General Cycling Discussion - Speed Bike Pedaling: Standing vs Sitting

I've been riding since i knew how to ride a bike and i would like to know about these two.

I now just sit and pedal. I mean i don't have to stand up at all. All i do is switch gears and pedal. I can peal with a little bit of sand on the pavement while i sit and pedal. I don't even have to stand up. When i peal on dry pavement, i have to stand up and get more torque to the ground to break the tire loose.

Speed bikes with gears
This is what i can tell about the two: Standing vs Sitting

Standing:
More torque but slower to get to speeds
Rider doesn't pedal as fast

Sitting:
Slightly less torque but gets to speeds a bit faster.
Rider can pedal faster, higher RPM

It this true in all cases? I mean i can pedal pretty fast when i get to a curtain point in the RPM range and go go go. I've raced other riders at around my age 15-17 and they fell behind because they stood up to pedal. My cousin and i did a rolling start race too. He stood up to pedal and i downshifted and pedaled faster and i passed him.

Gimme some insight on this.
Thanks!
FuJi

Fuji,
You generally have the right idea. Sitting and pedalling faster in a lower gear is generally faster and more efficient overall. But sometimes you need to get up to speed faster in a larger gear it pays to stand until you get your pedal speed up, but this takes more energy so is less efficient.
Regards,
Raymond

Originally posted by RainmanP
But sometimes you need to get up to speed faster in a larger gear it pays to stand until you get your pedal speed up, but this takes more energy so is less efficient.

when i speed up i ALWAYS downshift then a quick burst of power then i upshift as i feel less weight on the pedal.

Is there anyone else who would like to put some more input here?

Thanks!
FuJi

Basically it works like this for longer distance rides/hills/sprints.

You are capable of outputting some amount of energy per second (say Watts) while at your Lactic Threshold (the point at which you start to create oxygen debt and produce lactic acid around your muscles.

So what is the most efficient use of this energy. If you are standing on your bike rather than sitting then some faction of that energy that could be used towards getting you self up the hill, for example, is used towards keeping your body in an upright position above the bike.

Therefore, overall you should have a shorter time from Point A to Point B if you sit on the bike.

I hope this helps

:beer:

It depends on the situation.

From a complete stop, or very slow speeds, the speed you are accelerating to will be many times greater than the originating speed (if you start at 5kph and will stop accelerating at 25kph, the cruising speed is five times greater) a sitting acceleration works better for me. The reason for this is the repeated up-shifting required to keep cadence within reason.

On the other hand, if I am doing 25-30kph and wants to accelerate quickly to 40-45kph, I usually up-shift a couple of gears while still seated and then get out of the saddle. Since the relative difference is much smaller at these speeds I can start accelerating at a cadence that is a bit lower than normal and stop accelerating when it is a bit higher than normal without having to shift gears. There is a reason for bike racers to stand when they sprint; I would like to see a seated Cipollini outsprint Zabel :).

Like Spire and RainmanP said though, a seated position is more energy efficient. If you can outsprint a standing rider I would say that is due to one (or both) of (1) You are stronger, (2) The person you are sprinting against runs out of gears (or don't up-shift).

/Csson

This is a roadie's perspective... don't know about mtn. bikers.
People usually stand when climbing hills. A lot of times when you're cruising along and you come to a short-but-steepish hill, you pop up out of the saddle to keep your momentum up until you crest the hill. For longer hills, riders like to alternate between sitting and standing to "shift the load." Pedaling while standing uses different muscles, or uses the muscles differently, I dunno. Another reason for standing is to give your butt a "breather" on long rides.

To minimize the effort when standing, I shift into a gear that will let me pedal fast enough that I don't have to strain (unless the hill's too steep), put my hands on the brake hoods and step up out of the saddle, using my hands to carry a fair amount of my body weight. Then focus on turning the pedals smoothly. I find spinning the pedals too fast or too slow make me breathless in a hurry.