The hills are alive…..with the sound of moaning. Okay, I’m going to let you in on a little secret, even though I’m Mrs. Cycle Tours UK, I didn’t always enjoy cycling up hills. In fact, I hated hills. So I understand when people I talk to about cycling immediately say, ‘Oh, I like cycling except for the hills – can’t do hills, hate hills, only like to cycle where it’s flat, it’s too much hard work doing the hills.”
I can hear their pain, I can be sympathetic to a point . The fact is that unless you’re cycling in Holland, or in the English counties of Essex and Norfolk on the east coast, it’s difficult to find terrain that is absolutely flat, and offers what people think is ‘easy’ cycling. Their legs pump around with out much effort, their heart rate stays steady, and they don’t break a sweat. Easy peasy and enjoyable. What doesn’t factor into the big picture here, is often these flat landscapes are open and exposed to the invisible challenge of the wind. Flat cycling is often into a strong headwind which means that in fact you do have to peddle with increased effort to push against the wind. Bang goes the easy-peasy.
Most of the world is a rolling and undulating landscape, hills are everywhere, you can’t escape them, and if you want to cycle to get some reasonable exercise and enjoy what nature has to offer in the country side you have to accept there will be hills to climb.
When I first started cycling in the Hampshire countryside surrounding Winchester, I hated the hills, I hated how peddling up the hills made my thigh muscles burn, how I was having to breathe hard with the effort, and how I had to stop at the top and have a breather. It didn’t help to have Mr. Enthusiasm up ahead wittering on about how great the view was going to be at the top, and cycling up hills was like life – the uphill struggles would be rewarded by down hill good times – utter crap when I had to give up, get off the bike and push it to the top, breathing like a freight train and sweating like a race horse . His relentless stream of cheerful acceptance of hills made me want to throw my bike in the ditch and stomp off home on foot. Except that we were 20 Kilometres away, and there was nothing for it but to get back on the bike and keep going on promises of stopping at the next tea shop for a refreshing brew and a large piece of lemon drizzle cake. Effort must be rewarded.
Much to my surprise, within a few months, I began to notice that it seemed to be taking less effort to climb the hills, that I was actually getting to the top of significant hills without having to get off and push. My legs were a lot stronger, and I was learning to anticipate how to use my gears to best help me up the hill. I’d also devised a lot of mental games that shifted my focus from the physical effort I was putting in, to something else entirely. Most importantly I gave up trying to compete with Mr. Cycle Tours UK and set my own pace . For me that was ‘slow and steady wins the day…or the hill, or whatever’.
Hill climbing strategies are quite useful actually. I quite like singing favourite songs in my head – I don’t usually have enough breath to actually sing out loud, and I’d feel a fool and scare the wild life if I did, so a few verses of Fields of Gold will usually get me over the top and down the other side. I’m not that good at remembering the words, so figuring out the missing words keeps my mind concentrating on something other than the effort I’m putting into the climb. I’m a teacher, so often I work out entire lesson plans, and schemes of work as I’m chugging up a big one. How best to re-plant that tricky area of the garden that’s dry and shady, can create diverting mental images , or next year’s Christmas shopping would a new lap rug be suitable for Great Aunt Mabel, or maybe she’d like one of those duvet things you wear while sitting on the sofa. It’s amazing how when the mind is occupied and the legs are pumping round seemingly on their own, you just suddenly arrive at the top of the hill and think Wow! I did it, and it didn’t seem all that difficult. In fact what you really feel is this huge sense of satisfaction, a certain smugness even.
The underlying reward for your effort is of course, increased fitness. If you limit yourself to just cycling where it’s flat, apart from the fresh air you’re breathing, you’re really not getting much physical benefit from the cycling at all. You’re like those people in the gym who rock up onto the exercise bikes with their gossip magazine, and fortified energy drink designed for extreme athletes doing Iron Person challenges. They sit back on the bike set on the lowest setting, and peddle leisurely for 20 sweat free minutes , then hop off glugging back the turquoise energy drink, like they’d actually been doing serious exercise. Sad but true, no pain, no gain. I hate having to admit that.
I’d be lying if I said I just love cycling up hills, and that’s all I want to do now, is cycle up big hills. I’ve come to accept hills are just part of cycling and cycle touring in the countryside and I’ve worked out ways to manage the effort that has to go into them . I do see the hills as a challenge and I enjoy meeting that challenge and feeling the satisfaction of having climbed the hill, where , yes, the view is fantastic, and wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It’s down hill from there and that’s sweet. I have to be honest, there are still a few hills that defeat me, the ones that climb then level out , then start a steep climb again, I do the best I can, but I feel no shame in getting off and pushing up the rest of the way. I don’t see it as defeat so much as knowing you’re limitations, especially if you tried your best.
All you hill haters out there, stop your moaning and start accepting the hills as a personal challenge that you can manage. Give yourself time to grow stronger, only compete with yourself and find ways to manage your focus away from the physical effort of climbing. The reward of smugness and large pieces of cake will be very satisfying in the end. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
At Cycle Tours UK we want to help you learn to manage your cycle touring so that it is an enjoyable experience rather than an endurance test. Come and join us on a relaxing cycle touring holiday, designed for your fitness level that will keep you active, healthy and happy.