One of the ways I measure my progress is how I climb the big hills on my routes, since they are fixed entities. One in particular, I call her "Nasty Wench", is long, steep, and relentless, and I about died- like literally- the first time I climbed that b!tch in July. However, I knew I'd found my HTFU Valhalla, and that climb plus the other climbs following it on that same road have become an every-other-day thing.

As you'd expect, I've gotten much stronger and faster up these climbs. Yesterday, for the first time, I stood and cranked the entirety of NW... (I thought I'd done it a few days ago but yesterday I realized I'd been sitting and spinning for the first 100 yards or so)... so I addressed that yesterday and cranked it. I never felt close to going anaerobic. Felt GOOD.

It did make me wonder about the relative efficiencies of sitting and spinning vs. standing and cranking it. Obviously, standing my cadence is lower, and it uses completely different muscles- for me, it even involves the upper body significantly as I am tugging on those hoods pretty good.

Anyway, I don't know **** about this stuff, I just go out and ride and have felt my way forward like a blind squirrel finding acorns.... grin... what are the thoughts of the 41 on climbing, sitting vs. standing, and how the two techniques load up the body differently?