Road Bike Passes
Your leg muscles are burning, your tight jersey is drenched in sweat and you can hear yourself panting. Every pedal feels like punishment as you slowly ascend the pass. When you finally reach the top, the strong wind chills you to the bone. You turn around as fast as you can and head back down to make your teeth stop chattering.
Looking at it from the outside, it's hard to understand what makes passes fun. How should you. You need to feel it. It's about the challenge. The inner shouts of joy with every turn that brings you closer to the top. The crisp mountain air that fills your lungs. And the pride of conquering the altitude through the strength of your mind and your muscles alone.
It's about the challenge. The inner shouts of joy with every turn that brings you closer to the top. The crisp mountain air that fills your lungs. And the pride of conquering the altitude through the strength of your mind and your muscles alone.Passes For Your Bucket List
Choose from our ready-to-go Collections with handpicked routes and lots of handy information, created by passionate people like you.
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The right season
The best time for conquering a mountain pass on your road bike depends entirely on its location. The higher the altitude, the closer to summer you’re going to want to go. In fact, some are actually only open a few months a year due to the snow, so it’s worth checking ahead. At the tail ends of the season, you’ll find the streets to be a less busy thanks to the cooler temperatures, and when you go depends as much on how physically comfortable you want to be as how important empty streets are to you. You can check which passes are open here.
Training For Passes
No matter the distance or elevation gain, all passes have one thing in common: They are honest. They show you how fit you really are. Thankfully, there are a couple of things you can to to prepare for the challenge.
In order to make it up a pass, you need strength and endurance. Strength to haul your bike and the human (that’s you) up the mountain. Endurance, because this will take a while. A 30k pass can easily take up to three hours to ride, because you are essentially moving vertically.
The good news is: You can get in shape for both without big mountains. Find a hill in your area with a consistent slope and go do your interval training regularly. If you are actually living on a pancake, make the air resistance your opponent: Ride against the wind as fast as you can in a high gear.
No matter the distance or elevation gain, all passes have one thing in common: They are honest. They show you how fit you really are.Climbing Technique
Speed
So, what's the best strategy to tackle these passes? First of all, pace yourself. Try to control your excitement and energy in the beginning and start your climb easy. If you feel like you could ride one or two gears harder, resist – -this is actually where you want to be in the beginning.
Stand Up Or Sit?
Make sure to ride the majority of the distance sitting. If your muscles or derriere need a rest, you will stand up automatically and ride out of the saddle. This is how more pressure is put on the pedals and high drag can be conquered temporarily. One more thing: Shift into a harder gear before you stand up, so you don’t step into nothing.
Trick Your Head & Make Sure To Eat
And there is the head, that needs some psychological tricks to make it. Divide the climb into sections ,don’t forget to eat (easily digestible!) and drink lots of fluids along the way. And finally, don't forget to enjoy the landscape – after all, that's why you're here!
Check List
Before you hit the road, quickly check whether your bike is in good condition and you have what you need for the big climb.
Bike
- Brakes work and aren’t run-down
- Gearshift is clean and runs smoothly
- Quick releases & screws are drawn
- Tires & tubes are intact
- Two bottle mounts on the frame
Equipment
Keep in mind: You are going up a mountain – it will be cold at the top.
- Arm and leg warmers, wind vest, warm hat, rain jacket, overshoes, gloves
- Multitool, tire lever, pump
- Two drinking bottles, 1 to 2 energy bars and one gel (just in case)
- Phone