BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

WTF, inhale, exhale, WTF... repeat as necessary.

Technique I learned in track and field:

Imagine an attractive and enticing person is just out of your reach. The person is sensually waving you forward. Keep imaging this until you reach your destination.

Haven't used that technique in a while.

Lately I've been counting my pedal strokes and starting over when I reach ten. Reaching ten seems easier than climbing a hill of an unknown distance.

@pierce - when you reach the top, do you tell the enticing individual that you'll need a day to recover from the effort?

my technique, from when i first started seeking out hills in the area, has been to sing the danzig version of "hips don't lie". sometimes out loud. other than that, i sort of just zone out.

Climbing FedEx Drive's hill: A, but more like 5 feet. (I hate playing "Are we there yet?")

Climbing Hookstown Grade Road: B.

Climbing Hirshinger Road: C: Just enjoy the scenery passing by and the singing birds as I sail along, pedaling 78rpm.

I start and end each of those from the same spot, so I guess it's all a matter of what path you take to the top. But I guess this post is OT because you're talking about unexplored territory.

a few years ago, i was doing the MS150 with a few friends. one of them started to sing "whoop that trick" as we climbed a hill. this is a song from "hustle and flow". i sing just the title line repeatedly in my head sometimes on crappy hills.

C.) Low-voiced blasphemy.

I started doing this when I was younger, and this is for the big hills, the ones that suck out your soul when you roll up to the bottom. Like Steubenville pike climbing out of the West End.

I imagine that I am an enraged Gorilla, and what I want is at the top, the hill is my worst enemy, and I am going to rip the crap out of it. I put my head down and obliterate any human doubt that I can do this. The handlebars are weapons in my hands and every pedal stroke grinds the enemy into oblivion. The adrenaline goes through the roof.

Like I said, just for the big ones.

During the climbs of the MS150 century on my tall bike (3-gears all mid-range), I would just count pedal stroke and question why I was doing it, and why I didn't sleep the night before. Then, I would think about how much I wanted to catch up to Stefb at the next rest stop.

If I'm on my solo bike I just ignore the fact that there is a huge hill and keep chugging, try to sing some song in my head. If I'm on tandem I yell at my stoker to pedal harder.

you do what jens does.

you say shut up legs

After tackling a few really big hills on my first cycling tour, I adopted the following strategy:

1) Pull back to about 50% power

2) Pick a point about 1/3 -1/2 of the way up the visible(*) portion of the hill and focus on that, thinking "When I get there, I'll stop if I have to."

3) Reach spot, assess my status and stop only if on the verge of collapse.

4) At Top Of Hill? Yes: YAY! No: Go Back To #2.

It worked fairly well, although trying to get restarted on a 20% grade is not fun. (Thankfully I was sans pedals or toe clips, so I didn't have to worry about 0mph falls...)

Last week I was in NJ on business, and went out for a 30 mile ride w/ a co-worker. It was odd. I would catch up with him on the flats and down slopes as I nursed every bit of momentum I could get out of it. On the uphills, he would out pace me significantly as I pulled back expecting PGH sized hills.

I thought it was very telling about the environments we both cycle in (flat NJ vs slightly hilly PGH).

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(*) The roads were insanely twisty, so often I'd reach what I thought was the top of a hill only to find out it was a switch back on a much bigger hill.

@rick: nice.

"Your lungs are burning and you have a little taste of blood in your mouth..."

-Jens Voigt, coolest man in the universe

I ride up McArdle Rd a few times a week…cursing like a person with turrets seem to help me...and if someone is with me they really seem to enjoy it.

I ride alone most of the time and I find repeating

"What was I thinking" over and over again until I have either reached the top or have been forced to stop keeps me going.

mostly what myddrin does. only i use the checkpoints to see if im having a full blown asthma attack or not. if not i keep going to the next checkpoint, if i am i make myself go another 10 pedals and then double check.

Head down, eyes on white line.

(If I look up, I'm screwed.)

Reduce tempo according to grade.

Focus on breathing, not pedaling.

Loop Radiohead lyrics

"Breathe, keep breathing..."

Next thing I know, I'm at the top.

good thing you're looping those lyrics and not moving on to "i can't do this alone."

Or REM's "everybody hurts"

Shift into the 22 tooth chainring and 30 t cog.

I consider my day. If I'm riding farther than usual, like the first trip of a year or something, then I'm getting more than enough cycling and not enough walking. So why not walk?

If your low gear is low enough, then switching to walking shifts your speed about as much as any other gear shift.

Walking is yoga and your spine will thank you for it.

Occasionally I will string together metaphysical and religious terms in with some physiological desciptors. (J*Z*Z F**K!)

I run into these guys my age on the GAP trail that say they never walk up hills. They come off as though they are too studly to do that. What they really mean is that they are way too wimpy to walk up hills - they have put their bike on a (*retch* *gag*) car and drive when they go up hills. Then they can get all macho with the 2% on the rail trail.

I swear I'm gonna get a hitch for my bike so I can tow a car.

Mick

muttering and sometimes screaming "damn motherf... RAWWWR" like howard dean the whole time.

I try to use a combination of Quizbots (head down with occasional looks up) and Marko82 (WTF, exhale, inhale, WTF). All this while trying to keep the upper body relaxed. When really desperate (i.e. about ready to cough up ye olde lung or stop I'll throw in a FMTT F##k Me To Tears).