Hills are NOT harder than cycling on the flat. You heard that right, and today, I'm going to
explain how this can possibly be the case. If you're feeling a little triggered because you
currently find hills difficult, this information will hopefully be a game-changer for you.
By teaching you how to make hills super easy, you might even enjoy them as much as I do! After all,
mountain roads are often free from cars, less populated and more wild - plus the world always
looks better from above. Before commenting, please actually watch this video because, yes, there are
limits to my claim. I also acknowledge that hills often feel harder, and will discuss when that's
the case. But first, here's a simple explanation of why hills are not harder than the flat.
When you ride your bike on a flat road, you are putting a certain amount of effort into your
pedals at a certain number of crank revolutions per minute. Let's say it's 150-watts at 75 rpm.
Now, let's add a small incline. To combat gravity, you change into a lower gear. Congratulations,
you're now pedalling at the same 150-watt power output and at the same 75 rpm cadence
as the flat road. Your heart rate is the same. Your oxygen uptake is the same. Your perceived
effort is the same. This is possible because lower gear ratios offer a higher mechanical advantage,
and by having enough mechanical advantage, hills don't have to be any harder than flat roads.
Ok, my claim obviously breaks down at a certain point. This could be when the road gradient
pitches up too far, your bike's gear ratios are too high, or when your power-to-weight ratio
is too low. It could also be because the surface beneath you is too slippery, too soft, too rocky,
or too rooty. But for most riders, I've estimated that the right gear ratios can make an 8% grade
just as easy as a flat road. And strong riders might even find this to be the case with a 15%
grade. We'll dive into how you can calculate your bike's climbing potential shortly, but first,
here's why hills sometimes feel harder. Number one: there's less air cooling. If you're cycling
up hills in hot conditions, you won't get the same sweat evaporation as when you're travelling faster
on the flat. This is the factor that makes climbing in tropical regions particularly
challenging. On a side note, it's a good idea to cover your skin in hot and dry climates to reduce
the sun's heat radiation. This is why you'll often see me cycling in a shirt. In tropical climates,
fewer clothes are cooler due to the high humidity, but make sure to wear lots of sunscreen,
as sunburn significantly contributes to fatigue. Number two: you get 'psyched out'. There is a big
psychological element to hills. For many, the idea of an hour-long climb is completely overwhelming,
but by the end of this video when you're equipped with the knowledge about how to ride hills - along
with how to optimize your gear ratios - I promise you'll have enough mental strength
to conquer them. Number three: you cannot coast or soft-pedal. With gravity taking a cut of
your momentum, your speed dramatically reduces when you stop pedalling to take a quick break.
The good news is that with a bit of experience, soft-pedalling and coasting aren't a necessity
provided you ride at a sustainable effort for the duration of your climb.
Number four: it's harder to balance. Balancing a bike at low speeds can be difficult,
but like any skill, you'll get better at balancing over time. I definitely recommend a wide handlebar
if you want to make balancing easier. Number five: the altitude. If you're cycling over 2000m/6500ft,
you'll notice that it's harder to breathe. This is because there is less oxygen available. But keep
in mind that cycling at altitude is harder both on the flat and in the hills. And number six:
bicycle gear ratios are often not low enough. If you're using your easiest gear and are
still finding hills to be difficult, this just means your lowest gear ratio is not low enough.
Don't worry, it's not your fault. When i model the average person's power output, weight, and typical
gear ratios found on different bikes, hills ARE harder due to a lack of mechanical advantage.
Mechanical advantage is a measure of force amplification using a tool. A lever is the most
common example. Levers can exert a large force over a small distance at one end, by exerting a
small force over a greater distance at the other. In the case of a bicycle, it's the length of your
crank arms, the radius of your wheel, and the ratio between your rear and front cogs that will
determine how much of your pedal force can be outputted to drive you forward. With the same
crank movement and pedal force, a low gear ratio allows us to output more force into driving us
forward. Mechanical advantage ultimately allows us to overcome the effects of gravity on a climb, but
we also use it to overcome the other main forms of cycling resistance; wind and rolling resistance.
Let's now determine the steepest hill you can comfortably climb on your bike.
The first thing you need to understand is cadence. While i normally recommend riding at whatever
cadence feels most natural to you, a good minimum cadence for climbing steep hills is around 60 rpm.
This is because your speed momentarily slows at the point of the pedalling phase where you have
the lowest leverage on your cranks. As the rate of deceleration is quicker when cycling uphill,
we can reduce this slowing effect when we use higher cadences. Assuming 60 rpm is a good minimum
cadence for climbing, let's now use some online tools to find out the steepest hill we can ride
on our bikes. We will first use a bicycle gear calculator to determine the speed in our easiest
gear when pedalling at 60 rpm. In my case, my mountain bike uses a 30 tooth front chainring with
a 51 tooth rear cog. My tyre size is 29 inches by 2.4 inches. When I set the cadence to 60 rpm,
the gear calculator shows that i will be riding at 4.96kph in my lowest gear. Before you close
the gear calculator, hit 'display' and switch from speed to 'gear inches'. Take note of the lowest
number because you can now compare your lowest gear with every bike in my bicycle buyer's guides.
The next thing we need to understand is power output. The amount of power that we put into
our pedals is measured in watts. We can find out the number of watts we produce in real-time using
power meters built into our cranksets, pedals or rear hub. You can get a sense of what 100-watts
feels like on an exercise bike at the gym. If you've never used a power meter and don't have
access to an exercise bike, know that a moderately good male cyclist can push 3.36 watts per kilogram
of body weight for an hour. And a moderately good female can push 2.84 watts per kilo. If
we reduce these numbers by 35% so that you're riding for endurance, we arrive at 2.18 and 1.85
watts per kilo. That means if you're a moderately good female who weighs 60 kilograms,
you can expect to comfortably ride at 111 watts up a climb, and an 80-kilogram average male should be
able to ride at 174 watts. If you're anywhere between novice and a world-class cyclist,
you can go to the 'FT' column on this Training Peaks chart to get a sense of your
power-to-weight. Now you can reduce it by 35% for endurance riding, and multiply it by your weight.
With our cadence and power sorted, we now need to determine our total weight. This is your body,
bike, gear, food and water weight. In my case, I'm currently 76kg, my bike is 15.5kg,
my gear is 5.5kg, and I normally have 2kg in food and water. That's 99kg in total. We can now use a
mathematical model to determine the steepest hill we can comfortably ride up in our lowest gear.
If you'd like to get familiar with road gradients, simply go to Ride With GPS and plot a route. By
running your mouse over the elevation profile, you will see the gradient at a specified location on
your route. Let's now input our power estimate, and body and bike weight into Bike Calculator,
which I've found to work with high accuracy. Initially, the calculator will spit out your
cycling speed on the flat. It's now time to start adjusting the grade. The aim of the game is
to increase the grade until the calculated speed matches the cycling speed we previously calculated
for our lowest gear. When both of these speeds match, you've found your 'gradient threshold'.
To ride comfortably up a steeper hill will require a lower gear ratio, more power, or less weight to
maintain a 60 rpm cadence. In my case, I can ride up a 13% grade with my current low gear ratio.
We can now go back to the bicycle gear calculator to play with our gear ratios
to find out how they will help with steeper grades. For example,
if I fitted a Raceface crankset to my bike, I could use a 24 tooth front chainring.
At 60 rpm in my lowest gear, my speed would now be 3.97kph. Circling back to Bike Calculator,
I can work out that 16.5% grades are now possible at a very sustainable power output and cadence.
You might have just realized that your gear ratios are not low enough for the gradients
you ride. You can reduce your lowest gear ratio at the chainring by decreasing its size, or cassette
by increasing its size. Unfortunately, drivetrain compatibility is an absolute minefield, so it's
hard to provide simple instructions for reducing your gear ratios. Most modern mountain bikes use
1X drivetrains, which typically already have the biggest cassette cogs fitted. The best way to get
a lower gear ratio is to reduce the size of the front chainring. Road and gravel bikes typically
use 2X drivetrains. Look out for sub-compact cranksets that offer 30 tooth inner chainrings.
I've also successfully hacked road and gravel bike drivetrains to use bigger cassettes. The Wolftooth
Roadlink is cheap and creates additional space at your rear derailleur for 42-tooth cassette cogs.
Another great product is the Jtech shiftmate which is designed to pair a myriad of drop-bar
shifters with mountain bike derailleurs, again allowing compatibility with big cassettes.
I'll link a bunch of resources below which should help your research. Before I summarize everything,
let me share one more climbing tip: ease up, and measure your effort. It's really common for
cyclists to turn themselves inside out on climbs. The thing is if you maintain a sustainable effort
for the duration of a climb - just like you do on the flat - you almost certainly won't go into
the red. Your body will also be ready for any upcoming climbs day after day. A simple way to
measure your effort is by listening to your breath while you ride. If you are gasping for air, slip
down into a lower gear, breathe a bit easier, and ride at this lower speed to the top of the hill.
Ok, I'll admit that hills aren't always as easy as the flat. This is especially the
case in hot climates and on rough terrain. But in most circumstances, hills can be made easy
provided you ride sustainably, and use appropriately low gear ratios on your bike.
Most of you already have adequate fitness and power outputs for hill climbing,
it's likely just your gear ratios that are lacking. With the right gears,
you too can enjoy the jaw-dropping mountainous regions of the world!
I've calculated the low gears for you in my Touring and Bikepacking Bike Buyers Guides,
which are updated yearly for free, and feature over 200 different bikes to compare.
If you'd like to support this channel, grab yourself a copy,
and you'll soon have a very sound understanding of the most important aspects of bikes.