Fixed hill training

Yeah.. imagine how much faster you'd be if you trained properly.

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2008/06/specificity.html

Well, that is what I am hoping for this coming season. I have been sticking to a training plan so time will tell if it works or not.

What I meant was that if you don't have a proper specific plan in place and you can't do hours of training, hill climbing is a pretty good place to start. It kind of worked for me

Which is as good as what I said up there.. it's better than doing nothing.

Doing nothing is underrated.

This assumes that you aim to ride track next season. You didn't mention that in your post

yeah, im hoping to make it down this year, i've been saying im going to do it for long enough.

I'd quite like to do some hill climbing, the only thing that puts me off is the massive downhill ride on my brakeless roberts.... and before someone says put a brake on... my fork is not drilled.
I have ridden down highgate hill brakeless and it does get a little scary at times...

i did highgate hill on thursday. and it was fucking brilliant, but i did a lot of skidding and was backpedaling a lot too.

This is my short hilly route. Takes me about an hour at the moment

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Mikes-1-hour-hilly-training-ride

And for a more challenging ride

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Mikes-North-London-Hills

they both look like good routes, can we count you in?

1. Crane
   

Greater London has no really nasty hills. They're either steep but too short to do any damage, or long but too gentle.

There are some notable entries:-
Broomfield Hill and Dark Hill in Richmond Park (they start hurting on the 5th or 6th lap).
Morden Hill, Lewisham (from Elverson Road DLR up to Blackheath).
The long drag up to Warlingham from Croydon past Sanderstead
Titsey Hill coming the other way is fun.
Box Hill (but coming up the B2032 past Betchworth Station)

Indeed, do this route on fixed without walking and I'll give you a gold star:-

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/167493

If you don't want the gentle warm up then get the train to Box Hill and Westhumble station and start there. The only two points I have to walk are the top of Sheephouse Lane (after Wotton) and the 18% bit of White Down after the hairpin just after crossing the railway on the way back up to Ranmore common. With a 67" gear and a whole bag of HTFU I think I might be able to grimp up them both.

Combining lots of these into a nice hilly DIY 200 Audax you can do:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/360977

The obvious hillier version is to go West of the A24 after Horsham.

I do like hilly rides on fixed. This was fun: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Audax-Bryan-Chapman-2004-route

67" again but I did have to walk in a couple of places. The YH drive at Dolgellau (both times) and Cross Foxes on the A470 (it was hailing).

I don't do hills.

^ womens cup

the very first forum ride was a highgate hill thurs ( i think ) thurs after dave got the forum up and running
myself velocio lpg and rakan

we did it seriously for the first 3/4 weeks then the flask began to take on a more significant part of the ride and ended up as the final destination
swains lane is a killer but worth it

maybe this summer we could get it up and running again thread number 7 ( forum in it's infancy )
http://www.lfgss.com/thread7.html

and is thurs north drinks ? might combine nicely

A real hill :)

Fuck hills... fuck them right in the goat arse.

I have womens hair
.

to help beef up the muscles? or am i incorrect in thinking this?

why do you want bigger muscles? (not that hill work is the best way of achieving that anyway)

Don't listen to them. Almost all of my speed on the track came from hill climbing last season. Thats pretty much all I did. I don't have very good aerobic fitness as the long races kill me, but I can move the bike quickly when I need to. Most of my leg muscle mass came from doing these same hill reps

erm I am going to disagree, you would have got some aerobic fitness and lactate tolarence from the hill work but no speed. That came from the fact you are gifted Mike. As the Auzzie boy said, if time is limited spend as much of it doing what you will do in the events you are training for......

If you want to get good at hill climbing climb hills, if you want to be good on the track ride at speeds which replicate race speeds and do some sprint work at race cadence.

jumps in before babydino
Why are you riding hills for the upcoming track season?

hehe this will be the only way I beat you ^^

Giving up hills has been a lot like giving up cigarettes. Habits and rituals get deeply ingrained, and there's definitely an element of psychological dependency. I fucking ruled the roost in London when it came to hills (with the sometime exception of Ben Pochee), and certainly had the fixed climbing scene sewn up down here. Now I'm content [spits out the word through gritted teeth] to watch others go up them ahead of me. No big deal - at least I can say 'been there, done that'.

But I've got some trackie genes, and I'm going to support them wholeheartedly (and whole bodiedly) this year, with what little time I have for training. So hills are out, amongst other things.

It's not the end of the world for the inner-grimpeur. Unlike smoking, I won't feel any remorse about taking them up again at some point in the future, if I get the urge.

In cycling, sometimes the rituals are what makes you - everyone's got their little quirks (pre-competition mantras, numerical obsessions, voodoo, whatever) - but there's also a place for knowing when to curb the ones that insidiously work against you. Quite a difficult thing to manage, even with a coach.

In summary: more low temps for the coming weeks.

can't be doing that! its criminal, plus it would have to be a very very short drop brake as the clearences are minimal.

Isn't the criminal bit riding brakeless on the road?.Seriously if one of you brakeless lot are involved in a not at fault accident are you fucked for getting compensation if it is sussed out that you didn't have a brake?

Isn't the criminal bit riding brakeless on the road?.Seriously if one of you brakeless lot are involved in a not at fault accident are you fucked for getting compensation if it is sussed out that you didn't have a brake?

Bloody cyclists shouldnt even be on the road. Do you pay road tax?

[/troll]

Nibbrittet 2010 (http://frafjordtilfjell.com/hoved.php?valg=2&sprak=eng), here I come. Just signed up!

0-1500m over 21km.

OK 41:23 was near impossible to push around by the time I got to the last 5km in 2009. But 2010 I'll be rocking 41:26. Win.

Is it wrong that I'm so excited by this?

Giving up hills has been a lot like giving up cigarettes. Habits and rituals get deeply ingrained, and there's definitely an element of psychological dependency. I fucking ruled the roost in London when it came to hills (with the sometime exception of Ben Pochee), and certainly had the fixed climbing scene sewn up down here. Now I'm content [spits out the word through gritted teeth] to watch others go up them ahead of me. No big deal - at least I can say 'been there, done that'.

But I've got some trackie genes, and I'm going to support them wholeheartedly (and whole bodiedly) this year, with what little time I have for training. So hills are out, amongst other things.

It's not the end of the world for the inner-grimpeur. Unlike smoking, I won't feel any remorse about taking them up again at some point in the future, if I get the urge.

In cycling, sometimes the rituals are what makes you - everyone's got their little quirks (pre-competition mantras, numerical obsessions, voodoo, whatever) - but there's also a place for knowing when to curb the ones that insidiously work against you. Quite a difficult thing to manage, even with a coach.

In summary: more low temps for the coming weeks.

Shame, it was nice bumping into you on the North London Hills.

I am starting (slowly) my hill training at the moment. It is made easier by living in Highgate. I am also tmpted to start a LFGSS hill climbing series in the sping.

Dicki, North Drinks is on a Tuesday. If you fancy resurecting the Hills ride then that would be the best day.

Shame, it was nice bumping into you on the North London Hills.

I am starting (slowly) my hill training at the moment. It is made easier by living in Highgate. I am also tmpted to start a LFGSS hill climbing series in the sping.

Dicki, North Drinks is on a Tuesday. If you fancy resurecting the Hills ride then that would be the best day.

A series of HillClimb style alleycats would be cool...
Or a regulary Lfgss ride? - i would be well up for that.

I was thinking TT's like Rollapaluza did up Swains.

I was thinking TT's like Rollapaluza did up Swains.

Soudns good. Mass start would probably only be possible on the really quiet ones. Would be fun thou - and good training tactically!