I just did my first ever mountain. And I didn’t train enough to do it so it was hell. I did the kaunertaler gletscher in Austria which for me had 2000 meter elevation to go from 750 meters to 2750. It’s 37 km long and the last 10 km I first did half biking half walking due to the steep sections. Then the last 5 km I almost did only walk. Since my cleats also were worn out. I feel bad that I had to but it just was so steep. Should I feel even bad about it? I keep doubting about it. Let me know! Also, living in the Netherlands which is flat. How do I even train for such monsters?
by Emiellio11
15 Comments
Nice! Don’t feel bad about walking! You got up it, which is more than most folks.
The only way to train for mountains in the Netherlands, is probably indoor cycling, like zwift, or something.
Also lower gears help. A bike set up for road cycling in the Netherlands is probably geared to high.
I tend to do my biggest hills carrying a touring load, so if walking is easier, I walk. Or stop for a bit & then carry on. I’m not out there to win any races. I just want to enjoy myself.
Yes*, you should should feel awful about that and about photographing such shitty views and sharing them with us
(*no, you should not. But you might want feel bad about crank and valve alignment on the shot of your bike 😁😉)
Definitely would feel bad about making a trip out of it and walking due to lack of preparation. But it is a pretty serious climb. Especially can be depending on your gear ratio too.
We’ve all stopped and walked. No shame in it. Keep training and riding.
Just take the mentality of an e-bike critic: e-bikes are cheating as you should pedal, if that’s true, pedal bikes are cheating as you should walk…..so you got it spot on! But seriously, getting to the top is an achievement using only your muscles, so well done .
1) found a mountian to bike
2) didn’t train (?)
3) bike up as much as you can
4) have to walk part of it
There’s nothing there to feel bad about. I’d be lying if I said I never got off the bike halfway up the hill because it was steep. The way I see it, any progress is good progress! You went out, gave it your best shot, and maybe you even learned something(?). Seems like you have a good ride.
As for training, there has to be some type of hill you can find. Do it a bunch and come back to the mountain another time and try again! Maybe you won’t walk as much
Thanks for the nice responses everyone!
To clear up some of the text:
1. This was supposed to be a hiking holiday that’s why I didn’t train for the mountain. It wasn’t exactly planned to do this one. We just took the bikes with us and would figure out on the spot which ride we wanted to do.
2. I know the crank is messed up on the photo. That’s how done I was at that point. :,)
Any summit you get to with your bike counts as a win. Well done!
And you chose quite the beast to climb:
https://preview.redd.it/jf7qtbkwtq9f1.png?width=1456&format=png&auto=webp&s=8afeebdd5483af70544681ff56e9e829c6d66f34
Made it to the top, still counts.
Pretty nice
It’s something you’ll look back on and think “remember that time I had to get off and walk” …no shame in doing that at all, the progress you make from this point will have you back here climbing it in 1 sitting next time.
As a young cat 2-3 racer I did a stage race with a hill climb stage. 50km finishing at a mountain top observatory with the last kilometer between 15-20%. I literally could have walked the last K faster.
No, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with walking a steep section of road if you’re doing it to have fun. Why be miserable?!?
I think it’s bad and would never do it.
Although that’s mainly because I don’t want to mess up my cleats.
You got up that mountain while plenty of other people wouldn‘t be able to do it. That’s great, no matter how
Perfectly fine, you did what you could on the bike, and then you did what you could on foot. What does your gearing look like/whats your lowest gear?
Those are also some beautiful views, I would have probably just stopped along the way if it got too hard, sit around for a bit admiring the landscape until I regenerated enough to tackle the next section.