Originally Posted by
MRT2
Don't get me wrong. I am all in favor of spinning up hills rather than mashing. But most hybrids have a low gearing of 26 - 32, which is 22 gear inches. Moving along at 80 rpm, that is only about 5 mph. Frankly, most people have a hard time staying upright on a bike going slower than that.
That's a very good point.
When I first started riding, I always stayed in the saddle. I tried standing a few times, but it was just awkward for me. When I added bar ends (for other reasons), I found them very conducive to mashing. So now on shorter hills or even at the top of longer ones, I'll stand up.
And on really long steep climbs where I can't stand for an extended period of time, you're right - it's tougher to stay up while going so slow. That's where conditioning comes in. There are hills I can do now that I wouldn't have dreamed of two years ago.