Ned Overend has won a mountain bike world championship and six mountain bike cross-country national championships, and that's not counting the titles he's nailed during his second career racing off-road X-Terra Triathlons. Ned can speak with authority about any aspect of mountain biking (his book, "Mountain Bike Like A Champion," is a must-read for any rider), so we asked Ned to share his insights on the most important mountain biking skill: climbing.
"Clear the cliches about climbing out of your head. There are plenty of big guys who climb well and there are lots of older guys who climb great. You can have just as much fun climbing as you can descending, with the right mindset."
"Embrace the suffering. We all learn as children that pain is bad. You stick your hand in the flame and it hurts and it is doing damage to your skin. In that respect, pain has a very negative connotation. You have to get in the frame of mind that the pain you feel while climbing is a positive kind of pain. You have to separate it from those other types of pain."
"Your muscles will be aching and there will be a pain in the pit of your stomach, but at the same time, you have to realize that you are becoming a better climber and increasing your fitness. This pain isn't the kind that is damaging your body; it is making it stronger."
"A lot of riders go into a hill too hard and end up losing a lot of ground by the top. Go into the hill spinning. Find a rhythm and then you can start to push harder as you get into that rhythm."
"If the guys on a group ride are going hard at the beginning of a climb, I don't want to get dropped. I'll keep my bike in a low gear and do everything I can to relax my muscles. I'll concentrate on my spin and breathing. I want to use less energy than the other riders. I find that by doing this, I start to recover a bit half way up the climb and, near the top, I'm attacking those guys."
"Aerodynamics is less important when climbing because the speed is slow, so you can sit up a little higher. You want to be able to fill your lungs easily on a climb. Don't fold your shoulders in. Move your hands to the end of the bars. Don't do anything that will restrict your lungs."
"You can gain a lot of time by picking a point near the top of your climb, getting out of the saddle and attacking over the top of the climb. You'll have time to recover on the downhill."
"I don't use a heart rate monitor. I gauge myself by my respiration and the lactic acid building up in my legs. I use that feel to judge how much energy I have left and adjust my pace."
"The front derailleur is the weakest link on a bicycle. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to drop to a smaller chainring while on a hill, you need to surge a bit and soft pedal one revolution when you shift. If you don't you'll find that the derailleur won't shift or, worse, you'll experience chain suck. It is best to look ahead and decide when you are going to need that granny gear."
"If you do lots of long climbs, be sure you allow yourself to recover. Find rides on flat terrain or rolling hills that allow you to spin. You want to mix it up. It helps recovery and it helps mentally, too."
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