Bring it on...
While we all like riding our bikes a few of us get less out of the climbs than others. A number of reasons for this have been suggested ranging from lack of fitness, too old, not competitive, saving energy for the singletrack and even the old favorite of wrong tyre choice. Neil was whiling away a couple of hours and came across an interesting article on-line (so it must be true) . . .
To be a good climber of hills on a bike the rider needs to be the correct shape . . . . i.e they need to have a physique suited to going uphill.
the optimum hill climbing physique is calculated thus;
you should weigh (in pounds) no more than twice your height (in inches)
I’m 5ft 11 (71 inches tall) . . . . so to climb hills efficiently I should weigh no more than twice that in pounds (142 pounds) . . . . erm . . . that’s 10.1 stone! .
This application of simple mathematics together with a glance around highlights the problem of almost everyone in our gang who hate pedelling up, we are just too short to be good at hill climbing. Another on-line fact; a 5ft 11″ large-frame male should weigh between 161 & 184 pounds to be deemed “normal” and even a small-framed male’s lowest weight to be in the “normal” range is 146 pounds . . . so to be a good climber you need to be “underweight”. Do your own maths and see how you square up but for now “I’m too short to climb hills fast” is increasingly heard on our rides.
What can we do about it? The solution is obvious a few of us need to be taller, much taller. We are developing the “rack” system of training with the objective of becoming 9ft tall (that’ll just about do it). It’s a sure fire winner.
Now, where’s my beer, pizza and chips? . . .
http://www.cptips.com/index.htm
Unfortunately I need to grow to 8 foot 4 inches then…. before breakfast.
Too old, too slow, too short…
I like the fact that at no point do you suggest that any of your group are too fat. (I need to be a foot taller to be right for my weight.)