Disregarding to reasons why the OP wants to stand, a rider can increase his/her standing potential. Start with a small number of standing pedal strokes. Pedal seated for a few minutes then stand again. Repeat one more cycle.

Next week or so, increase the number of strokes by 10%.

Slowly increase the cadence while standing as well.

Hmmm, this almost sounds like intervals!

If you know that you will be challenging yourself and searching out steep hills, learning to stand and pedal is not just about helping reduce the fatigue of the sitting/spinning muscles, but sometimes you will be FORCED to stand because the grade is so steep that even your granny gear won't allow you to sit and spin, and standing while pedaling at a super slow cadence (30 rpm) is the only option if you don't want to walk up the hill. And there's nothing wrong with walking up when you're starting out, and your fitness hasn't matured yet. I recall a 50 mile ride I did early on with lots of ascent where I had to dismount and walk up the final 200 yards of about 5 different climbs that day. 2 years (and 15,000 intense miles) later I did the same ride and didn't walk once, and in fact, I couldn't even recognize which hills caused me to dismount and walk, since I was hammering up everything.

I also lost a lot of weight in my first 18 months of cycling (228 down to 168, and 15% body fat), but the lifestyle I was actually able to sustain for the long-run caused me to drift back up to 175 and stay there (with the help of ~5k - 8k miles annually).

There is no shame in granny gear. Use it, spin up hills when you can. Mechanical advantage is your friend. Your knees will thank you!

The only times I stand to climb are for short crests where I'm out of the saddle for less than a minute. Any longer or steeper ascents and I'll shift down to near granny gear and spin up.

I'm significantly stronger out of the saddle, which isn't that great for me. Working on my strength in the saddle right now. A couple of years ago, I started riding on gravel, and it is pretty hard to climb out of the saddle in low traction conditions. You have to practice either sitting or standing, it takes a lot of patience.

As others have said, climbing out of the saddle is a learned skill - both to control the bike, to maintain speed when transitioning from seated to standing when in a group, and learning to momentarily "unload" the pedals so you can shift without crunching the gears. It's also an "expensive" method of generating power - you can apply more force standing than sitting, but you incur a greater energy cost for that power, if that makes sense. I'm a sitter for long climbs, but I'll stand periodically just for a change of position. It's a useful skill, but not something I would use for prolonged climbing. If your thighs are burning while climbing seated, either drop a gear and spin more, or spend some time learning to engage other muscles - glutes, calves etc. I found that by sitting further back in the saddle, pushing "forward" rather than down, and concentrating on engaging my calves made a big difference to being able to maintain a decent pace on long climbs without trashing my thighs.

40lbs dropped in 6 months. Another 40lbs to go

That's a tremendous weight loss - good for you

Easy way to get used to standing.

Whenever you coast, or descend, get out of the saddle, eventually it will feel more natural.

Thanks guys. Lots of great advice and tips. As I said, I am a novice cyclists. I generally go out solo. Don't know too many cyclists. One of my colleagues at work is a keen cyclist. She has been doing it for years. She sometimes comes out with me, but I feel I am holding her back. She says, no. It's purely a social ride. She is a good friend and I am sure she would tell me if she felt differently. She has given me a lot of advice. But, I generally go out alone.


As for the gearing on my bikes, I have no real clue to what is best suited for me. Hopefully some on here can enlighten me.


My Ridley Aedon 605A has Shimano triple 52/42/30twith a 13/26 8spd cassette. This has been my main bike during the last few months.


I also have a Bianchi Via Nirone 7 with Compact 50/34 crankset and a 10spd 10/25t cassette.


I have not had the Bianchi long. So not really been out much due to winter months.


Hopefully someone can explain whats happening with my gearing and is it good or bad for climbing?


Thanks again for all the advice. I am learning so much.....

Gearing is the ratio of front/back. The higher the ratio, the harder/faster; the lower the ratio, the easier/slower. In climbing, you generally are concerned with lower.

On your Ridley, your low gear is 30/26; on your Bianchi, it’s 34/25. Whether these are low enough for you to comfortably climb depends on your abilities and the hills you are climbing.

To the OP, keep climbing. Keep practicing. It gets better. Took me a year of riding hills in western PA (I don't know what flat is) for it to be "easy".

That isn't always possible for some people, especially new ones that are heavy. I have 100 pounds on you and a hybrid with 26/34 (maybe 32 on the back, can't remember) and I grind up hills at 50 rpm. I can't even tell you how fast I'm going on some hills because my bike computer doesn't register below 2 mph.

Then again, 5% is flat. A small hill around here is 8-10% and normal hill is 12-15%. Difficult hills are above 15% and I always try to hit at least one of the two 18-19% grades I have on my routes.

I certainly didn't spin up Rialto Street in Pittsburgh. Got caught halfway up by a car and ended up stopped. I can't believe I managed to get started again. That's also with my rack, panniers, and about a gallon of water on the bike.

Your gearing is not low enough. i have a hybrid with 28:36 as the lowest and use it (rarely). Gearcalculator

As for standing or sitting... it is good to stand for short hills. Gets me out of the saddle and i just stay in same gear as i was up to the (short) hill. On longer hills i prefer sitting. but with you (not so) low gearing you may have to stand more. Mashing with high force at low rpm also is not good for your knees.