The most common way to coach hills in a Spinning® class is the "turn it up" style. Starting off in a Seated Climb just off the flat road, with a moderate cadence and a light hill resistance, we instruct our riders to increase the resistance in increments, perhaps until they need to transition to a Standing Climb. We increase the hill some more in the Standing Climb, hit the top of the hill and unwind through a downhill and then a flat. But how often do we think there may be more to a hill than just adding on resistance? Have we ever considered how many different ways we can work a hill?

Here are a few ideas for making more of your hills:

Steady Resistance, Changing Cadence

One way you can change the intensity of a hill is to adjust the cadence. Cadence is how fast your feet pedal, counted in revolutions per minute (RPM). Ordinarily, riders settle into the cadence that is most comfortable for them at the given resistance. But the cadence guidelines for hills are between 60 and 80 revolutions per minute; that gives you a whole range of 20 revolutions you can work through with your riders. Try counting out the various cadences on your own. Try the same resistance level at different cadences so you will be familiar with how the intensity of a hill can change with added cadence rather than added resistance, and how you can coach that feeling for your riders. Then try coaching a hill where you set a moderate resistance, and start with a slower cadence, adding 5 RPM every minute or so for 4 minutes. Holding that hill's resistance steady, you can increase a rider's heartbeat by speeding up their pedal stroke. Play with that cadence some more; turn it up 10 RPM for a minute, and back down for 30 seconds. Up 15 RPM for a minute, back down again. The possibilities are endless. Your class may be surprised at how challenging a "moderately challenging" hill resistance can be just by increasing the cadence. An easy way to teach this is to repeat the same hill at the same resistance but increase the cadence each time you repeat it. Because you are riding it faster each time you repeat, the hill gets shorter in duration with each attempt.

Resistance Isn't All Upward

Much like you can adjust your cadence to increase or decrease intensity, you can also adjust your resistance. For example, switchbacks are steep, sharp turns in a hill. A rider who encounters one usually comes up out of the saddle for a Standing Climb and hammers through it, knowing that it is a short burst of extreme intensity, and then returns back to their less intense climb in the saddle once they've made the turn. You can simulate this in a Spinning class by transitioning your Seated Climb to a sudden, steep switchback, adding a significant amount of resistance that requires the rider to stand and push through it for 15 to 30 seconds. Then bring your riders back down to the saddle and continue the less intense Seated Climb. These little spikes of intensity, repeated a few times on a longer hill, are enough to make a moderate climb much more challenging—and interesting—for your riders.

Change Their Position, or Not

It only seems natural to transition from a Seated Climb to a Standing Climb on the hill. However, you can instead ride the same hill, with the same changes in resistance that you are used to teaching, but every time you add resistance, you leave the saddle to Run with Resistance for 15-20 seconds. This is just long enough to break through the added load, and then return to the saddle to continue the climb. You can also couple the Run with Resistance with a burst of cadence. On another hill, you can alternate Seated Climbs and Standing Climbs for set periods of time as you lead your class up a steeper hill. Or you could try the opposite, and build your hill either entirely in the seat or entirely as a Standing Climb. This would invoke your riders' need to focus and concentrate to hold on to the hill for a period of time that they might not be used to committing to while remaining in just one position.

Shorter, Faster, Rolling Hills

Instead of a couple longer, steeper hills in a profile, you can coach a ride that has several smaller, less steep hills. Starting with a flat road, you can increase resistance incrementally for 2-3 minutes in a Seated Climb, add a bit more resistance and transition up and over the crest of the hill by Running with Resistance for 15-30 seconds. Then you can take it back down the hill to the flat for a minute or so. Repeated several times, rolling hills like this are great aerobic tools that keep the riders moving and bring up the heart rate without being heavy, slow hills that have a tendency to make riders push to their anaerobic threshold unnecessarily.

Let Them Ride "Their" Hill

One of the most popular parts of my rides is when I step off the bike, shut off the microphone and let them ride their hill. This is "their ride" after all. Before I turn the hill over to them, I remind them that this is their hill, their 5 or 10 minutes to ride it their way. This usually comes at the end of a ride, when I have worked them according to the goals of my profile and I have a powerful song with a strong climbing rhythm that I can turn up for extra motivation. They can make their hill as fast, as slow, as steep or as flat as they want. Whatever they choose to do is fine with me as long as they work safely. So with that reminder, I turn the hill over to them and, as long as I don't see anything unsafe that I need to correct, I enjoy it with them silently. With all of these hill options in mind, the next time you add a hill to your profile, think about making it more than just flat to steep, seated to standing. Think about adding some variety.