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Odd question and possibly a derail, but why do hills matter?

Assuming you end where you start, all inclines and declines cancel each other out to zero. So why is a hilly stretch difficult and a flat one easy? Shouldn't the caloric expenditure be equal?

Quote: Face

Odd question and possibly a derail, but why do hills matter?

Assuming you end where you start, all inclines and declines cancel each other out to zero. So why is a hilly stretch difficult and a flat one easy? Shouldn't the caloric expenditure be equal?

Even with running, downhills != negative uphill. Many runners hate long downhill stretches... the braking required to keep your feet placed right is quite a strain. Especially on trails.

Quote: Face

Assuming you end where you start, all inclines and declines cancel each other out to zero. So why is a hilly stretch difficult and a flat one easy? Shouldn't the caloric expenditure be equal?

Try to slowly lower this tire down a steep hill and let me know if you still feel it is easy.

First 20+ mile ride on my 36" unicycle: Strava entry.

Quote: Face

Assuming you end where you start, all inclines and declines cancel each other out to zero. So why is a hilly stretch difficult and a flat one easy? Shouldn't the caloric expenditure be equal?

What The cesspit said.

In addition, you will always spend more energy going uphill than you'll get back going downhill. This is easily demonstrated in any number of ways. Rollercoasters which use gravity to build up speed, for example, have a very long fall right off the bat, then go a somewhat shorter climb uphill. If the uphill slope were the same height as the downhill one, the cars would stop just short of the crest and roll back down.

On the way down and then back up, the rollercoaster train looses energy trough friction and air resistance. So while the total energy is conserved, the useful energy you get from going downhill is lower than the energy you expended going uphill. Ergo the kinetic energy of the train will be somewhat less than its potential energy at the top of the first slope.

I wonder if a treadmill with a downhill incline could be built. People might think they're having an easier time working out.

Quote: TheCesspit

Even with running, downhills != negative uphill. Many runners hate long downhill stretches... the braking required to keep your feet placed right is quite a strain. Especially on trails.

I remember my friend coming back from vacation telling me he had decided to run back down a mountain they had driven up. (this was when we were both in our teens) He said his legs were killing him later. Muscles that didn't get much of a work out got killed.

Quote: Nareed

I wonder if a treadmill with a downhill incline could be built. People might think they're having an easier time working out.

Best angle for a tread mill is 0.5-1 degree of incline. Downhill would be even worse on a treadmill, due to the movement of your foot after impact on the belt would be odd... when running down hill, the hard part is keeping you foot impact beneath the body. That, added to the extra drop (and there fore more impact) makes it a bad idea (tm).

For the record, my only running injury was on a long, steep downhill trail during a race... partially tore my right calf muscle when I over strode and slipped.

Finished the race, but wasn't able to run properly for about 8 weeks.

Downhill running is much harder on the knees, as the shock of a straight leg strike pulverizes the padding in the joint.

However, on a unicycle, I hypothesize that it would be easier to do the downhill portions facing uphill and rolling backwards. You could use your weight on the pedals to control the descent like coming down a ladder. The trick would be maintaining balance, but hey, it's a unicycle...

On a unicycle it takes more physical effort to go uphill but more skill and balance to go downhill. Either way you're going slower than on level ground.