Fixed hill training

i've always been partial to climbing hills, especially on fixed. I've been planning on doing some recently and after the last attempt with Nosferatu -who had to give up after 7 or 8 miles- i thought i'd ask here.

would anyone else be up for it? a route i enjoy goes basically up through Camden, Hampstead, Finchley, Alexandra Palace and then back to central.

so is there anyone who wants to get a bit faster up the hills, and have some fun going down a few?

cheers

yes. me. i'd love to start doing hills properly.

good stuff! once we've got a decent number of riders, i'll work on sorting out the route, time and date

jumps in before babydino

Why are you riding hills for the upcoming track season?

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

Seen any hills in a velodrome before? It's better than doing 'no' riding but specificity is pretty important. You aim to recreate the events you are racing in whilst training.
Climbing is generally low cadence, out of the saddle.. nothing like the track. Of course if you're aiming at Pursuit then you need masses of aerobic endurance so you'll probably be doing fair old chunks of road anyway.

This is a good thread for hills http://www.lfgss.com/thread17077.html?highlight=south+london

surely the main reason to do out and out hill training fixed, or even geared, is to casually pretend you arent making any effort at all, thus quietly reinforcing the age old tradition of flogging youre mates, in a gentlemanly manner of course....

Seen any hills in a velodrome before? It's better than doing 'no' riding but specificity is pretty important. You aim to recreate the events you are racing in whilst training.
Climbing is generally low cadence, out of the saddle.. nothing like the track. Of course if you're aiming at Pursuit then you need masses of aerobic endurance so you'll probably be doing fair old chunks of road anyway.

ah, thats true i didn't think about that. honestly im not someone who trains for stuff, so i dont have knowledge on what is involved, but i thought if imentioned training it would be a bit more successful.

you going to join us?

This is a good thread for hills http://www.lfgss.com/thread17077.html?highlight=south+london

cheers for the heads up, i did a quick search, but only found HH training threads

ah, thats true i didn't think about that. honestly im not someone who trains for stuff, so i dont have knowledge on what is involved, but i thought if imentioned training it would be a bit more successful.
you going to join us?

I don't do hills.

Seen any hills in a velodrome before? It's better than doing 'no' riding but specificity is pretty important. You aim to recreate the events you are racing in whilst training.
Climbing is generally low cadence, out of the saddle.. nothing like the track. Of course if you're aiming at Pursuit then you need masses of aerobic endurance so you'll probably be doing fair old chunks of road anyway.

Yep ^^

But a bit of seated climbing in a bigger than you'd normally use gear can be good strength work.

I don't do hills.

sorry the invitation has been retracted

Yep ^^

But a bit of seated climbing in a bigger than you'd normally use gear can be good strength work.

well on my last hill outing i was mostly in the saddle, and only stood up when i felt i was losing a bit of steam

I do hill reps on fixed most Fridays. with someone far better than me, which helps with motivation. Doesn't stop me being utter shite at them, though.

heh, its funny you just started this: I had a play on highgate hill tonight, no better feeling than burning lungs....

I'm still coughing....

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

Fuck hills.

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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.

drill it **then **put a brake on it.

drill it **then **put a brake on it.

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