Originally Posted by
wolfchild
When I stand up on the pedals to climb a hill, I use my upper body a lot for extra leverage which also takes some of the stress away from the knees. My full body is doing some of the work and not just the knees alone.
I notice that I do the most the upper body effort at the moments where the leg push would otherwise be the highest. That’s during climbing.
When standing on flatter sections, I’m more likely just leaning forward and supporting the upper body weight on the bars to allow a faster cadence while standing but likely not pulling up on the bars.
When racers are sprinting in the drops, though, they will be leaning forward, bracing the upper body through the bars but also pulling up to counteract the immense upward reaction force from the pedals as they are pushing so hard.
Otto