Originally Posted by
ericm979
I stand when I want to attack, or when it gets really steep, or when there's a slight increase in grade and I want to stay on top of the gear, or when I want a change and use different muscles, or when I just feel like it.
If you climb a lot you'll get used to standing. Generally, lighter riders stand more because they use less additional energy to stand than larger people do.
Yup. This one.
Something that may also help if you like to stand and pedal is doing push ups. Push Ups strengthen your upper body (arms and shoulder and parts of your abdomen). After I started doing push ups (real man push ups okay) standing and pedaling has become very easy to do since my upper body is much stronger and is used to lifting my whole body.
Having said that, ong long climbs I stay seated.