Help me climb seated!
 

As spring progresses, I can tell my fitness is going up, since I can climb fairly short hills seated in a faster gear than I could a few months ago...and I can also climb longer out of the saddle than I could a few months ago...however, my first instinct upon starting to slow down on a hill is to stand up and pound away...The other extreme is to go granny gear and spin, going very slowly...I don't seem to have much in between.

Help me learn to go up longer hills at a strong steady pace!

All tips and advice welcome! Thanks!

The key to good climbing-- that which brings the essentials of power and gearing together-- is to be relaxed. Put your hands on the tops, maybe scooch forward on the saddle a bit, and find that nice sustainable effort level. Relax your shoulders and upper body, and focus on driving the pedals.

Selecting gearing range is important to do before you hit the steeps. Anticipate which chainring you'll need and select it as you approach, using your cogs to manage gearing as you climb. It's possible to shift chainrings during the climb and may even be necessary at times, but in general is best to avoid as it offers opprtunities for shift problems and can mess up your rhythm.

Doing low RPM climbs can help build length strength, but it's important to match your cadence to both your power and stamina, meaning, mashing out a climb can really drain your leg strength, but if you can increase the cadence without blowing your cardio up, you'll find that you can top climbs without burning up your legs.

Ride more hills, first. If you are fit to your bike your power should be getting into the pedals properly. Like any strength training, you start at a weight that is comfortable & work your way up, over time. Hills are no different. Find a climbing style that works for you & work with that.

As a one-handed rider, I can't generate any power standing, so I'm a sit down guy on climbs. A few things have helped me.

On shorter climbs, I tend to start slow in a lower gear, high cadence, and ramp up until I'm hitting the top going faster than the bottom. On some frequent local climbs, as the season progresses, the gear I start in is higher, and the upshift points come sooner.

On longer climbs, changing my hand position at relatively consistent intervals, from drops to hood to top, both saves me butt pain and improves my overall power. For example, I'll spin 15 minutes in the drops, until I'm starting to feel it in my lungs, and then sit up and ride with my hand on top at a lower cadence. My lungs recover, my legs start to burn, and I move to the hood for a bit. Rinse and repeat. Focusing on where I am on the bike breaks up the climb a bit better for me than waiting for mile markers.

Then again, I'm not racing, just trying to get to the top in one piece.

+1 on trying to anticipate on what gear you want to be in, i typically ride big ring and as i get into the hill towards the beginning will drop to small, then quickly adjust and try to stay in that gear. some days i can sit and crush, ofher days i get out of the saddle and mash it up.

For me, when sitting while climbing, I tend to scoot all the way back on the saddle to get almost a full leg extention. I find this gives me a lot of torque. When I'm at the bottom of a stroke, my butt is off the seat just slightly.

Hmm...I giess I like to drive from "on top of the pedals", so I slide forward a bit when the road tips up steeply to keep both my position the same (body x power stroke) and to keep weight forward. That way, I can load all my weight onto the peak power phase (12-4) of the crank without needing to fully stand, just lifting off the saddle a bit. I think that's how it works, anyway!

There is a new sufferfest video "The Elements of Style": Making your Suffering look effortless. Six drills to improve form, posture and efficiency.

This is a 30 minute video with great tips on climbing.

Typically, when climbing seated, sliding back on the saddle is more beneficial to sliding forward. As you move back, you better engage your glutes and hamstrings. Thus, you are bringing in muscles that aren't used as much when riding on the flats. It helps save your quads for once you are done climbing.

Sliding forward, or being on the rivet, generally allows you to gain more power while maintaining a low profile. But aerodynamics are less of a concern when climbing.

Could I ask a favor as it pertains to climbing. I too have difficulty climbing. I am not sure I understand the 'footwork'. When I look at pros climb, they seem to dance on the pedals. I use to think that it was all stomping down and when your leg bottomed out, merely shifted your weight to the other leg and pressed on the high pedal. Clearly this wasn't working and it was causing pain in odd places too.

To better understand the footwork, I decided to use this to visualize the effort differently. When the foot would reach bottom and it was time for the other foot to press down, I would visualize that I had to continue the stroke by lifting the low foot while I was pressing down with the higher one. Of course I also was thinking of the sliding front and back aspect of the stroke. Now, by doing this, it seems I have less pedal effort and the pain before is no longer there. I also feel a little more even effort through the pedals during a climb where as before it realy felt choppy in efort and thrust.

Granted, this is more so for standing but is the visualization the same for sitting?

Is this the right thing to do?

Frank

I just try imagine my happy place....

ride more hills and get bigger quads

this has two tips on climbs: Best Cycling Tips | Bicycling (tip 2 and 10)

and there's this: Training | Bicycling

I don't think I agree with any of that.

Seated, muscle use is consistent, i.e. same muscle groups, same contributions. Sliding front to rear is not going to change that, though being too high up (too much leg extension) would reduce the powerful hip extension.

Sliding forward "on the rivet" is a powerful position not because of aero, but because it effectively reduces saddle height and lets you make more power.

Anyway, I've been riding and climbing long enough to know that sliding backward on the saddle does not make more power for me, but that may be due to setup issues like saddle height, saddle position, crank length, etc.

Good advice. It's an old trick to grasp the tops firmly and "pull" against them as you grunt and swear. Haha

I don't think there's any superiority of a "slid back on the saddle" position, it's a "mix-up" position. Changing around which muscle groups are contributing to the effort allows a more balanced approach to climbing.

At age 69 and weighing 180 lbs. I am not a great climber so I need every trick I can find. And, I have actually found one that has helped me a lot. That is exhaling fully so that each inhalation brings as much O2 as possible. It has literally transformed my climbing. I'd try that with some of the other advice given here. FWIW, the conventional wisdom is that when seated you move "back" on the saddle not forward.

The only time I move back on the saddle is when I'm climbing on mud and need more weight to keep traction. Otherwise I stay where I am or stand up

I would agree with that, but that's not what I was responding to nor what you called "good advice" earlier when he said:
I still do not agree with that, though as I said, it may do as much with setup as biomechanics, but it's certainly not true for me, and I've spent plenty of hours just staring at power numbers to know it empirically. Furthermore, I've ridden hills steep enough that sliding back would fairly land you on your back; when the front has to stay weighted, you've got to shift your weight forward.

Well, apparently, conventional wisdom doesn't have it quite right in this case, not that I put much stock in conventional wisdom in any case.

Take multi-time national cycling champ and Carmichael Training Systems coach Andy Applegate... He says:

"If you're short, slide back on the saddle to generate more force through the top of the pedal stroke and to encourage your heel to drop through the bottom of the stroke. If you're tall, slide forward, positioning your hips so they come close to lining up with the bottom bracket to generate maximum muscle force." Climbing Tips | Bicycling

Generate maximum muscle force...that's what I'm talking about!

I will check that site. I wonder what "tall" and "short" mean to someone like me at 59" w/32" inseam?

OP, I have no clue what your definition of "longer hill" is, but for the long gradual hills of central NY I do the following:

Look around. Focusing on anything other than the climb helps me.

Keep my upper body relaxed, and breathe as normally as possible.

Sing. I prefer "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" on climbs over 3%, but have a medley of They Might be Giants at my disposal for lesser grades.

Only stand once, and I am committed once I do.

break it up into segments. Make it to a tree, then a driveway, then a road sign, etc.

Scrape the dog **** off your shoe

Two different concepts. You slide back on the seat to engage your glutes and hamstrings more.

You may need to move your weight forward to keep the front weighted on a steep climb, but you can do that by bending your elbows and moving your upper body down and forward.

Entirely possible to slide to the back of the seat to engage different muscles, and still keep weight on the front wheel.