fstshrk

With a 50/34 and a 12-30 cassette, I prefer spinning all the way up. I have about a .7 mile climb to my house with an average gradient of 8% with 12-14% segments thrown in. I usually spin. But some days when I am tired, I alternate between spinning and climbing out of the saddle. I don't know that I can do a 15% grade for a distance longer than a mile. That is a pretty steep climb.

spdracr39

on a 34/28 I can sit on the 12% but would have to stand on the 15%. If it is near the end of a metric or full century it would be a real issue.

igosolo

Sitting the entire way in a 34/28. I am 225 lbs and near my ideal weight being 6'6 so no hope for me to defeat gravity other than being strong and in decent shape!

DXchulo

It all depends on your riding style. As mentioned, light guys tend to stand more and the big guys prefer to sit. There are always exceptions to the rule, of course. Personally, I'm a light guy and I do prefer to stand more than most, especially on something as short as 1/2 mile.

Try it both ways. You'll know which one feels right for you.

CliffordK

It depends on which bike I'm riding.

The lowest gear I have on my Colnago at the moment is 41x19, with 700c wheels. So, the answer is STANDING. And, I regularly hit about a 17% grade for brief periods. I have no doubt I could do a 12% to 15% grade for 1/2 mile as long as I'm not carrying a heavy load, or pulling a heavy trailer, but that would be pushing it.

My Litespeed has more gears than I know what to do with. I still like to stand. However, the bike is slightly longer than the Colnago, I think. I keep meaning to do a more comprehensive test of tires, but I have major troubles with traction with the Litespeed when standing on a steep slope when it is wet. I get too much weight on the front tire nd not enough on the rear. Sitting, I get better traction (and probably more even pedal strokes, so less power spikes breaking the wheel loose).

So...
Colnago, 41x19, 700c - STANDING.
Litespeed, 38x???, 700c - Sitting (or mixed).

I'm still looking for good places for local "Hill Climbs". Agate Street from 30th to 40th would probably fit the bill.

bmthom.gis

I came upon some 25% hills before during a Fondo. After mile 50 of a lot of serious climbs I couldn't make itnup thise hills on wheels...

rideBjj

When the going gets tough, but short of the line of really REALLY tough (meaning I must stand or else I can no longer keep going) I use a trick I picked up many years ago.

I will count my pedal revolutions and alternate standing / sitting at a rate of 1/3 to 2/3. So, I will stand and pedal until I feel myself inching too close to the red, then sit back down and pedal twice as many revs as I just did standing. Most of the time this works out to 30/60.

For me at least, what happens is at the point I am starting to feel bogged down sitting, standing up allows me to get my cadence back up a bit. Then when I sit back down I can rely more on my lungs than my legs. Switch, rinse, repeat. Some of the time I can upshift 1 gear when I stand, then I'll downshift again when sitting (back to my lowest gear).

I feel this also helps distribute the effort more equally between the lungs / legs and further helps divide the leg effort among different muscles. It also helps reduce the monotony.

As I said, this is on climbs of almost, but not quite, maximum slope and effort. I'm not a big strong guy, but neither am I an enduro type hummingbird. I'm sort of the worst of both worlds.

YMMV.

ussprinceton

do both, stand and sit

Dunbar

I have a power meter. What I've found is that if I'm climbing near/above FTP I sit. If I try to stand I quickly redline. If I'm climbing in Z3 or below I can stand and hammer away for as long as I like. That said, a .5 mile climb is short enough that I could stand the whole time.

Jakedatc

standing... sit for a quick break if there were any flat spots. I have a hill near me that i do that is like 18% for .2mi with 2 road crossings for breathing. 36x25 then 36x28 if i need it.

Zuzus pedals

There's a hill 2 miles from my digs that starts out with 0.37 miles at 13.7% average grade with a very brief max of 17.8% near the middle. If I'm in 39 x 27, I'm out of the saddle the whole way. Any taller gear than that and I'm basically just jumping up and down on the pedals when I come to the steepest bit, and I don't like to shift (even to an easier gear) under that much load and low cadence, so I just start out at 39 x 27 and keep it there. The hill also has another 0.21 miles at 4.4% avg. grade after the tough pitch. I'm always seated (and recovering as much as possible) on that part.

I do have a triple, so I can also have a 4-minute visit with Grandma (30-tooth ring) and sit the whole way up the steep portion if I please, although it's not really any more comfortable than standing in the 39-tooth ring.

I think I'd probably use the 39 x 27 and stand on a 0.5-mile hill if it was a constant 12%. The closest we've got to those specs around Ithaca is the well-known Buffalo Street, which is 0.43 miles, but it isn't a steady grade. The first 0.31 miles is almost constant at 10.6% and the last block of 0.12 miles is 16.7% (up to 19.8% at the very top). On that one, I'm seated for the 10.6% part and it's a stand-up gruntfest doing that jump-up-and-down thing to the top from there - unless I weenie out and shift to the granny ring.

RR3

No way I would attack that.....unless I could put out around 700 watts for 2 1/2 minutes. Seated the whole way