Conference noted::bicycle

    Stand up for short, steep climbs.  You can use a fairly big gear -- the
    shorter the climb is, the bigger the gear you can use. (For really
    short ones, you can even just stay in the gear you were in before you
    started climbing.) 
        
    Shift down, stay on your saddle, and SPIN on long, gradual climbs.  Try
    to keep your cadence (RPM of your feet) above 95. Pace yourself so you
    don't "blow up" before you reach the top. If there are little steep
    sections in an otherwise gradual hill, stand up on those in order not
    to lose your pace. 
    
    Figuring out which gear to choose in each case is a matter of practice,
    and depends on your level of fitness.  Right now, the lowest gear on my
    new bike is 42x21.  I've used it for climbs that have a 500 meter (1600
    foot) change in altitude, but I wouldn't recommend that combination to
    anybody! 
    

     Be careful! If you're just starting out, trying to maintain a 95
    cadence will burn you up in no time flat. Besides running at 95
    is more of a competitive pace vs. touring. 
    
     Let your legs be your guide at this point. The key, initially,
    is strengthen your aerobic capacity. Then strength work will
    be in order. For the time being, don't be afraid to get out of the
    saddle anytime you feel like it. It will accomplish two important
    things. First, it pays to stretch out your legs from time to time,
    climbing or not. The change in position will be extremely beneficial.
    Second, it will help flush any lactic acid build-in the quads (a
    real robber of muscle efficiency).
    
     Have fun, do it right and the enjoyment will stay.
    
       Regards,
    
                   Chip

    On the contrary, maintaining a cadence of 95 up a hill will keep you
    from burning up, and is well suited to touring. 
    You can prevent the lactic acid from getting into you muscles in
    the first place by keeping your activity aerobic.  The only thing
    to watch is that you choose a gear that's low enough so that maintaining
    95 is not stressful.  On an 18-speed bike, that won't be a problem!
    
    MATT

    I've found that what helps me the most is thinking ahead.  If I
    see a hill up ahead, I start thinking about down shifting.  You
    don't want to wait for your cadence to drop before you down shift.
    As soon as you start to feel the pedals becoming more difficult
    to spin, it's time to down shift.
    
    As both Chip and MATT said, try to keep your cadence up.  If you
    learn to maintain a steady cadence, speed will come naturally. 
    It may be tough at first maintaining that spin on the hills, but
    eventually you'll get there.
    
    	-Nancy

    I find that on long, difficult climbs it helps me to try to sit
    for most of the climb but I like to alternate between sitting and
    standing to give the different muscle groups a chance to recoup.
    That's my technique but everything I've read said it's simply a
    matter of preference; Do what feels best for you.
    
    Phil

    	On the long gradual ones, as stated, spinning is the thing that
    gets me up them. 
    	But for the short steep suckers, I've found that 'attacking'
    them Really helps!  To 'attack' a hill, pick a point before the
    hill starts (possibly the culvert over the stream that marks the
    low point of the dip before the hill) and start pushing there. If
    you were cruising at 15 mph, accelerate up to 20 so that you carry
    more momentum into the hill. Besides carrying the momentum, it gets
    you working earlier and harder than if you just keep up the level
    of effort needed to cruise - which results in your decellerating
    rapidly as the hill steepens.  This technique a) gets the hill over
    with quicker (results in your keeping up a higher average speed),
    and b) results in your having to shift down less (your minimum speed
    on the hill is higher).
    	This really is effective only on short hills.  You can use this
    technique for the start of moderate hills, but you will eventually
    slow down to a steady-state condition.  On the long hills, don't
    waste your energy with this kind of stuff.  - Chris

>    As soon as you start to feel the pedals becoming more difficult
>    to spin, it's time to down shift.
        
    	Actually, with a triple you won't want to wait this long, since
    you'll loose a lot of momentum going thru the gears on both sides.
    As a novice (speaking from experience) you'd do better to shift
    down at least one gear more than you need for the present time.
    This will get you into the gear you will ultimately climb in faster
    thereby allowing you to keep your cadence/momentum up to finish the
    spin to the top.  When my cadence falls, that's when I get out of the 
    saddle and start honking and then sit back down and spin as soon as its 
    back.  This works for me.....but as one previous note stated, there is no
    best way for everyone.  You need to experiment to find out what works
    for you.
    							Jerry

    Well,  I'll be biking this weekend so I'll give these suggestions
    a try - Thanks for you help  Clare

    I find myself mixing the combo's described depending on how I feel.
    Sometimes I'm in and out on the long gradual climbs. I ususally
    let the "burn" dictate when I get out. On the short ones I agree
    with Chris. Attacking them is probably more efficient than trying
    to maintain a cadence and "pedal through" the little sucker.
    
     They are fun though, aren't they. Even more so when the wind is
    trying to push you back to the bottom. 
    
     Chip  :-)

    I know that this posting doesn't quite match the topic but it does
    match the subjects of the postings.
    
    At the risk of starting another medical dispute (!) What is the
    difference between a climber, a sprinter, a rouleur and a pursuiter ?
    
    I think that I can happily explain to myself that sprinters have a lot
    of fast twitch muscle and can generate huge amounts of energy explosively 
    but this does leave the climbers, rouleurs and pursuiters.
    
    One could reason that given the basic action is the same (turning the
    peddles) the ability to go fast on the flat implies the ability to go
    fast up a hill.  Obviously body-mass comes into and so must power/weight 
    ratio, but I have heard it said that small body mass is not necessary
    to be an excellent climber.  Certainly big Mig is no sluch in the
    hills (but there again he is and excellent rouleur.
    
    Given that someone can come up with some explanations, can I pose
    another question - How much can training alter ones penchant for one or
    another ?  
    
    Last year I was OK strong in the hills.  This year having done a bit of 
    weights during the winter my ability to roll at a high speed has gone up,
    but I suspect that my ability in the hills has gone down, it certainly
    hasn't improved...
    
    rod
    
    PS I cannopt think for the correct english for rouleur - I mean the
    sort of abililty which allows one to win road races - speed, ability to 
    work alone as well as in breaks and so forth.
                  

    
    
      I think you got the Sprinters figured out well.  Sprinters are
    amazing to me in thier ability to accelerate explosivly and then
    hold that top speed for an extended period at the end of a race.
      Most sprinters that I know are powerfully built in general.  Not
    just thier legs.
    
      climbers are a different story all together.  I ride on a regular
    basis with a natural climber named Steve Swan.  He is 1 inch taller
    than I am at 5'11" and only wieghts in at 148 pounds.  I am ten pounds
    heavier.  Lately after 3700 miles of training and a focus on hills I
    can just stay with him on tough climbs.  His light weight is a great
    asset in the hills.  But as I've developed my power (and dropped 10
    pounds) Staying with him in the climbs is now a reality.  Climbers
    are PROPORTIONATELY STRONG.  In other words even although I weigh a 
    little more I've developed a little more power.  Indurain can climb
    with Chiapucci because he has great strength for someone of his size
    and body mass.  Of course it helps to have a high VO2 max. (BTW your
    body mass is part of the formula used to calculate you VO2 max)
    
      I've never done a pursuit and don't know anybody who has so I
    have no idea what makes someone good at pursuit.
    
      I'm not so sure if rouleur has any special talents or more of
    the proper blend of the above combined with riding savy.
    
    John C.
      

	This is a topic I've been thinking about recently, too.  I've noticed,
as have other more experienced riders who've ridden with me, that I take the
hills very well considering I've only been riding about a year.  It's my
opinion that I'm a much stronger climber for someone of my experience than
you might expect; certainly, I rate higher as a climber than as someone who
cranks along on the flats.  I always attributed this to the fact that I'm a
lean person with most of my body weight in my legs.  (Conversely, the heavier
folks zip by me on the downhills; my sole consolation is that the uphills last
longer and aren't nearly as much fun.  ;-))


	I read somewhere fairly recently that squats are the single best
exercise a cyclist can do.  I don't do squats, and in fact eschew almost any
form of indoor exercise resembling a "workout".  However, I've been playing
volleyball competitively for many years and I've been thinking that perhaps
that's adding to my climbing power.


	I know it sounds silly, but jumping is one of the most important
aspects of volleyball, and jumping for height I'll bet is fairly similar to
doing squats with weights; at least it seems to me you're flexing your muscles
in a pretty similar fashion.  I really believe it's a big factor in my cycling.


	The other neat thing is cycling leaves me in great shape for volleyball;
I can play for hours without getting nearly as tired as I used to (and no
soreness!).  I've found these two sports really complement each other well.


Brian

    
    An interesting testimonial.  I've heard from others that cycling gives
    endurance to other activities - e.g., my friend Pat, who will go out
    for a 6 to 9-mile run, says cycling has improved her running endurance.
    (This is not a result I expected, by the way.)
    
    -john

     Squats and calve raises are touted as good weight training exercises
    for cyclists. However, the goal is strength not mass. These exercises
    need to be carefully done. The larger the quads/calves is not synon-
    omous to awesome climbing/sprint ability. It doesn't seem synonomous
    to jumping either (if you take a look at some of the NBA's best
    verticles, Olympic high jumpers, etc...
    
     I did some squats over the winter and I believe it did help me when I
    hit the road. I feel a little stronger climbing (I said I feel - which
    doesn't mean I am) :-) So no challenges please.
    
     I also did some leg presses... Hey, it couldn't hurt.
    
       Chip