or four small to medium sized hills.  Sprint up the hill and rest coming down.  Repeat this a couple of times and you will be climbing like a mountain goat in no time.

You can practice hill riding techniques indoors as well.  Use a phone book and a riser block to simulate a climbing grade. 

If your trainer has a tension setting use the different tensions to simulate bigger and smaller climbs.  A workout like this once a week, especially during the winter will make you a better climber by spring.