Originally Posted by
benjamin163
Hello,
as I find myself heaving my large frame up some rather steep short climbs on the Pembrokeshire coast, I wonder, is the advice I'm always given to go down a gear or two and pedal faster really correct?
The advice is to stay seated and use low enough gears you can maintain your target power output at 50+ RPM for proper biomechanics.
When I go up the hills in a higher gear it somehow feels easier to stand on my pedals and grind it out. It feels like I'm getting further, faster.
It's not because you waste energy lifting your weight.
In
https://joefrielsblog.com/hills-sit-or-stand/ noted coach Joel Friel writes
The lower your body mass the more advantageous it is to stand on a climb. The greater your mass the better off you’ll be staying seated. One quick and simple way to come up with your body mass is to divide your weight in pounds (1kg = 2.2lbs) by your height in inches (1cm = 0.4in). So if you weigh 154 pounds (70kg) and you are 72 inches (180cm) tall your “mass” is 2.13 (154 / 72 = 2.13). I’ve found that for males the best climbers are at less than 2.0. These folks should stand a lot (think of Marco Pantani). Men in the range of 2.0 to 2.3 tend to alternate between standing and sitting a lot (for example, Lance Armstrong). Those men at 2.3 to 2.5 are best advised to sit a lot (like Miguel Indurain). Folks over 2.5 usually avoid hills. Women should use a scale which is about 0.2 lbs/in less (for example, under 1.8 are climbers).