2007 Bogus Basin Hill Climb

I reluctantly joined my friend, Paul Rolig, one spring day in 2007 on a ride up Bogus Basin Road in Boise to the Ada County line, a distance of 7.8 miles from the starting point of Highland Elementary School. This point is a popular waypoint for those that train for the annual 14.7 mile Bogus Basin Hill Climb (approximately 3,500 feet of elevation gain - posted as 7% grade, though the bulk of the climbing is on milder grades), as in the early season the weather can be a bit harsh going all the way to the top.

As a result of this first ride, despite being woefully out of shape, I became hooked on hill climbing. The appeal was largely due to many years and well over 25,000 miles of self-contained bicycle touring, mostly in the mid to late 1980s. I have suffered from pollen allergies all my life, so I've always tended to avoid flat agricultural areas to avoid unnecessary suffering, even when the alternative was to hump a 60 to 70 pound fully loaded touring bike up grades of up to 30%! Needless to say, with a bike weighing around 20 pounds the fun factor for going uphill was much higher, especially on a road like Bogus Basin Road, which typically has very sparse traffic in the summer.

I seem to recall my first non-stop effort to the county line was somewhere around 55 minutes and around 1:40 to the finish line (several weeks later once my stamina and fitness had improved). From there my times steadily improved, with my training basically consisting of gasping time trial efforts that pushed my heart rate to its maximum sustainable rate. About a month later I was making the full trip in 1:25 and a month after that I was under 1:20. A quick look at past Hill Climb results showed I was somewhere in the middle of the pack, both overall and for my age bracket, which was pretty encouraging for me, a non-athlete that had never participated in any formal competition.

In summary, my training was climbing as hard as I could as often as I could for about 3 1/2 months. I ended up placing 16th in my age bracket with a time of 1:14:42 (actually about 1:13:45, as I was delayed at the start line by a full minute when the guy in front of me fell flat on the asphalt in front of me).

Encouraged by this result I put my off season efforts into researching what I could do to continue to improve for next year...

Climbing for Roadies

Quite a while ago I had the idea of documenting what I was learning about bicycle hill climbing to pass along to anyone that might be interested in the topic. Years ago I had learned that the best time to write about a topic was not after you had mastered it, but as you were learning it, since this helps you to write for those that are also interested in learning the topic.

I didn't make too much head way before getting bogged down with day to day living. And a while after that Fred Matheny came out with his e-book entitled Climbing for Roadies. After reading Fred's book, I'd say it is about as comprehensive as anything out there, as it managed to cover virtually all the various tips and techniques that I had gleaned from various websites, books and periodicals.

As a result I've decided to re-purpose this blog. While my main interest in climbing is fitness, my main goal is to continue to improve my times in Boise's annual Bogus Basin Hill Climb. I started participating in this event in 2007 after several years off the bike for health-related reasons. So for the next few posts I'll recap my annual training for this event as a means of seeing what worked and what didn't. Hopefully there are lessons of benefit to others with similar interests.

Hip Flexors and Adductors

Hip flexors and adductors are a couple of important muscles for climbing, and for cycling in general. I like doing mountain climbers, as they seem to target my adductors more than any other exercise I've tried. These are great to keep you in shape during the off season.

Click on the embedded link to see a great demonstration of how to do these right.

Ya Gotta Climb

Here's the brutal truth - if you want to climb better, you have to climb. Special exercises will help address some weaknesses, but there is just no substitute for climbing. Look for excuses to add some hills into your daily routine. If you don't have a lot of hills nearby, consider going up and down a single hill multiple times. It's really the only way that your body will build the muscles, aerobic capacity and lactic tolerance that you're going to need.