Manon: The terrain you meet on a bike will vary all the time. I mean
you could up a short, steep climb, you could go up even longer climbs, covered climbs
and gravel climbs that will lead to nowhere. Hank: Yes, but we love those long, steady ones,
so we thought we'd compile a list of our top tips to show you how to tackle them. Woo-hoo.
[music] Hank:
Long, steady climbs are, well, long. Manon: [laughs] Pointing
out the obvious there, Hank. Hank: For that reason, we're going to
be sustaining that effort for an extended period of time and you could be getting quite tight in
those areas like shoulders and your neck. Manon: Try and mix up your position.
Being on your row bike, you have three different positions that you can use.
On your tops, on your hoods and on your drops.
Make sure to get out of the saddle every now and again and you'll be flying up these climbs.
[music] Hank:
It's a lot easier to attack those long, steady climbs compared to meeting those steep gradients
that might make you a little bit nervous. Manon: You want to treat the long climbs as
if you would in a time [unintelligible 00:01:21] You don't want to sprint off
when you've still got quite a lot left so go up at around 80% and, as you get
to the top, you can start ramping it up. It's all about the pacing.
Hank: Ugh. Manon: You haven't been
pacing really well, have you, Hank? Hank: I haven't paced this right.
[music] Hank:
When embarking on these big, steady, long climbs, you want to think about your
rhythm and what I mean by this is a constant, nice pace you're comfortable with. You want
to try to avoid the sprints, the changing of pace. This is a long, drawn-out effort
so make sure you get a nice tempo going and hold it. Now, you can do this by using a cane sensor
or a heart rate monitor. That way, you can monitor the changes of effort or the changes of pace. It's
easier said than done. It takes a little practice but once you've got it, these long climbs,
they'll be easy. Holding pace. Nice. Enjoy. Manon: Try and avoid lots of accelerations on
the climb. Every time you try and accelerate back up to speed, you'll be wasting energy.
Try and keep it nice and steady. Try and avoid lots of gear changes on the climb as well because
every time you change gear, there will be a little loss in power that will scrub your speed,
too. Try and be as efficient as you can. Hank: I always found when it came to riding
gradients like this that a cadence of around 95 was a good sweet spot for me.
If you're struggling, though, to get those cadences, might be worth looking at your cassette,
maybe going for a bigger gear or changing your chain link to the front. That way, you can tackle
these easy gradients at a good cadence. Manon: Longer, steadier climbs are often
more of an aerobic effort, meaning they are longer than ten minutes and you'll be breathing harder
than normal but not full gas and out of breath. This is where you really want to focus on your
breathing. Try not to go into the red too early on into the climb. If you're on a long climb or
a mountain pass, for instance, don't go really hard at the start and get really out of breath.
Only a few minutes later, you'll have to stop on the side of the road to catch your breath back.
Hank: This is especially important when it comes to climbing in altitude where you'll really feel
the effort in those closing kilometers. What you want to try and do is make a concerted effort
to think about taking long, deep breaths. Make it nice and controlled. It sounds really stupid,
but when you start those big climbs, you get all excited, you're in a group,
you tend to take shorter breaths. Think about it, nice and controlled, deep breaths.
That way, you'll get all that good oxygen to the muscles.
[music] Hank:
Now we hope these tips help you when it comes to tackling those longer climbs. You might
just get a PB and surprise yourself. Manon: We want to hear from you.
What is your favorite long climb? Mine has to be- [crosstalk]
Hank: Mine's [unintelligible 00:04:35] Manon: I like doing the half one because
I don't really like climbing. Hank: You're a sprinter?
Manon: Yes. Hank: I'm a climber. [laughs]
Manon: Are you, though? [00:04:46] [END OF AUDIO]