g3ck0

When I climb hills, I feel a lot more comfortable standing up and using the muscles to mash the gears up. With the right gear, I can get into a good rhythm and power my way up. I prefer this much over sitting down and using a high cadence to climb. Is this a matter of preference or bad technique and I should really be sitting down to climb?

teetopkram

For me it depends on the type of hill...long, steady grade I sit 90% of the time and stand only to stretch. Short roller, "power" hills like those in Central Florida, it's pretty much a standing sprint to the top.

umd

Depends... What is your idea of a "hill"?

Garfield Cat

Once you get in condition, its fun to stand and rock up a climb. Maybe its not good for racing, but its sure fun. If you do this slow enough, you can really get some distance like over a mile. My longest is about 2 miles. Even then I wasn't really blown out, just ran out of climb. Like you, I wasn't particularly going fast, just having fun.

calamarichris

The best technique is whatever gets you to the summit the quickest. Pantani would stand the entire time, but that was because he was lazy and eager to get the suffering over with more quickly.

I grew up mashing a 42-21 up Baldy and watching the mighty Badger on the TV, but now I like spinning a 39-27 up Palomar, and upshifting/standing with the spiffy new HG-brifters we have nowadays to stretch and give the bum a rest.

In summation: do whatever feels best, (but pay close attention to your knees if mashing feels best.)

kleinboogie

A goal we should all aspire to.

calamarichris

P.S. What feels best <does not equal> what is fastest. For most, a proper/fluid sit-n-spin is more efficient and therefore faster than standing & mashing (which admittedly feels more satisfying and looks more Badger-like.)

DaveSSS 

Climbing seated is generally more efficient, but standing does not have to meaning mashing a gear that's too big and inefficient. Really good climbers often spend a lot of time out of the saddle, particularly when they are trying to put distance between them and the competition. The key is proper gear selection and a technique that uses body weight, rather than the quads to produce the pedaling force.

I do a lot of climbing on both hills and the Colorado mountains. If I really want to get up a hill or section of a mountain that's not over 2 miles long, as fast as possible, I get out of the saddle and sometimes use the big ring with a 50/19 to 50/23 gear, depending on the slope. Some of my mountains routes have some relatively modest slopes over a half mile or so. If I want to catch up with someone ahead or put distance on a following rider, I stand in the big ring and slowly bring the speed up by 4-5 mph faster than I would ride when seated. In areas where the average rider is doing 12-13, I've ridden at 16-18 mph, without suffering too much in the process.

PoulsboRider

I currently do both, just depends on my mood and energy level. I grew up racing BMX and use to ride all over my neighbor hood in a 44x15 gearing. I would mash my way up short and steep and even really long climbs because I had to. I'm probably really inefficient when I climb, because I still do it like I did on my BMX. I look like the sprinters at the end of a TDF stage, just slowed down a lot. I like to rock my bike side to side and let my upper body help my legs out. If I find the right gear I can climb like that all day, but like I said, I'm sure it isn't efficient.

Howzit

Whats a "hill"

I stand for about 2 kilometers at a time on a climb, which is a lot, followed by about 200 to 500 meters sitting, then 2 kilometers standing again. If a climb is 8 to 10 kilometers or so, that means 1 kilometer has to be done sitting, and about 9 kilometers standing. In reality though, it ends up being about 4 kilometers sitting 6 kilometers standing, because it just gets really hard for that length of time at that heart rate (thats if you climb to climb and you are not faffing around).

The average gradient will effect standing or sitting a lot.
I think its just how you are built. Although a certain amount of conscious training can help you stand or sit less depending on what you are looking for.

Either way is fine.
I will say however that heavier riders have to sit more than lighter ones.

So long as you feel you are getting more power out of standing than you are sitting, and you can hold a very steady and modulated power output, meaning you are climbing standing with enough reserve to cover an attack should one arise, or having enough modulation standing to be able to break your rivals one by one as you turn the screw consistently along the climb.

Standing uses a lot more energy. You are using your arms, a lot more, your core (back stomach), shoulders, traps, everything. So as far as energy goes, standing is very dangerous, because its a skill you have to know how to dose, because you dont want to be 150km into a race and you lose all power because you expended yourself too much over the race.
If standing is a skill you want to master, you have to include plyometric exercises that include push-ups, chin-ups and what not. Maybe a little more advanced for what your goals are, but there you have it.

mercator

I often stand to climb hills.
I usually stay in the saddle to climb mountains.

coasting 

i can't climb standing up for long. i think i use more energy supporting my weight than using myweight to pedal. bad technique.

g3ck0

Yea, i was wondering if standing up involves more technique or the way your body was built. I remember watching couple year ago, commentators were saying how Ulrich liked the bigger gears and used his muscles more than armstrong that preferred a more cardio kinda setup. But I guess in this case, sitting is just more efficient.

Woodyg3

********** push-ups and chin-ups are not plyometrics, and what do they have to do with pedaling out of the saddle**********

dmb2786

dayumn

DaveSSS 

I'm 56 years old and regularly climbing standing for 2 mile sections. I did nearly all of a 4 mile section last week. The key is proper choice of gear ratio, so you can use body weight and not a lot of leg strength. Cadence is also critical. Not too high to keep the heart rate reasonable.

Quel

Hey, a little thing called the Tour de France ended not too long ago now. A certain Alberto Contador was out of the saddle a ton on those climbs. But Lance stayed seated a lot more outside of attacks. Personal preference.

jrobe

You clearly use more energy standing than you do sitting (more muscles recruited). There is nothing wrong with standing to stretch your legs and for a change of pace but it is significantly less efficient than remaining in the saddle. This is pretty easy to demonstrate with a powermeter and a heartrate monitor.

As a general rule, it is a mistake to stand on every hill if you are an endurance athlete and are trying to conserve energy and ride as long and fast as possible.

FlashUNC

On the flats, I spin (a result of some time on the track.)

On the hills, I'm Ullrich in terms of cadence.

Part of it is learning the "right" way to do things, but part of it is also your comfort. There's no right or wrong answer. Only right answer is getting up the bloody thing.

FR4NCH1SE

I never tried to ride out of saddle, can anyone give me tips? I always sit on the saddle when I ride the bike.

terrymorse 

This is the common wisdom (that climbing out of the saddle is less aerobically efficient). But studies of the best climbers showed little efficiency difference between climbing and standing.

My best advice is to mix it up. If you're going to be a good climber, you need to be good in or out of the saddle.

DaveSSS 

It's tough to coach over the internet, but when I stand to climb, I first shift 2-3 cogs smaller. A bigger gear is always needed, otherwise your cadence will be too high. Except for attacking accelerations, pedaling standing is most often done at a lower cadence than seated climbing. I might pedal seated at 75-90 rpm, but drop down to 60-75 for lengthy standing efforts.

I try not to use my quads to straighten my leg and apply force while standing. Otherwise, you're not giving the legs any rest while standing. I try to use the glutes and think of pushing my butt onto my heel on the downstroke. It takes a while to develop an efficient technique that keeps the heart rate down.

I do NOT rock the bike excessively, nor do I pull on the handle bars. Pulling on the bars should never be needed, unless you're trying to use a ridiculously large gear and your cadence has dropped well below 60 rpm. If you can find a video of Contador standing, watch it closely.

One way to tell if you're doing it right is monitoring your speed - if you can find a relatively uniform slope - or better yet, with the aid of a power meter. If your speed/power go up while standing, you're doing something right. If you put out less power then you're doing it wrong. I've followed riders who are more powerful than I am, who push me to my limit, but as soon as they stand, I get to rest because they slow down and put out less power.

m4ximusprim3

For me, a lot of it has to do with how efficient I'm trying to be.

For example, my commute to work is only about 12 miles, with some decent hills (10% at 3/4 mile). However, since it's only 12 miles, I'll stand and mash and not really worry about using the excess energy, because I know I'm not going to be tired by the time I get to work. If I was going to go on a 70-80 mile ride, I would probably sit and spin that same hill, because it's more efficient and almost as fast. Over the course of a long ride, those savings add up.

Obviously, this is a sliding scale. As a commuting fred, a 70-80 mile ride is worthy of conservation for me. For some of the nutcases on here, that's a walk in the park and they could probably stand the whole way. It's up to you to determine how much energy you need to get what you want out of the ride, and how much you can "waste" to get that little boost of speed/comfort.

umop ap!sdn

from what I've read it has a lot to do with your build. if you're a bigger rider, it's more efficient to sit and spin, and if you're smaller/flyweight it might be more beneficial to stand.

ch3n207

i can stand for climbs up to 30 minutes. But these days i have been trying to develop the muscles for in the saddle climbs because next summer i want to climb the alps in france and there is no way you can climb out the saddle for that long.