Re: Hillclimb training

#74341
"brianW" wrote

just a thought, how about a stationary/trainer set at the hardest settings. You could do an hour or two while watching the tv at night. Not as fun as riding but i am sure it will help out some.

Actually, that’s a great thought. One of the toughest hillclimbers I know (did the recent road bike race with a 23 as his easiest gear—over gradients of 10-18%!) does most of his riding, intervals and all, on the trainer indoors. He’s also does quite a bit of weightlifting: http://www.gymjones.com/disciples.php?id=27

Of course, you’d have to prop the front wheel up a little higher to accurately mimic climbing.

I’m of the school of thought that says you need to increase muscle-fiber recruitment for this sort of effort to improve at it (without increasing them so much that you become a track cycling sprinter).

Of course, varied-intensity training is crucial too, and the trainer (if you can stand the thing) is a great place for keeping a constant aerobic effort.

Yeah, great thoughts. It’s funny that we opened this thread years ago, and I’m still doing hillclimbs and trying to figure the hillclimb puzzle out.