Cadence

One of the biggest issues I consistently see with strong guys while on the bike, whether road or mountain bike is trying to power up a hill with low rpm pedaling. I can't tell you how many times I have seen new guys out there trying to power up a hill with a cadence of 50 or 60.

Today I was working with a newer guy on the mountain bike. The hill had a bit of a challenge. A solid 17 or 18% grade, quite short, maybe only 15 feet but riddled with very lose powdery dirt and a very narrow line to clean the hill. Very often I see a guy stand up to try to power up that hill, go about 5 feet and spin out. Whether he didn't stay on line or overpowered the ascent and spun out, the result is the same. Spinning out is never cool. Some try to lean forward it change the balance point by getting low, but these things rarely work.

Keeping the line and not spinning out is especially critical in a situation like this. So how are you supposed to attack a hill like this, cadence. When you keep your but on the seat, you keep your center of gray as low as possible, always a good thing. It allows you to maneuver the bike and hold to a tight line up that hill. The main key however is cadence.

Let's first think about the issues with powering up a hill with a low cadence. I've seen it a number of times and essentially you end up spinning out that rear tire when you try to apply power. Cranking down hard is nit the finesse that a hill of that stature requires. The best thing you can do is spin up those legs, think 100 rpm, very high cadence spinning as fast as you can controlled, up that hill. A number of things will happen, first your balance is increased because motion and movement are now in your favor. Additionally, because you have some momentum, the first little slip of the rear tire doesn't result in a huge momentum loss and you'll still have inertia pushing you up that hill. Being able to hold that line up the hill by putting yourself in a better controlled stance will really help. Then having momentum and high cadence will really help you steadily move up that hill.

Want to make it up that slippery hill, get your legs moving at a high cadence, pick the right line and stay low. You may even pull the handlebars a bit towards you, to help keep that rear tire connect to the ground. Push lighly and keep those legs moving.