Bytagread the publication "Training on a mountain pass: an ideal terrain for progress"
Training by climbing mountain passes is much more than just a bike ride in a magnificent setting. It's a unique opportunity to work on your physique, refine your technique, and strengthen your mental strength. Here's why climbing mountain passes should be part of your routine if you're looking to improve your cycling.
By Guillaume Judas – Photos: ©depositphotos.com
Regularly climbing passes in training has an advantagetage certain not only to climb better, but also to improve overall physical fitness. Those who live close to the mountaintagoften benefit from it. For others, there are few sessions that can replace long climbs of 15 minutes or more. This explains the success of stagis at altitude, or at least in a mountainous regiontagneuse, for those who are preparing for their big summer goals or who simply want to give their performance a boost.
A perfect environment to manage your intensities
Pass climbs offer undisturbed terrain : no intersections, no red lights, no stop signs. You can fully concentrate on your exercises, whether working on specific intensities, uphill sprints, or extended threshold exercises. This continuity allows for clean and efficient work, without external interruptions. You control your effort and can push your limits with complete peace of mind.
Technical work for optimized pedaling
Climbing a pass is an opportunity to perfect your pedaling technique.Whether you're sitting down to maintain a steady pace or standing up to boost your effort, climbing forces you to feel every pedal stroke. To eliminate as many dead spots as possible in the pedaling cycle to maximize your efficiency. This context helps refine the fluidity of your movement, better distribute the effort between your legs, and optimize your posture. Over time, these technical adjustments translate into increased efficiency, which you'll also feel on the flat.
Targeted muscle strengthening
The passes intensely solicit the quadriceps, glutes and core musclesEach climb is a true muscle-building workshop, where you develop not only your power, but also your muscular endurance. The long, often demanding climbs push you to work on your resistance to fatigue, a valuable asset for long outings or competitions.
A mental challenge to push your limits
Climbing a pass is also a mental battleSteep slopes, long climbs, and the onset of fatigue test your determination. It's in these moments that you learn to manage your effort, pace your energy, and get to know yourself better. Each climb conquered strengthens your confidence and your ability to cope with difficult moments—essential qualities for any cyclist.
A complete progression ground
In summary, Training in a mountain pass means offering yourself a complete training ground, where the physical, technical and mental aspects develop in synergy.Each climb is an opportunity to progress, to better understand your body and to push your limits. Whether you are an amateur or a competitor, the passes are a school of rigor and perseverance.
Often, it's the icing on the cake.
Those who live in the plains can of course get in shape in another way, through specific training on the flat or by climbing a succession of short hills.. But it is often longer and more tedious, and not always as effective.
A stagand to the montagwell built in late spring or early summer nevertheless brings the little who can make the difference to finish the Stage of the Tour well for example (the objective of many riders), or to move up a notch during the amateur summer races.
Pro tip : if you are already well trained, plan a stagAn eight-day hike is the ideal length. And alternate two consecutive days with 2500 to 3000 m of elevation gain with a very light recovery day where you will still climb an "easy" pass with a very low gear ratio. You should feel the effects a few days after your return to the plains.
And you, do you climb mountain passes?
If you are lucky enough to live near the mountainstagDo you incorporate mountain passes into your training? What benefits do you get from them? And if the mountain passestagare far away, have you ever considered stagAre you at altitude to work on these specific qualities? BytagShare your experiences, your favorite passes or your tips for progressing uphill!
Bytagread the publication "Training on a mountain pass: an ideal terrain for progress"
Very good article Guillaume ! We are really seeing a development of cycling in mytagwhereas practice in the plains tends totagto even regress. I knew the 2000s, the passes were either the pros of the TDF or the EDT for cyclists. Then from the 2010s we saw that the intermediate public: the cyclists of the plains and the couriers of all levels began to take an interest in it. Today it is unavoidable and in many cycling families, summer holidays no longer necessarily rhyme with the beach, but also with mytag(sometimes both with the Pyrenees and the Alpes Maritimes). Stabilized efforts over 2 hour, no one can do them on the plain. Trying to ride on the plain at FTP is complicated because there is always a descent or an intersection that breaks the effort. In mytagno one can cheat. A stagAn 8-day course for the average cyclist who does 8000 km per year is a big booster: short enough not to lose the PMA qualities acquired on the plains, long enough to get the first benefits from FTP work. The hors catégorie passes are very difficult and if you stay too long, the return to the plains can be difficult. The ideal is therefore to alternate easy and difficult passes, 500m of D+ then 1500m of D+. The fact remains that the gains in VO2Max can be 3 points over a week, which will change a rider's motivation and give him the desire to go even higher!