Fifty Plus (50+) - Who Stands to Climb?

I've only been riding about eight months so please indulge a neophite. In the last couple weeks I suddenly decided it would be a good idea to try to stand up at certain times while going up hill. It felt funny at first but I started working on it and....Viola... it is great... I am a pro! Well, maybe not, but it sure seems to help conserve energy in certain situations like on a short steep hill or finishing up a longer hill. Also when you have mometum already and are pushing a tall gear up a brief slope.

My riding chum says it can't save any energy over sitting but I sure think he is wrong. How many of you stand to climb? When do you stand if you do? In what circumstances is it efficient? Please explain... I'm here to learn.

My riding chum says it can't save any energy over sitting but I sure think he is wrong. How many of you stand to climb? When do you stand if you do? In what circumstances is it efficient? Please explain... I'm here to learn.

Sit for mile after mile up a stiff climb and I want a different position on the bike- Dead easy- just stand for 100 yards or so. Only thing is before you do- change up a gear or two. In fact I even stand for 100 yards every 10 miles or so on the flat bits to change the body position and give the butt a rest.

But short sharp slopes and instead of changing into the small ring- I will stand to get over the top.

Then there are the occasions where The hill has got too steep and gone on for long enough and I have no gears left. Instead of walking- just stand and pedal. I don't normally change up on this type of Standing though.

The final situation is when I am comfortably going uphill and someone decides to race it. Up a couple of gears and stand. Better acceleration and until The lungs feel like exploding- I stay standing and changing up.

Standing when climbing is usefull and in my case- often necessary. As to being efficient- Can't say but it has become part of my riding style.

I climb more efficiently seated, but stand to attack on a hill, or to increase speed and power. I have a couple hill repeats where I ride up one side seated, then up the other side standing. It's a valuable skill to have, being able to stand to climb.

Next, try sprinting up your hills -- that'll add some punch to your workout! ;)

Never found standing to be efficient. Sometimes necessary when the hill is too steep or I am too lazy to shift down for a short steep incline, but not efficient, I do not think.

I do practice some standing on hills just to have it when needed.

I've been standing a good bit more this year than last. It gets me up the hills faster. Like Stapfam, I stand every now and then on long rides to give the derriere a change of pace. On the shorter hills in urban areas, I may stand for the entire hill. For the longer ones, I'll alternate sitting and standing, and I do like to upshift a gear or two for standing.

In theory it's more fatiguing. I find that's often compensated by going up faster so you spend less actual time climbing. I deliberately stand part of the time as it makes me fitter and I can subsequently ride longer/harder. Armstrong seemed to spend a lot of time out of the saddle.

Al

Standing allows you to put out more power because you can make greater use of your arms and apply more force to the pedals. However, using more muscles generally entails higher energy consumption and hence higher heart rate. Don't know if the efficiency changes at all but, personally, I like to stand to give myself a break and use some different, fresher muscles.

Good advice so far. I'll stand on rolling hills when I think that a short burst of speed will allow me to remain in a higher gear and keep my speed up over the top. It is a better choice at that time than gearing down and remaining seated.

Another time I stand is when climbing a long, tough hill. If I am having trouble keeping a steady cadence in the lowest gear I plan to use on a climb, I may shift up a gear, stand up and accelerate slightly. Then I'll sit down, shift down and try my best to keep spinning for a while. On a very long, very hard climb, I may repeat this a few times before finally getting over the top.

I stand for butt breaks and to change the load on my knees and back on short rollers. At road races when acceleration comes on a hill, generally, everyone is standing sprinting as hard as they can which can last for tens of seconds.

I have no idea how long climbs are where you live. In my area, we have long steep climbs of several miles. I alternate standing and sitting on long climbs with a bias for staying seated. If you watch long climbs in a pro race, the peloton is generally seated with some sporadic standing. Attacks are a different story.

I have read many articles about seated versus standing with respect to efficiency and energy use. I think it does not make a lot of difference but one must practice standing since it will use the muscles differently.:)

Interesting input... thank you all. I don't know how I rode so long without discovering this fascinating tool. I swear though, sometimes I'm sure I can keep my heartrate down by standing.

We do have some moderate contour (hills) here in eastern Nebraska.

I've got one short, steep climb out from the Plant on my commute home. Some days after work when I'm drained of excess energy I'll stand to climb that short monster. I normally stay seated mind you, but on the rare day I just have to stand and allow my 200lbs. and gravity to combine forces to get me up that little hill. That's right, sometimes I just stand and let my weight on the pedals do the work.

I stand, I sit. I vary it just to keep from getting stiff into one position. It gives more power, but I can't sustian it too long, so then I sit back down.
Also, I stand anytime I see any obstruction, such as a bump, hole I can't miss, etc. Just like on the motorcycle. Standing is the jumping position.
dc

Well, everything I have read suggests that sitting and climbing is more efficient than standing. It is also my personal experience. It makes sense doesn't it? I mean part of your effort in standing has to go to suspending your body against gravity. When you are seated, your posterior does that job for you with virtually no energy expenditure.

Now does that mean that standing does not have a place in hill climbing? Well there is more to life and climbing than efficiency. Standing has a cool facter which can not be ignored. Standing can feel good and it does not cost anything! Shoot feeling good for no $ expenditure is well.... priceless. Also standing allows you to use your weight to aid in climbing and your arms and back so you can generate a pile more power if you absolutely have to. I can climb a much steeper hill standing than I can in the same gears seated.

I do a bit of both depending on the climb. For some really steep sections of climbs in my area I'm not strong enough to do the entire climb seated with the gearing I currently have on most of my bikes. These situations don't occur with a great deal of frequency. Additionally, I sometimes stand just to give my backside a break from the saddle (I even do this by standing to sprint on flat roads on long rides). Changing positions can be a good thing if done thoughtfully.

Sitting is more efficient, actually, but as others have noted standing has its place. I tend to use it for short steep climbs and as chane up on longer climbs. Or as a bail out if I've been going too hard seated and start running out of gas....

I've also noticed that standing part way up a longer hill gives you the momentum to use a bigger gear for the rest of the hill after you sit back down. It sees to come at little if any expense of additional effort and cuts down on the climbing time.

Al

Darned hard to do on a recumbent.

Maybe this is the year that my stoker/wife and her captain will learn to get out of the saddle on our tandem. Just so that we can say that we can do it!

Except when racing demands or forces it, I've always found that there is no situation in cycling where standing and pushing hard would be better than sitting and spinning if you have the choice.

For me, my Heart Rate goes up dramatically when I stand. So, I usually sit when going up hill. Seems to be much easier on my heart. YMMV.

When I'm going up a steep hill with a hundred pounds of groceries and I have run out of gears, I stand. Otherwise I sit. Sometimes, I just need all the torque I can make.

Paul

since 90% of my riding is on a fixed gear I stand alot when climbing.

... I swear though, sometimes I'm sure I can keep my heartrate down by standing.
We do have some moderate contour (hills) here in eastern Nebraska.

'efficient', I think has been proven countless times to be a seated position. However, sometimes 'efficient' isn't the best course.
'Effective' as the end result may be a better way to look at sections. IE, 'powering' over a short hill or rise might be more effectively done in a bigger gear and standing. But that dependz on the rider...
Climbing for any length, standing, will sap you faster than seated. The changeup of standing and seated, gear size changes and rpm changes all contribute to being 'efficient' and 'effective' over long climbs. As Stapfam and many have noted, the 'change' is often needed to break the growing discomfort and feeling of fatigue.
I know some riders whom I've never, ever seen stand on the pedals, except to 'start' and to ease over rough surface. Some are strong enough, just they chose not to...
Another aspect, as important as chosing to ride out of the saddle, is HOW to do it effectively...
in the very least this is important when you're under the duress of some 'competitive' ride.

I would welcome any references on climbing/pedaling technique, so that I may read up and be better informed.

Living near the base of the Niagara Escarpment, I find it's almost impossible to avoid some real killer grades. At those times I do best by mixing it up, alternating sitting with standing. On some days, if I'm really baffed, I get great results by standing after a quick dismount. I can usually stand for a good 10-15 minutes, usually commenting to passing riders about how much I admire their commitment. If this is after a particularly big lunch, I may even try lying, for a brief nap. Following this I'm quite refreshed, my heart rate has recovered and I can usually attack the second half of the hill, which, for me, is the half I already came up, by turning around and coasting down. Then I'm sitting.

I am just starting to stand more. For years, my left leg would get so fatiqued after just a few strokes (see previous threads on the Plantaris tendon) that it wasn't worth it. I'm getting better and use standing as discussed above on short, steep hills to maintain speed. However, just Friday, about 10 of us got into a crazy 2 mile sprint/race and I had fun pulling out of the pace-ish line and charging to the front by standing and pounding like the end of a stage of the TdF.

I assume your question is biased towards pavement riding and bikes suited for same?

I would welcome any references on climbing/pedaling technique, so that I may read up and be better informed.
there are a ton of online articles on 'climbing'. Some good, some not as.

I will point out that, often, riders get out of the saddle a little late. They're already feeling sapped and 'Out of the saddle' becomes a bailout.
Better to do it sooner and focus on smooth, even pedaling, as opposed to 'stomping'.
This fatigue also causes the rider to pitch forward over the bars, while pedaling.
Climbing will be more effective when the hips (and as much of the upper body) are over the cranks/BB more.

When I get out of the saddle I think about 4 things.

1. Make sure I have my hips as much over the BB as possible. If the seat nose lightly 'skims' across or touches the back of my legs, as the bike quietly moves slightly side to side under me, then I'm optimally positioned (fore - aft).

2. I look to being in a gear which requires just a bit of 'push'. Too low a gear will quickly burn you out while Out of the saddle.

3. I try not to 'weight' the bars with stiff arms, nor 'pull' on the bars. Stiff arms weighting the bars means I'm too far forward. 'Pulling' up is desperation used only for those desperately steep pitches.

4. Not locking the legs at the bottom of the stroke. Locking the legs causes you to have to 'push' against the locked leg by the downstroke of the other leg. So some degree of the energy of the downstroke goes into lifting your body rather than driving the pedal down/propelling the bike forward.
Out of the saddle climbing is a lot like 'Sprinting' out of the saddle - techniquewise, just no where near as intense.

A light bend in the arms, not straightening the legs at the stroke bottom, hips over the BB, a gear you're lightly 'driving' not spinning.

Your upper body will find its position. That depends a lot on your bar position. If you;re bent over some, so be it. Some try to artificially get 'upright, by sliding their hips under their shoulders - which might push their hips too far forward. Hips over BB.
Try to find video of Pantani or Contador or Lance climbing.
Pantani was well known for climbing out of the saddle with his hands in the DROPS! When he wasa on his game, he was awesome!
Sadly, I make all these mistakes more often than not. But every now and then it comes together and I feel a little like Charly Gaul, Federico Bahamontes or lL Pirata...

here's a link to Pantani video clips (http://valtellina.myblog.it/marco_pantani/) with some good glimpses of his techniques - also a fun shot of Big Mig powering past Pantani while in the saddle.

since 90% of my riding is on a fixed gear I stand alot when climbing.

Same here.

I like to mix, sitting and standing on my geared bikes though....so to work different muscles. When I stand, I usually simultaneously shift up a cog or two, and back down when I sit.

I think you have to develop your own climbing technique that works best for you. Try it all and see which works best. I mix standing and sitting depending on the ride, terrain etc. Usually stand however.

In general, standing works better for lighter riders, and for women (because more of their mass is below their waist). Heavier riders generally do better sitting.

When I used to weigh 185, I would sit for most climbs.

Now that I weigh 165 (or less), I stand much more often. I also practice standing climbs - we have a local hill that's 2 miles long at about 6%, and I sometimes stand the whole way just to work out the best position and cadence.

Knowing how to climb efficiently while standing is very helpful if you don't want to lose contact with a group of strong riders in hilly terrain (or, if you don't want them to have to wait for your sorry *ss).

We spent a lot of time during the indoor sessions this past winter doing standing intervals. Near the end of the season we spent up to 45 minutes standing while pedaling and even doing intervals (pickups to 90+ cadence) within the standing time. I would not have anticipated being able to stand and pedal that long. The quad muscles near the top of the knees will burn, but will not stop you from continuing to pedal. One thing that I've found since being able to take the new found skill outdoors is that in order to stand and pedal efficiently, I need to equate it to running. For instance, if the hill still has a few hundred yards of length before the top I can't just get out of the saddle and attack the rest of the hill. If I approach the remaining section of the hill as if I'm going to run to the top, my intensity and effort will match the distance I still need to travel and still save a little to keep going over the top. All that said, when I'm on a fast group ride or in a race I'll frequently stand while going over rollers and topping hills because it feels natural and other riders are doing the same. It's also interesting that my 25 yr old son will do our training and group rides and many times he and I will get out of the saddle at the same time, including after long grinds into the wind or on flat land when I need to get up and stretch the hamstrings.

Efficient or not, I love to stand when climbing. My knees have been paying for it lately though.

Most of my long climbing is done sitting. Being a heavier rider at 185, this is more comfortable. However, I do stand every so often to use different muscles. On short sprint hills I enjoy standing and hammering.

On my road bike, I only stand on the steep stuff for the most part. Hopefully I'll be doing much less of that when I get a chainring smaller than 42.

I also stand on fast downhills in the summer to help air out a certain area.

I used to hate standing and climbing - found it very quickly fatiguing. Since I took up cycling again after a 6 year break, I have been on an elliptical trainer 3-4 days a week. Its like climbing standing up for 40 minutes at a time for me.

I am much better at climbing while standing now.

But I am still a slug.

Thanks cyclezen and others... I'm enjoying the post. I'm standing to finish off most of the rollers on the local MUP and I really like doing it.

I love standing on climbs; I do it way too much.

Didn't I see a a tutorial about standing while climbing somewhere, like on Sheldon's site? Can't find it now.

I prefer staying seated because I don't want passing motorists to think that I am struggling to climb up the hill. I think it makes me look like a more experienced cyclist to them if I make the climb look effortless. The only time I stand up to pedal is if I misjudge the steepness of the hill or if I'm forced to start the climb from a standstill position.

I prefer staying seated because I don't want passing motorists to think that I am struggling to climb up the hill. I think it makes me look like a more experienced cyclist to them if I make the climb look effortless. The only time I stand up to pedal is if I misjudge the steepness of the hill or if I'm forced to start the climb from a standstill position.

but when one of us is the passing motorist, we know. ;)

I prefer staying seated because I don't want passing motorists to think that I am struggling to climb up the hill. I think it makes me look like a more experienced cyclist to them if I make the climb look effortless. The only time I stand up to pedal is if I misjudge the steepness of the hill or if I'm forced to start the climb from a standstill position.

A good climber, "dancing on the pedals" while standing, looks much more graceful and powerful than somebody sitting and grinding it out.

And besides...who gives a crap what passing motorists think anyway???

Quote: A good climber, "dancing on the pedals" while standing, looks much more graceful and powerful than somebody sitting and grinding it out.

"Dancing in the pedals"... I like that metaphor. I am standing more and more as I get better at it. Today was monstrously windy here so to stay out of the wind and add distance to my ride I ducked into a big local park where the MUP runs through and did ten loops inside (.6 miles each loop) . There is a spot on that loop where you come off the park road and turn back onto the MUP and there is a little rise where you will lose momentum a bit because of the turn. Because I was repeating it so often today I got to study different ways of doing it. And freewheeling through the turn, staying in a taller gear, and then standing to accelerate into that rise seemed to be really effective and fun.

When the ascent gets too great or I am a little fatigued, standing straightens out the muscles and gives me a little more power.

Standing is a really good way to take a rest if you want to as well and I also like standing when not climbing.

In my flabby condition, I can stand for maybe a dozen revolutions of the crank, before I grind to a halt.:(

In my flabby condition, I can stand for maybe a dozen revolutions of the crank, before I grind to a halt.:(

While you are fresh, try dropping a couple gears while riding on the flats and get up and stand for a while. Get used to the proper form and learn to relax and use your body to help do the work. Don't waste energy on movements that do not help to ride faster or smoother. Later when you are going up a slight hill get out of the saddle and work standing in the same manner as when you were on the flats. Pretty soon you will be comfortable enough to get out of the seat on big hills without feeling like blowing up or worse blow lunch.

Didn't I see a a tutorial about standing while climbing somewhere, like on Sheldon's site? Can't find it now.

I found it HERE (http://sheldonbrown.com/standing.html).

I think that standing on the pedals is o/k and I do for all the reasons you site and in some of my rideing on eastern Maine gravel I seldom sit but for the person looking for the best time and distance Carmichael's[L.Armstrongs trainer]s rule;cadance /constant know matter what the gear is probably the fastest alternative.

I climb more efficiently seated, but stand to attack on a hill, or to increase speed and power. I have a couple hill repeats where I ride up one side seated, then up the other side standing. It's a valuable skill to have, being able to stand to climb.


I've never been able to stand and climb. Or stand and pedal under any circumstances. I can stand for a couple of seconds when coasting, but that's it.

I've never been able to stand and climb. Or stand and pedal under any circumstances.

Hi Neil, I have a comfort bike that I can not stand to climb or pedal. But my Mt. Bike and my Road Bike I can. For what thats worth.