This split in energy levels presents a perfect opportunity for strong climbers to surge, or even attack. Busy congratulating themselves for surviving in the bunch, they may even relax and back off. The strongest climbers may have barely exerted themselves, whilst the weaker riders have almost blown a gasket. Don't stop at the brow of the hillДuring a race, it's very common that riders are dropped not on the hill, but on the almost-flat section just after it. If you find you're dropping off on a climb, ignore any sense of rising panic and concentrate on keeping your breathing steady and controlled - filling your lungs with every intake. Taking quick and shallow breaths is a panic response, and it can trick the body into thinking it's in genuine trouble, leading to reduced performance, or even panic attacks.

But sometimes sustained climbs - particularly those which cause splits between riding chums - can cause a panic reaction which results in short, sharp breaths. Obviously, breathing is important in the whole 'staying alive' game, and this goes without saying. Since fast twitch muscle fatigue quickly and require more glycogen, it's best to spin a lower gear at a faster cadence on long climbs - saving short efforts for quick sprints on undulating terrain. A fast cadence with lower resistance uses slow twitch muscle fibres - these are responsible for endurance. However, a slow cadence pushing a high resistance gear uses fast twitch muscle fibres - these are responsible for short, hard, explosive efforts. When it comes to climbing, it's easy to let the gradient dictate the speed of your pedal strokes - gradually slowing down. Ideal cadence varies between riders - though 90rpm is oft quoted as the ideal happy medium. Track your cadence with a sensor - Giant fits its RideSense speed and cadence monitor into the left chainstay as standard on many bike models How much does weight affect climbing speed? So if you produce enough power, you can be a strong cyclist without being a whippet. Power to weight is a basic equation - divide watts produced by weight for the magic number - the higher it is, the stronger the cyclist. Our advice would be to practice climbs seated, and standing - compare your heart rate (or ideally power) and speed - and decide for yourself what works best for you. However - it's all pretty individual and the optimum does vary depending upon the type of climb. Our experiments certainly showed that remaining seated was faster for our tester. Taking the scientific route - aerodynamics becomes significant over 10mph (16kph) - and climbing seated is more aero. Usually, lighter riders find it easier to climb out the saddle whilst heavier riders would rather stay seated. Rider preference varies, and it's largely to do with body composition. There's a lot of debate over whether it's quicker to ride in the saddle - like Chris Froome, or out the saddle, in the style of Alberto ContadorВ or Nairo Quintana. Find your optimum on the sit vs stand debate

Don't push to get there asap or you'll find yourself in the red too early. However - remember that whilst power numbers respond immediately to increased effort, heart rate takes time to accumulate - so expect it to take a few minutes to reach the zone you're aiming for. Knowing the heart rate or power you can maintain for the duration of the climb means you can judge your effort better.

More on pacing: you don't want to blow up half-way to the summit, but you also don't want to get to the top and find you've still got gas left in the tank.

Almost over the hill