Originally Posted by
ofajen
A year ago, I had enough saddle discomfort that I spent a week riding out of the saddle, with three rides of between 60 to 90 minutes. Both bikes were single speed and running touring bars at the time.
The bar height and reach meant that standing up was sustainable. But single speed is not suited to standing only because you can’t pedal as fast standing as you can seated. Also, it started to get hard on my feet by the end of the ride.
Otto
If you have to stand a lot, you need the soles on your shoes to be hard and avoid / remove insoles and avoid thick socks. The extra pressure of standing means you'll lose more energy if the space between your foot and the pedal is "squishier" and may even cause foot discomfort.
Saddle discomfort during very long rides is one of my strong motivations to train standing to pedal. I used to rarely get off the saddle during a 7 hour no stop ride and consequently, my butt starts to hurt.