UKC

I ride a short commute (5km each way) and have found that I seem to go better on the uphills than on the flats. That is, I often catch up to other riders on the uphills, then drop back on the flats. I'm curious about why this is the case, i.e. why I'm not consistent across gradients.

Anyone else experienced this? Is there any logic to why this happens, or is it just a case of working harder?

Maybe it's something in my mindset - perhaps I expect hills to be hard, so don't mind working for it, but don't expect flats to feel hard (and hence just turn my legs over). I'm not trying to break any records, after all!

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

Unless you and the other riders are consciously racing each other then you can't really draw any conclusions. On my commute in to work I take it steady so that I don't raise a sweat as we don't have showers at work. It may be that the other riders you encounter are doing something similar.

Without some form of cycle computer to show you your speeds you'll just be going off perceived effort which can change according to conditions.

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

Are you particularly light?

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

First guess, as above, is that you are particularly light. Light riders will always find hills easier than flat as the important thing on hills is your power to weight ratio whereas on the flat it is your power to frontal area ratio.

If this is not the case, it may simply be psychological - riding uphill you are working against gravity, on the fact you are working against air resistance. These two things feel very different. On a hill you can see the gradient an you can see your speed over the ground and your effort is directly linked to these things. On a flat you can see your speed, but you can't see the air/wind and this can be morale sapping if you feel like you should be going faster which can ultimately lead to you going slower. This is particularly true of lighter riders who get really knocked around by the wind.

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

I know what you mean. On my way home from work, there is one section of road that I seem to go much faster on and even change up a gear, despite it apparently being a slight rise and not the best surface. I've put this down to it being just far enough from work that my legs are warmed up and starting to flow, but not tired yet.

One day I'll get round to analysing my Strava trace to see what's going on...

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

Without a load of other details, check your gearing, are you coming out grinding or spinning? Spinning will allow you to get the power and speed back up quickly. Also a lot of people who go quickly up a hill (as in with effort) quite often crest it then rest for a second losing the momentum and having to kick start the pedalling again.

Some times the road section just does something to you. I've got one short sharp 10% that I can hit pretty hard but once it flattens out I struggle to keep the tempo high, then you take the false flat on the Horseshoe and it basically becomes a sprint finish without a struggle.

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

Me and a good friend who often ride together have this issue... I'm quick up the hills, but he's quick on the flat.

It's to do with build we think... He's heavier than me, with much more powerful legs (from year of rugby) I'm lighter and thinner (think Stannard Vs Contador). As a result His outright power (what is needed on the flat) is better compared to wind resistance, where as on the hills you need a better power to weight ratio - which I have.

I'm sure it's possible for you to up your power outputs, but you are unlikely to completely change this without serious effort.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

That almost exactly describes me and a mate. We can tell who's going to win a race, based on the amount of hills.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

And there was me just thinking I was a beast on the uphills, now you tell me I'm a cheat for being small and light! DOH. Combine this with the new road bike which is half the weight of the commuting bike I have been using all year and I'm virtually floating up the hills
(I don't think I'm too slow on the flats though. Hard to tell, I don't ride with others often enough to judge)

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

I think it's all probably been covered above. If your live in a flat area, then cycling into the wind pretending it's a hill is a good mental trick to train for hills.

Our club has one massive guy - awesome wind block, but slow up the hills. On the town-line sprints you have to try catch him coming past and time your acceleration to dive into the vacuum behind him and then try and find some more power from somewhere. It doesn't help that the favourite sprint finish has touch of the downhill about it.

Speaking as a spindly climber type who isn't that good up hills either.

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

Thanks everyone for these helpful responses!

Yes, I am light for my height, and definitely struggle into the wind, so everything you've said makes sense.

In reply to IMA:

Spinning, definitely. I'm not built for grinding it out

In reply to some_fulla_ant:
Similar here - I'm small and light, and like you I often catch people on the hills, only to have them pull away from me on the flats and descents.

In my case, as well as weight, it is probably something to do with bike set-up. My commuter has limited gears (single chain-ring), and I sometimes find on downhill sections that the people who overtake me still have gears in hand, while I am spinning madly on the smallest ring of my cassette.

Of course, it might also help if I actually serviced my hubs

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

Occasionally I've tried working in a heart rate zone when out riding. It meant I had to slow down uphill and speed up downhill and on the flats. Otherwise my heart rate was too high uphill, and too low at other times. It mean my elapsed time for a regular route dropped consistently. You might want to try that.

In reply to Orgsm:

I kind of enjoyed riding to a heart rate zone too - doing fasted commutes to work in zone 2 (effectively the kind of zone where you're breathing fairly gently if you don't have a monitor). It took a bit of effort to stick to it because the first couple of days being passed by toddlers on BMX bikes was somewhat mortifying. But by about week three my speed in zone 2 on the flat had noticeably increased which I hadn't expected.

In reply to AlisonSmiles:


I might give this a shot. I often run to a heart-rate zone, but hadn't considered doing this on my commute.

In reply to some_fulla_ant:

To everyone replying saying "I'm light too and my bigger friends beat me on the flats" or some such, heed my words:

SIT YE UPON THE WHEEL

As light riders we have a huge advantage, we can hide behind the bigger riders on the flat (If they can ride you off their wheel when you're sat 6 inches off it then, I hate to break it to you, they are just a better rider than you, bigger or not) and then ride away on the hills. Hell, we can even jump them in a sprint if we come off the wheel at the right moment. So, persist, ride hard, learn to ride as hard into the wind as you do up hills (including metering your effort correctly) and most importantly learn how to get right in the slipstream of the biggest mutha you can find.

In reply to kathrync:

Anything to add a bit of variety!