Going Up! Conquering Hills

Are you an uphill or a downhill person? We (the co-founders of BABBs) are very much one of each, thank you very much. Whatever category you fall into though, hills are a part of cycling, so you're going to need to figure out how to navigate the other dreaded category as well. Today we're going to talk about uphills. I love me some uphill, and while there are things you can do to make the physical part of riding uphill better (USE YOUR GEARS!), I think it might be even more important to have your mental game dialed in on climbs. As the season is picking up, and we're adding elevation to both riding plans, here are some ways to help your mind on the climbs:

1) See hills as a part of cycling. If we resist hills as things that "should not be there," we can start the climb in a bad mood. To borrow from Buddhism, try to "be friendly to all experience." This is just another experience of cycling, one where you're breathing a little harder and your muscles might feel more uncomfortable.

2) Be your own hype woman. There is scientific evidence that talking to yourself in the second person can help improve performance. Long hills for me are a consistent conversation of "You're doing just fine, Victoria. You got it. You're about 1/2 way and doing great. Just keep moving. OK, now you're about 3/4 of the way. (etc, etc)." Sometimes I even talk to my legs and tell them what a good job they're doing. It might sound dumb but not a soul knows about it (ok, now they do) and I'm pretty sure the positive feedback helps. If you concentrate on how much it hurts and how inadequate you feel to the task at hand, I promise you that the hill will feel longer and you'll feel worse.

3) Find ease in the effort. I got this from a yoga video many years ago, but I apply it to cycling. Yes, your legs might hurt and your lungs might be burning, but can you relax your shoulders as you pedal? What parts of your body are NOT hurting? How are your ears? Your eyelids? Your elbows? Remember that there is ease even in the effort you are expending.

 What about you? What mental strategies help you on hills? Respond to this email & share a strategy that works for you-- we'll do a reader contribution letter if we get enough shares!