On the road you are cycling, it is difficult to avoid many difficult uphill routes. You probably don't want to walk all the way uphill, so the way is to do your best to conquer them. However, if you try to cycle without applying technical methods, you will quickly lose strength and become discouraged. This article, Asama will help you save your fitness and move forward. When you don't give up, the beautiful scenery ahead awaits you.
In part 1 of "How To Bike Uphill Without Getting Too Tired With Asama", we have prepared the necessary mentality for pedaling. This part 2 Asama shares with you some more techniques to help you stay strong.
Pay Attention To Cycling Posture
Someone who does not know the position or posture of cycling. They often cycle according to feelings, leading to fatigue in the shoulders, neck, back or buttocks. Proper cycling posture plays an important role in how to ride a bike up hills without feeling tired.
When riding a bike, you reach for the handlebars so that your hips and chest are slightly forward. Limit focus on your wrists and don't let yourself hunch your back, try to stay in the middle. That's why Asama's bike designs are carefully aligned, helping you to own the right size bike to balance the center of gravity. Focus on keeping the power moving forward, you will move more easily.
Relax Your Hands And Keep Your Breath Steady
Similar to the advice above, when you're riding a bike, limit focus on your wrists and try not to clench your fists. Your hands keep on the handlebar gently. If you don't, your wrists and fingers will quickly become numb, and you will not be able to continue driving.
Also, when you're halfway up the hill, you may not notice it, but your body slowly wears out and starts to tense up. You should try to pay attention and keep your breath steady, you will save a lot of effort and resuscitate easily.
Stay Seated As Long As Possible
This may be opposite the way you are used to. You sit on the bike when pedaling uphill, not standing up. Standing up will have more power and also make you lose strength faster. You need to save energy for the whole journey and only use it when absolutely necessary. Because cycling mainly uses the legs, while standing up uses the whole body. One side is to use only the force of the legs, the other is to use the whole body's strength. Do you understand the cause of the loss of strength? So, as you’re climbing a hill, make a goal to stay seated as long as possible.
Adjust Gears Accordingly
Cycling uphill with the right gears is important in keeping you from getting tired and achieving top speed.
So how is it appropriate to ride a bike up hills with gears?
Gears are generally composed of discs and cassettes. If you know how to adjust between the disc and the cassette, the bike will be very light, and easy to climb uphill without much effort. Asama recommends the following combination:
- Disc No. 1
- Cassettes 1, 2, 3 (for 7-speed)
- Cassettes 1,2,3,4 (for 9-speed)
Note when combining disc and cassette:
- Do not switch to the largest disc + the largest cassette.
- Do not switch to the smallest disc + the smallest cassette.
—> Otherwise, the chain will be crossed, resulting in a shot or broken chain.
- Do not shift gears when the bike is about to stop or stand still.
- Shift gears only when the vehicle is moving at medium or slow speeds.
—> Otherwise, the chain will come loose or disengage.
- Do not reverse the pedal when the bike is about to stop or stand still.
—> If you pedal backwards, the bike will get tangled or break the chain.
- Change gears one by one, this one goes smoothly and then the next one
—> If shifting gears continuously, this will easily cause damage to the cassette and chain.
Keep Your Fitness
If you are still performing the climb by trying with all your strength, then you will lose strength before reaching the top of the slope. With this method only makes the heart rate increase faster, blood pressure increases, muscles tense. Since then, the body expends more energy than when cycling with the correct method of pedaling evenly. If you feel tired and become exhausted, you should cycle slowly to recover and maintain strength for the road ahead..
Uphill biking shouldn't be too difficult if you're athletic, love cycling, and find a method that feels right to you. Let's get a quality bike and start the journey.