Rolling Hills - someone explain how to ride/cue them

[fitfan]

Hi all!

Can someone explain the components of a Rolling Hills class, i.e. how to set one up, what type of music, how long and how to cue it.

Much appreciated. :)

[Raptor]

How long/high are the hills? Here in Utah, you might be gaining and losing 500 vertical feet each time. In Kansas, it might be 5-10 feet. To be realistic, you should spend 3X the time climbing that you do descending. But maybe you just want a more regular interval ride.

Most non-cyclist instructors don't realize that riding up hills is slow. Don't mix even parts climbing/not climbing and call it "rolling hills." You can do it for ten minutes, 45 or longer.

There is a lot mid-tempo music that can be used for either climbing or flat riding. But given the above - 3X climbing - it's easy to find regular-length climbing songs that you can mix with short fast ones. Punk music from the 80's fits well, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes have some fun re-makes of "light rock hell" songs in a punk mode. Or you can just try to remix some Afrocelt or Blue Man Group with some climbing music to make a more professional class.

Lynn

[BoiseSpin]

FitFan,

Here is how we do rolling hills:
More like intervals, hills of diff. sizes "come up" as we are riding a flat. We add a gear, or more, and power thru the hill(s) then take it back to the flat. Sometimes the hills are one at a time, other times a few in a row.
Recover time is based on hill size, number of hills, how long.
Peace,
Dorian