How to Climb Hills Faster with Simon Warren

Riding the climb for this years National Hill Climb Championships in North Wales with the help of pro climber Simon Warren
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[@TheFloridaBikeVlogger]

one thing I had to learn on my own was to stay calm and not panic..everytime I would climb I would go into panic mode, now I just focus on the breathing and calmness

[@tonyg3091]

Totally. And also-accept you will be moving slow. It is what it is, there will be no 35 km/h stuff on double digit climbs.

[@yeagemk]

Yes definitely. Hill are no different from flats in that you have a given power that you can put out, and you have to manage that power and be careful not to exceed it and get yourself into debt. As long as you think about it in this way, the hills are no different. Panic is the enemy. Adrenaline too for me.

[@spyder_man]

Old shoe is a great climb, good road surface, good views, a good test and a cafe at the top. It is steep all the way up, no mercy. Will be there for the hillclimb champs, as live locally. Good luck everyone. 🍀

[@n22pdf]

Great vid.. well done for talking and filming through the climb David and Simon great work guys 🏅🤩👍🚴

[@jezfrommirfied64]

Love all the climbs that you show and I have done alot of them especially the ones in Yorkshire.

[@stevetreinen3342]

I think the Brits have it right. Short steep hills, challenging but something many people can tackle. Altitude not an issue so a more level playing field. Looks like a lot of fun. I would like to come over and give it a go.

[@jacksonbangs6603]

Being from the Black Hills of South Dakota, I am well familiar with long steep climbs in high altitude. My best advice for beginner climbers is to pace yourself. As long as you keep drinking water and consuming calories while pacing yourself, you should be fine.

[@tomdavid7372]

Thank you Simon, I've been to beautiful bits of Britain because of you.

[@vijayramachandran3559]

If 12.5% is not brutal, I shudder to think what is!! 😱

[@wayneliketowalk3740]

Well worth it for the view

[@mikemyers8064]

Used to ride this in the 60s and 70s . 11kg bike 27x 1 1/4 tyres 60-70 lbs tyre pressure. All part of an 80 mile ride from Liverpool to Llangollen and home on a Sunday .

[@darrenmiller6129]

Great video David and Simon. After Winnats last year being my first nationals, hoping to not let the occasion get the better of me this time. Pacing is so key, I'm hoping the steepness may well help. My 11 Year old also fancied a crack (I did try and put him off!), so get to double up on the nerves come Sunday.

[@loc9588]

great to have him back on the channel, this fella is very likeable. more of him!

[@willshaughnessy8515]

We climb 14 ers here in colorado..if its not the altitude that gets you at 12k ft and aboive ,..its the wind shears at 60-70mph and the cold, often snow Yet , its my favorite season to ride in ,, the shear beaty of the mountians, the ELk, coyotes, the mountain goats.. the stillness of the wilds, its intoxicating and addictive.. thats why I ride..and climb...

[@JibbaJabber]

@5:44 'It's a climax to the season' Climax!! More like Max Climb!!

[@HamRadio200]

We have a "mountain" where I live that is an average of around 7% for almost 3 miles. I've ascended it twice in my year of cycling. 1st time took over 45 minutes, my second time took 27 minutes. The record according to strava is 11:18. I have alot of work to do to be even close to that lol.

[@benjaminburtner8184]

Dropping 18 minutes is a hell of a start!

[@janeblogs324]

7%?? That's only 4°.....

[@scottelectronic]

@@janeblogs324Sounds like you’ve never climbed anything in your life if you think 7% is nothing. There’s literally HC (the hardest in the world) climbs that are 7% average gradients.

[@janeblogs324]

@@scottelectronic 7% is nothing, 3miles would suck though. Our main road to home is 13.5%, Norton Summit is 20%. I have 10x 40+% mini hills in my local suburbs, Adelaide hills are a bitch

[@dcv9460]

Awesome! 😎

[@2freeheel]

Great video, how do I participate, pay on the gate or on the cattle grid? 😅

[@sand9577]

I don't get this hill climbing...Here in Colombia what we call though climbs are on average 20 KM long, with a 7% average gradient at over 2500 meter above sea level. The average time to climb it is around 2 hours. I spent 3 hours going up a hill once...

[@simonrees776]

Great vid. Is that the sportful fiandre Jersey?

[@davidarthur]

Yes it is, the pro one - perfect for uk conditions at this time of year

[@markayling8945]

Thanks for this video which is really helpful for those of us who can't recon the climb before Sunday. It'll certainly be interesting dragging all 6ft 2in and 80kg of me up it.🤪

[@davidarthur]

Hope it helps Mark do let us know how you get on, I won’t be there unfortunately

[@richcrompton6891]

The total lunacy of the British cycling scene in the autumn - brilliant! We should call it the World Hill-Climb championships to elevate its status to where it should be!

[@darrenmiller6129]

We really shouldn't,this ain't America. 😉

[@Ridewithjst]

What bike are you riding? Thought it was the new Madone but think you had black bar tape on your test ride?

[@andyk1615]

I reckon DA is riding the Calnago C68 that he's reviewed previously

[@Revit7]

"...decide where you are going to suffer" isn't that about 30 seconds in until the end? :)

[@gc641]

Amazing to ride out of saddle for that long

[@brianluck84]

One thing I do when I climb is I'll sing yo myself or talk to myself. I have a tendency to hold my breath during hard work and that keeps me breathing and from pushing yoo hard

[@Alex-bh4um]

Creaking bb

[@elisgomer7164]

I've got most of Simon's books and I thought the Old Shoe (first featured in the Cycling Climbs of Wales book) got a solid 8/10 - the main Horseshoe rates a 6/10 or 7/10, but the Old Shoe is a different beast. It may not be in the same league as a Hardknott or a Rosedale (or, for that matter, Allt y Gwernant on the other side of the valley) but it's still going to be a pretty meaty challenge at race pace for the competitors this weekend.

[@AbiShafi]

My back ached just watching! 😱😱😱 as a matter of interest does anyone ride the Buttertubs Pass from say Thwaite to Tan Hill?

[@MultiEski]

We all know David you didn't wonna make him feel bad , you could do this 2x faster ;-) 😋

[@robertcatuara5118]

Climb climb climb. Why didn't I think of that?

[@barryford7135]

Over geared by the look of it Simon?

[@therealwogboy]

finally some real riding

[@jamesguirguis2435]

why no drops on his handlebars?

[@darrenmiller6129]

Most folk don't climb on the drops, so you're just carrying unwanted weight.

[@jamesguirguis2435]

@@darrenmiller6129 Thats what I figured when at the end he was talking about shaving down any weight!

[@mabozza85]

Dont ride AERO bikes with disc brakes that weigh 8kg plus. Thank me later

[@djseitz425]

These work great where I live!

[@mabozza85]

@@savagepro9060 maybe he lives in amsterdam? Or just had too many space cakes?

[@donadams5094]

Depends on the bike. The differences in weight that most people talk about are not all that significant. A 70kg rider -- and let's face it, many if not most riders weigh more than that -- on an 8kg bike only saves 1.5% of total system weight by going all the way to the UCI weight limit. (Obviously amateurs can go lighter yet, but then most riders weigh more than 70kg....). An aero bike can save 1.5% in drag reduction, so saving weight is not automatically better. The truth is that most amateurs can gain more in power than they can lose in weight, albeit only with a lot of work and suffering.

[@therider4909]

​@@donadams5094 a good rule of thumb for climbing is 1kg loss will gain you 2 seconds for each 100m of ascent. So shedding 2kg - whether from bike or rider - will make you 8 secs faster on this year's National Hill Climb course 'the Old Shoe' near Llangollen in North Wales (194m of ascent in 1.5 km). Simon Warren hopes to ride it (race pace) in around 8 minutes, average speed about 13 km/h or 8 mph. An aero frame won't help at that speed. Some competitors' bikes will weigh about 5kg.

[@Mububban23]

That’s great if you can afford a dedicated lightweight bike. For those of us that only have one bike to do everything with, well we’ve only got what we’ve got but we can still take part

[@LRG251]

tips start at 7:30…

[@kieranbarry8193]

which amount to: get a light bike and practice....game changing tips there!

[@Omnis2]

I'd try to move to the drops... oh wait.

[@stevec6232]

2 words...power and weight.

[@cyclingchef3531]

6 kg bike ahhh that's what you cannot buy now in shop 😂

[@thepatternforms859]

How do you make this video and make zero mention of the % grade your on. Like, really?

[@ozgurinsan]

It would be better if you could use metric system as %99 or the world and your audience.

[@kieranbarry8193]

The Gwernant would have been more of a challenge :)

[@Fatbutnotflat]

Comment section : "how to become a better climber = buy an expensive lightweight bike"

[@philcallaghan6910]

Or just lose weight and ride more

[@johngeary99]

So how to be a better climber- a video without any useful information unless you want to compete in hill climbs. Maybe it should be titled so you want to enter a hill climb? 9 mins of my life i aint getting back.

[@PtWhiteBelt]

Whose bottom bracket was complaining? That didn't sound good at all.

[@WerdnaLiten]

I bet the descent is far more fun - and a better test of your skills...

[@markgriffiths2501]

Easy really, get lighter without losing strength

[@samgiamarelos4524]

Aside from the obvious, no tips, thats probably the point, lose weight down to your sweet point and practice, practise, practice

[@brandnewbusiness6737]

I didn't learn a thing.

[@sebastienmilano6060]

I cannot believe a country which does not have high mountains making a fuzz of a 6-8min climb??? and they go about a 6kg bike with a x1 with a weird handlebar ... well a useless bike for anything else than climbing a 7min hill really ... if i must say, you care????? it is so far away of what people really do with their bike but then we do need content and content every week do we? even though it is sponsored, even though we always hear the same blablabla about amazing products we do not need to make daivd's life good! do we?

[@davidarthur]

This video wasn’t sponsored… the uk hill climb scene is an odd one but it’s very popular and it’s the national championships this weekend. This content is meant to open your eyes to an aspect of the sport you might not be aware of

[@sebastienmilano6060]

@@davidarthur i do get it, but is does not mean it has a purpose! let's face it, we have road race, xross race, gravel race, climbing race, mtb race, downhill, climbing race .and I do probably forgot some.. but it is all all about marketing segmentation. I do watch you channel for a while and all i hear is steel bike have a smootth ride, carbon bikes are stiff and aero and blablabla ... it is not like each of your video have a reason to be, except you need to make a video to exist 'commercially". Then you named our video "how to be a better climber"??? how does tis video healp anybody? is it because you did a 2imn research of google keyword ?? i do understand that posting any videos with a superlative will get you more thumbs up or views but then will that make your video more interesting? I do not think so

[@therider4909]

@@sebastienmilano6060 no, this is not about market segmentation or even products. The UK hill climb scene is run by and for enthusiasts, almost all of them volunteers who give their time for free. Most of the riders are people who turn up on their normal road bike and simply ride up it as fast as they can, then have a good chat afterwards. They don't train specifically for the events. *Very* few people bother to remove bar tape or shave grams off their bike. I know this because I've been involved in local inter-club TT and HC events for 14 years. If you don't like David's videos then why not make some better ones yourself instead of whining like a child?

[@darrenmiller6129]

The fact is that this event is probably towards the longer end of a typical UK HC. There is always way too much content skewed towards equipment, but the fact is that it is you vs a hill and a stopwatch. Everyone and I mean everyone, will cheer for you once there race is done. It really is a niche but special side to racing bikes. NB: I don't think there are any bike manufacturers out there making dedicated HC race bikes (yet!)

[@therider4909]

​@@darrenmiller6129 I suspect the YT content is that way because it's popular and it's something to talk about. Those people whining that the climb is too short or our hills are too small are completely missing the whole point of the UK Hill Climb scene (wonderfully described in Paul Jones's book A Corinthian Endeavour). Good luck on Sunday!

[@delbatchio]

These guys weigh nothing. Not impressive. In the states we have a heavy hitter hill climbing competition where participants are 130kg and up. Much more impressive watching the heavy hitters climb many of the steepest roads in the world compared to these twigs. Watching these twigs is like watching bulimic models ride. Not impressive at all.