I know that my maximum power output is about 270 W for 5 min and 190-200 W for an hour. That's sitting and with cadence in 80-100 range. We have some pretty steep hills around here (12%+) and my power and equipment does not allow me to pedal at 80 rpm up 12% for any significant period of time. So I've been doing some standing workouts up those hills. What I'm seeing is that, when I'm standing, my power output seems to be noticeably lower than what I can do sitting. I can't do more than 200 W for 5 min and it goes down after that.

Today I did a particularly nasty hill, took me 25 min to get to the top, out of the saddle almost all the way. I had to stop and catch my breath halfway up. Towards the top I was averaging only about 160 W, even though my HR was way past lactate threshold and I got within 10 bpm from HRmax. My legs were killing me too, all the way from quads to the lower back. (Not the lower back as in "glutes", but quite literally, at the level of the iliac crest. I'm not even sure which muscles I have there.)

Since my VO2max is obviously the same sitting and standing, it seems that my legs are much less efficient out of the saddle than when I'm spinning. Which raises some questions:
* Is that to be expected if I don't have much standing experience?
* Will my standing power ever match my sitting/spinning power with more training?
* Is it also the question of having the proper technique - maybe I'm doing something wrong and that's why I'm not getting the power I'm expecting?