HOW TO BEAT A HILL LIKE… ALEJANDRO VALVERDE

If you dread feeling drained of power halfway up a hill, here’s how to master the climb

Climbs are what cyclists often find the single biggest difficulty when it comes to cycling,” explains Holohan. A great example of a rider who’s mastered this is Alejandro Valverde. “Competitive in the Vuelta a Espana on the long climbs, winning Leige-BastogneLeige on the medium climbs and top 10 on the bergs of the Tour of Flanders. It’s very rare to see a rider so competitive across all these different terrains.” But as Holohan points out; it’s easy to get lost in specialisation when it comes to climbing. “For most of us not riding in the World Tour we have to be more than capable of a variety of climbs. Most climbs will come down to power to weight. I say most, as the lesser the gradient, the more aerodynamics comes in to play, but we’ll keep it simple. Let’s start with weight.” LIGHTEN UP 1 “The easiest way to strip the kilograms would be to throw money at the situation and buy the lightest bike on the market. Sadly, it’s a luxury most of us don’t have. But you needn’t replace your entire bike – look at lightweight swaps – latex inner tubes, lightweight bar tape and tyres with velo plug for reductions in weight.” DRASTIC MEASURES 2 “On your next sportive or race look to reduce your weight before the final climb of the day through a number of tried and tested tricks including emptying your bottles or shedding excess baggage that you can retrieve afterwards.” DO THE DIET 3 “A far more effective option would be to improve your body composition. I wouldn’t make any drastic diet changes, but simply by cutting out convenience food, refined sugar and alcohol, most people will find they can lose a kilo or two. Focus on a balanced diet, rich in nutrients.” POWER UP 4 “The other element to our equation is power. When training this, we will have to make some compromises. It’s very rare to be good on the short, punchy climbs of Flanders as well as the long passes in the Alps. This is where we need to get in to the individuality of the athlete.” SHORT SESSIONS 5 “If it’s the shorter climbs that you feel you’re stronger on, then I would dedicate two-sessions a week to improving your longer climbs. Your classic threshold intervals would be a great option for this, once you’ve built up a solid aerobic base. You’ll still want to maintain your ability on the shorter climbs however.