How to Ride Faster Uphill

by Simone Bisello and Riccardo Pina

Tackling climbs on a bike is a challenge that requires a strategy combining training, nutrition, and targeted supplementation. Here's how to optimize each aspect to improve your performance when the gradients rise.

Why Climbing Really Is a Whole Other Story

On flat terrain, you can relax in a draft, slow down in favorable sections, enjoy a descent.

On climbs, however, pedaling is continuous, effort is constant, and every extra kilo is felt. When the road tilts upward, you must overcome gravity, and as the gradient increases, the effort grows exponentially. At 15 km/h, just one extra kilo can require up to 5 additional watts.
Moreover, the lack of rest phases leads to intense muscular work. This is why climbing is among the most fascinating and complex challenges for every cyclist: it requires careful calibration of fitness, nutrition, and supplementation.

How to Prepare: Seeking the Best Power-to-Weight Ratio

On climbs, the key parameter is the power-to-weight ratio (Watts per kilogram). The higher it is, the stronger you climb. Tour de France professionals regularly exceed 6.2–6.5 W/kg for 20 minutes. A well-trained amateur can aim for a range between 3.5 and 4.5 W/kg, depending on their level.
However, improving the power-to-weight ratio doesn’t mean chasing the lowest possible weight. The goal is not to lose weight, but to find the most functional weight for performance: a balance between lightness and power, well-being and long-term sustainability.
If you're not yet at this functional weight, it's helpful to set a path ahead of time to improve body composition, with a gradual approach aimed at reducing fat mass without affecting lean mass. The best way to do this is to create a sustainable caloric deficit, avoiding excessive cuts and maintaining a good protein intake to preserve muscle mass — the real engine of performance.
In this context, an effective strategy is to modulate caloric and carbohydrate intake according to training load, based on the principle “fuel for the work required”.

Training for Climbs: Aerobic Power and Strength

To improve performance on long climbs, you need to work on two factors:

• Aerobic power: the ability to sustain high intensity for a prolonged period without gasping. A good training method is performing ten-minute intervals at anaerobic threshold power - that is, FTP (Functional Threshold Power), the maximum power one can sustain steadily for about an hour;
• Strength: essential for sustaining intense, prolonged muscle contractions. It can be trained in the gym with targeted leg exercises, or on the bike, for example with classic standing starts that simulate short but intense efforts and improve pedaling strength.

How to Eat Before a Demanding Workout

Starting with good glycogen stores makes a difference before a climb: during intense efforts, carbohydrates become the main energy source.
On climbs, in fact, it's easy to exceed the anaerobic threshold - the level of intensity beyond which the body starts producing energy through anaerobic metabolism, rapidly consuming stored glycogen.
For an amateur, the power required to tackle climbs often exceeds this threshold. In contrast, professionals can stay below their anaerobic threshold longer, thanks to better effort management.
To maximize glycogen reserves before the ride, simply increase carbohydrate intake slightly the day before (about 20% more than usual) and pay close attention to the pre-ride meal.
The recommendations suggest consuming a carbohydrate-rich meal, around 150–200 g, 2–3 hours before the activity — such as a breakfast of cereals, bread, fruit preserves, fruit, or juice. The more time between the meal and the workout, the larger the carb portion can be. You can also include some lean protein to support the muscles.
Starting with optimized reserves is crucial — but not enough: to sustain prolonged effort, it’s essential to supplement during the activity to delay exhaustion and maintain energy availability.

Supplementation: Supporting Effort on Climbs

Supplementing during activity is important for those tackling demanding workouts and routes. Glycogen reserves stored in the muscles and liver total around 450 grams — enough for 90–120 minutes of intense effort.
This is why amateurs especially should focus on supplementation: compared to professionals, they tend to use a greater share of carbohydrates even at low intensity, accelerating depletion of energy reserves. Their crossover point — the shift from fat-based to carb-based metabolism — occurs at lower intensities than in trained athletes.

Thus, it’s important to supplement with carbohydrates from the first hour, taking at least 60 grams per hour. For longer or more intense efforts, you can increase to 90 grams per hour, gradually training the gut to absorb such amounts. Taking 90 g/hour might seem a lot, but riding at 260 watts for an hour — common for many amateurs on climbs — expends over 900 kcal, equal to 200 grams of carbohydrates.

 

What Is the Crossover Point? The crossover point marks the intensity at which the body shifts from deriving energy primarily from fats to carbohydrates. This value varies with training level: less trained individuals reach crossover at lower intensities, while well-trained athletes can still use fat at higher intensities. As a result, at the same power output, amateurs burn more carbs than professionals. For example, riding at 200–250 watts often puts amateurs above the crossover, leading to rapid carbohydrate depletion and a need for supplementation. For pros, this threshold may be between 290 and 330 watts.

Climb Supplementation Strategies: What Really Works

The carbohydrates consumed during activity should have a high oxidation rate and promote fast gastric emptying, especially during climbs. To avoid discomfort, it’s advisable to use specific products like 2:1 glucose-fructose blends. These formulas help surpass 60 g/hour, leveraging different intestinal transporters and optimizing carb absorption.
During climbs, product practicality is essential to maintain good energy intake without disrupting rhythm. Energy drinks are ideal for ease of use, as are gels that require no chewing and can be consumed quickly.
For those who don’t like the texture of traditional gels, chewable gummies are a great alternative — soft and easier to ingest, making them practical even on tough climbs.
Consider also products with added caffeine, which can improve focus, responsiveness, and reduce perceived effort. Caffeine takes about 30–60 minutes to kick in, so it’s important to plan intake and account for personal sensitivity.

Recovery: An Essential Process to Restart at Your Best

After training — especially at high intensity — the main goal is to restore muscle glycogen and activate recovery processes.
To do this, it’s good to consume around 2–3 g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight in the 3–4 hours following activity.
If another ride or intense session is planned the next day, it’s not enough to focus on quantity alone — timing of nutrient intake becomes essential.
In this case, it's useful to take a carb-rich recovery drink (about 0.7 g/kg of body weight) with amino acids right after activity, followed by more carbs in the hours afterward, ideally combined with a beverage rich in anthocyanins, such as tart cherry extract.

Conclusions Tackling climbs requires a combination of physical preparation, nutritional strategy, and effort management. Here are the key points to remember to boost performance and better handle fatigue: Seek the best power-to-weight ratio: climbing requires continuous, consistent effort, and every extra kilo significantly impacts energy expenditure. It's crucial to find a balance between lightness and power, aiming for a functional weight that allows optimal performance without sacrificing muscle or well-being.. Train aerobic power and climbing-specific strength: develop the ability to sustain high intensity with threshold intervals and improve strength with targeted exercises on the bike and in the gym. Start with good glycogen reserves: to handle the high intensity of climbs, begin with optimal glycogen levels, built through targeted pre-workout nutrition, especially with a carb-rich meal 2–3 hours beforehand. Supplement during activity with practical, fast-absorbing products: during climbs, it's important to take high-oxidation carbs like maltodextrins, glucose, and fructose in a 2:1 ratio. Bottle drinks and energy gels remain ideal for maintaining steady energy without breaking pedaling rhythm.

 

 

Bibliography

- Jeukendrup, A., & Killer, S. C. (2010). The myths surrounding pre-exercise carbohydrate feeding. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 20(6), 459-469.
- Coggan, A. R., & Coyle, E. F. (1987). Carbohydrate ingestion during prolonged exercise: effects on performance and metabolism. Journal of Applied Physiology, 62(6), 2043-2048.
- Friel, J. (2012). The Cyclist’s Training Bible. VeloPress.
- Seiler, S. (2010). What is best practice for training intensity and duration distribution in endurance athletes? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 5(3), 276-291.
- Hawley, J. A., & Burke, L. M. (2010). Carbohydrate availability and training adaptation: effects on cell metabolism. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 38(4), 152-160.
- Jeukendrup, A. E. (2011). Nutrition for endurance sports: marathon, triathlon, and road cycling. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29(sup1), S91-S99.
- Burke, L. M., et al. (2019). International Olympic Committee consensus statement on dietary supplements and the high-performance athlete. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(7), 439-455.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: the information provided is for informational purposes only and does not replace the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare professional. The content is intended for healthy individuals: any dietary regimen or physical activity must be supervised by a qualified professional, as required by Italian law. Enervit S.p.A. assumes no responsibility, as the information is purely educational. Anyone wishing to begin a nutritional or physical activity program should first consult with their trusted specialist.