Originally Posted by
stapfam
Like you- I did not stand much on climbs on the road. It was a habit from mountain biking where if you took the weight off the saddle- the rear wheel would lose grip. Then 6 years ago I got into spinning classes. One class was standing and it taught me two things. How to stand without honking (Rocking the bike from side to side) and it trained me that when standing you do not spin fast- You change up a couple of gears and keep the cadence down to 80 or less. If you get above 80 the hill has eased off so you can sit again. But I do stand occasionally on long hills just to use a different set of muscle (And to give the butt a break)
Or if you are really skilled, change to a higher gear while still standing.
When I am really going well with standing to pedal up hills, the skill to change gears really is helpful when on a flatter section or when there is a subtle increase in grade. Of course, you do need STIs or MTB shifters to do it effectively, unless you stand while on the drops with bar-end shifters.
People have mentioned the "burn" when standing. I suspect that it's because they stand without shifting up gears, and are trying to maintain the same cadence standing as they were immediately before when they were sitting.
I know there is a lot of doubt about the benefits of fixed gear riding, but it truly did benefit my geared-bike riding by improving my transitions from seated to standing to seated, and by teaching me when the right pressure on the pedals meant I could stand without substantially pushing my aerobic effort towards or past the anaerobic threshhold.