Originally Posted by carpediemracing

Spinning loads the aerobic system more.

Pushing loads the muscles more.

If you go the same speed on the same hill in the same conditions - so say you're climbing a steady grade and you shift into a much higher or lower gear without changing speed - then you use the same amount of power. I couldn't wrap my head around this until I got a power meter. Perceived effort is much higher when pushing a big gear but given the same speed you're not doing any more work.

This means that once you blow up you basically go the same power no matter what gear you use, as long as you can stay upright. Again this is something I couldn't accept until I could measure it.

If you're very fit aerobically then you should spin more. If the hill is short enough to get over without going too anaerobic then a big gear works better.

As far as other stuff goes there's a decent rule of thumb that if you stand on a longer climb then you stand 2/3 of the time, sit 1/3. If you are sitting a lot then sit 2/3 and stand 1/3.

When you stand up shift up one gear. When you sit shift down one gear. This is if you're changing position when the grade/conditions are not changing. You pedal at a lower cadence standing.

When standing the hoods work well. When sitting the hoods or the tops.

When standing and rocking the bike your torso should go in basically a straight line. Your bottom bracket will too. Your wheels will make slight left-right swerves a few inches total. Your bike should do most of the moving, your body/torso should be going in a relative straight line.

Focus on spinning faster when sitting and spinning. If you think "pedal harder" it usually results in pushing down past the bottom of the pedal stroke. When thinking "pedal faster" you tend to have a more efficient pedal stroke. Focus on a full pedal stroke when standing (I focus on pulling up and over the top of the pedal stroke).

Hope this helps
cdr