I was just thinking about a few very simple techniques on my last ride that help me to conserve energy on hilly rides and decided that I would mention them here since we are pretty much in peak riding season (at least here in the northern hemisphere).

First let me mention that when I write about a popular topic, like this one, I usually do an internet search and check out the articles ~ and videos ~ that are already out there on the subject. What I found is that there are quite a few articles on this topic as I expected. Many have to do with racing and others, have good tips but get into a little too much detail for me.

So here are my own personal tips, that I have learned from many years of riding experience, for handling hills on hilly rides (specifically I am referring to rolling hills more so than steep hills or mountains).

Keep Your Momentum

The key thing that I have found to be the most helpful is to keep your momentum, or even increase your speed a little, as you approach a hill (going up). If you are coming off of another hill (going down) then you should keep pedaling to keep up or increase your speed especially towards the bottom of the hill and start of the uphill part.

Don’t Downshift Too Low or Too Soon

One mistake that I used to make quite often, and still do on occasion if I am not paying attention, is to downshift to a much lower gear too soon before going uphill. This is really one of the key points that I wanted to make. You will want to shift to a lower gear when climbing a hill but if you gear down too soon, you can lose your cranking power, break your momentum and start to slow down much too soon making it much harder to climb the hill.

It takes a little practice to get your timing right but I have found that there is a huge difference on the energy that I spend or use depending on how well I handle the hills.

Standing vs Sitting

I found that there were quite a few articles that go into the advantages or disadvantages of standing on the pedals as you go uphill This technique can be helpful in some situations but it can also work against you if you don’t do it the right way or at the right time. I have found that standing on the pedals works best for me only on very steep hills and towards the top of the hill. If you already have some speed built up as you approach an uphill section and stand too soon… once again you break your momentum.

I’m not going to get into a lot more detail than I already have posted here. I have found that the techniques that I’ve mentioned here can make my hilly rides much easier when done right.

 Other Stuff

Well, yesterday’s broadcast of the Tour de France included highlights of the initial stages of the race since it was a rest day for the riders. OK, I guess they might need a rest after so many hundreds of miles at top speeds and into the mountains. 🙂 . I actually missed some of the climbs into the Pyrenees which I like to see.

Regarding this hill riding post, I do notice the TDF riders standing at times as they climb into the mountains but it seems like they are seated on most of the climb. I’ll pay more attention as I watch tonight and see if I notice any obvious patterns.

I also keep an eye on the traffic that this site gets (via Google Analytics) and I have noticed a big increase in the interest in the Proform Tour de France Bike, which is not suprising at this time of year, with the TDF happening.

One other thing that I wanted to mention is that I am usually out riding new trails at this time of year and photographing and documenting them on this site but we have had some problems with our vehicles and I have not been able to get out to the new trails yet. I still hope to get out there soon though.

And finally, I am currently in the process of moving all of my existing Bike Trail Videos to YouTube. Originally, I kept my bike trail videos on this site exclusively, rather than posting them on YouTube since I was able to generate the Flash videos myself but I have found that there are now some very good reasons to move these videos to YouTube.

I have quite a few Bike Trail Videos, of the trails in our area, and they do a pretty good job of documenting the trails but they are a few years old now and the quality of videos have gotten so much better that I see I need to upgrade my video equipment asap. I will post more on this once I have completed the transition.