Originally Posted by dolophonic
With lots of conditioning standing when climbing is not as tiring as you might think.
It used to take a lot out of me but now i can do it as long as i need to ..it helps when you want to controle your cadence...or push a bigger gear.
Watch some MTB races... especially the ones with the killer climbs. Some of those guys never sit down and end up standing through an entire 35 mile course. My typical hill attack strategy is the same on the road as it was when I was racing XC. I build up as much speed as I can at the base and initially stand to maintain speed and momentum through the first quarter to third of the hill. Then I will usually sit down and grind. At the last quarter, I'll get out of the saddle and keep pushing well past the summit. When I was racing, I saw people make the mistake of sitting down too soon as they crested the top.