Climb Like A Pro Cyclist! | Top 5 Mistakes To Avoid

Riding uphill can be one of the hardest parts of cycling to get right. Some cyclists seem like they were born climbers but it can be a real challenge for others. If you're someone who dreads when the road rises or you just want to improve your climbing skills, these are our top five mistakes to avoid!

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[gefloigle]

0:42 — Don’t start out too fast
2:27 — Keep well fueled
3:41 — Change positions
5:03 — Gear choice
6:23 — Don’t rock (back and forth — be efficient)

[billybish]

Don't avoid the climbs. You won't improve by staying on the flats.
"Don't buy upgrades; ride up grades"

[skinwalker_]

Drop down a gear. 😆 I’m already out of gears at this point.

[martinandersson]

A top tip that works in every endurance sport: try to relax your face and neck muscles as much as possible at all time. Keep your mouth and jaw relaxed. You will breathe a lot easier and use more of your lungcapacity. Don’t grind your teeth and strain your neck. Remember to breathe out effectively too. Try it next time. You’ll be surprised of the result👍

[jkimm]

One of the best things I did for my climbing is convince myself that I love it, I feel so accomplished after a climb and I needed to get away from the stigma that everyone has where they dread hills. I figured you can either choose to enjoy it or you can let it bother you. Choice is simple really, mindset plays a huge role in difficult tasks

[krist]

Friend gave me a good advice: "Look down and keep up pedalling, you will feel much better."
Must say that it helps me every time I see hills in front of me.

[colerobertson]

Just keep spinning just keep spinning just keep spinning spinning spinning. That’s the song I sing in my head when climbing up long climbs around me it takes your mind off of the pain and makes it a bit more fun lol.

[richcrompton]

I ride an old bike with old gearing. I had to grind up most climbs, but I persisted. Slowly my weight dropped off and I had to grind up fewer climbs. I’ve lost over 30kg now. Same old bike, but the grinding only happens when the percentages head north of 12%+ for a sustained distance.
Keep on persevering and magic happens! I do dream of compact chainsets and rear sprockets in the high 20’s and beyond!

[breeekazoidd]

When Hank said "I got faith in you" I feel rejuvenated, I feel I can conquer anything.

[bengt_axle]

One of the most helpful tools for a long climb is a heart rate monitor. If you know your maximum (e.g. 175), you'll know when to slow down to avoid blowing up before the top. Usually I start at 30BPM below and try to stay under 10 BPM below max until the last few seconds of the climb, when it is OK to go over the max for a few seconds and then recover on the way down. Do the same climb over a few times, looking not just at the time, but how low you can keep your heart rate, just be being more efficient and choosing the right gear. That’s what is going to make the ride more enjoyable.

[nikgracanin]

I try to keep my cadence (around 80 RPM for me) as constant as possible during long climbs, it really helps to keep me in the right zone of exertion.

[jabehauber]

As a chronic grinder, the last bit on going to lower gear is indeed important. Our group motto for climbs is, "don't try to be a hero...you'll wind up a zero." What that effectively means is use the little chainring more than you think you should and/or spin 1or 2 gears below what you might normally think. If you happen to speed up, then by all means shift up. Also don't be afraid to adjust that gearing on the climb, up or down. That's what the derailleur system is for after all!

[jesseking]

Most of us can relate to the first mistake. Learnt my mistake in the hardest way 😂😂😂 I just take my time to climb the hill in the easiest gear and I really don't care how long it going to take me to get to the top of the hill

[randygarcia]

"I am not a climber" so... Whenever I'm in a group ride, I try to slowly positioning myself in the front, so I won't be too far behind when the climb ends. While in the climb, I'm so tired that I can't get up from my saddle, so changing positions is a "don't do it" for me, I change in the saddle, rotate hands in the handlebar, pull more than push on the pedals and try to have small goals during the climb. Looking at my Garmin doesn't help much as the incline % start increasing, it becomes more psychological. What I try to do is glance the cadence number (75 to 85 for me) and then keep my head down for a while and look up briefly to the front. I do 8% inclines, but beyond that is a "no men's land" for me. Doesn't help that I'm pushing 53/39 with an 11-28 and 235lbs....

[seniorcycling]

Here’s a tip, pedal fast and hard up hill. Do that every day. (Except rest days of course) . Like anything else it will keep getting easier to do certain power. But it will still be tough, like the saying goes, “cycling never gets easier, you just go faster”

[nickisherwood]

The greatest climbing mistake is to avoid climbing. The greatest climbing learn is that cadence is king.The ultimate climbing wisdom is that some climbs either aren't possible, or you're not fit enough to do brings us back to the greatest climbing mistake.

[yisraels]

Every road around my house goes up hill... I changed the chainrings to 50/34 and cluster to 11/34. What a difference. I decided this was the year to conquer the hills so I rode to the bottom, rode up, turned around and did it again and again... I kept a standard route for several months so that I can easily see and feel the improvement in my strength and endurance. Parts of the ride which were painful 6 months ago are relatively easy now.

[watdafuk]

Controlling your breathing is one of the important thing while climbing 😮‍💨

[lucafwn]

Every time Hank talks about Pantani, I am almost moved to tears. It's great to know that the Pirate still has fans all over the world.

[richardhale]

I moved from Wiltshire to W. Yorks a few years ago. The hills by and large are no worse now than my old local ones were, are precious few nice, empty flat roads - so not much recovery time between the hills(the plus side is I am less bothered about wind now!). Of necessity, my climbing ability has improved no end. This video gave very sound advice. Personally the biggest help I found was getting used to being out of the saddle more. Being big and powerful, sitting back and spinning a low gear is good for long pulls, but when I get to a steep rise I tend to lift the front wheel off the deck when doing so - not very helpful, so getting my weight over the front on the steep bits means I can climb much more efficiently and also has the benefit of stretching my various muscle groups. It takes some practice to get your breathing sorted, but it's well worth it. I can even get round my usual routes on my fixie. It's a bit of an effort but very rewarding. My fixie has On One Midge handle bars, and the very shallow drops and wide spread really open my chest out, so out of saddle breathing is much easier at maximum effort. So I would suggest that one makes sure your handle bars are the correct width for one's chest size whatever bike one is riding.