Hills Tend to Slow Me Down

I don't weigh a whole lot. 125lbs is what many people would call underweight, others say they dream being that weight. And, despite the many disadvantages of that weight, such as little fat supply, I find that it is quite nice when you get to the hills. The logic is simple, less weight on the bike means less weight to haul up a hill. Likewise, less weight to haul up the hill means faster speed going up the hill.

There are some restrictions to this logic, though. First of all, because of my light body weight, it means that I may not have as much leg muscle as guys who weigh twice as much. (They have to support 100lbs more all day) To overcome this, it is imperative that I use my power-to-weight ratio wisely. That means to be a fast climber, I need to keep a relatively high cadence (upwards of 85rpm). By maintaining a high rpm, the raw power of the leg muscles becomes a moot point as I can then let my lower body weight help me spin up the hill, while the other riders are mashing their way to the top.

The Titanflex also helps when it comes to hill climbing. Because of the small rear triangle, it is stiffer than those on a standard double diamond frame. Stiffer frame = more power transfer from wheels to pedals = faster climbing.

But, nevertheless, climbing is always slow and painful. There just is no way to make climbing any easier than it already is.

And that's why yesterday's 150 miles took all day, whereas my double century PR is in 11 hours.

Hills tend to slow me down.