Great tips, all. Let’s keep the discussion going. Let me share my experience and my thoughts about it:
I did two mtb hillclimbs this year. I got slaughtered on one and did okay on the other.
The first one (where I got slaughtered) was 7.2 miles and 4,139 feet for elevation gain. It was mid-August, the sun was brutal and the trail, er, fire road was loose and dusty. I got about four hours of sleep the night before (kids), so I decided to just do the race for fun. I showed up wearing sandals and baggy shorts. My bike set up was goofy with platform pedals, my heavy alu handlebar, bar-ends and semi-commuter tires (Bontrager Connections – not the mountain connections either). I also had my seat farther forward than it needed to be and the easiest gear I had on my cassette was a lousy 30-tooth sprocket. Oh yeah, and I had no suspension—zero.
Well, the course was steeper than I ever imagined, and the result of the above setup was that I had no traction on the loose parts of the trail at all. My tires weren’t gripping, I didn’t have enough weight over the rear wheel, and I wasn’t carrying through the entire pedal stroke without my clipless pedals and shoes. I thought I’d use the bar-ends WAY more than I did, but with a course that steep, I really didn’t need them at all. I walked a significant amount of the course, and when I was riding, my head was bobbing close enough for me to kiss my stem.
About a month later, I found a similar race at a ski resort in Utah near where I have some relatives. It was 5 miles and give or take 3,100 feet of elevation gain. I stripped all the weight off my bike that I could. I put my carbon handlebar back on, swapped the heavy seat out for a 190-gram seat, left the bar-ends off, put the clipless pedals back on, etc. I still had the commuter tires, but I left the forkshock off and got my bike down to about 24 pounds (not bad for a late-’90s alu hardtail).
For training, I’d been riding the steepest trail I could (probably 800 feet over 1 mile—seriously) and practicing redlining over the really steep parts of the trail, rolling my granny gear much of the time—even before I knew about that race. I’d also picked weightlifting back up and was doing a few sets of power cleans each week. Nothing too extreme.
This time, I did pretty well. In fact, I think I might’ve been able to stay on the wheels of the front group if it weren’t for one little snag: There was a trail running race going at the same time, and some of the runners decided to clog the trail, thereby forcing me to hike until we got to a point where I could remount and pass them. In the end, I came in third for my age group with a good but not stellar time. There’s still room for improvement—lots in fact.
On that note, here’s my plan for improving next time:
• BETTER TIRES. The Bontrager Connections are great for moist trails, but not for the dry, loose stuff. I’m still looking for a light tire (I don’t need a big, jagged 2.2 or anything), but it needs to be knobbier and grippier. Lots of options
• A 32-tooth gear (which I’ve already purchased). I was only passed by one rider late in the second race, and I noticed he was spinning his cranks faster when we were side-by-side (which we were for a minute or more). He obviously had an easier gear to turn than I did.
• Strength conditioning. LT/AT training is good, methinks. But by the last mile in both races, my heart rate was surely way lower than my threshold because my legs were totally blown from a muscular fatigue standpoint. I figure I need to do a little more overdistance, overgearing (on road climbs) and do the LT/AT work after that. Then, to finish it off, I need to spend some more time on that ultra-steep fireroad working on the steep gradients. That’s me, anyway. Maybe your needs would be different.
• Move my saddle back. I did this a little before the second race, but I think I could’ve done it more than I did. It’s pretty important to have your weight over the back wheel on these climbs, particularly if the trail is loose.
One thought about training: I’m a scrawny guy—about 135 pounds. And the race winner at my second race was about my size, albeit an inch or so taller. But the 2nd and 3rd place guys were much bigger than both of us and had obviously spent some time in the weight room. That taught me right there that you don’t have to be small to be a good climber. I sorta wonder if weight loss is overrated when it comes to cycling. It seems like increasing muscle mass is more important.