Bike Forums - How to learn to get out of the saddle

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- - How to learn to get out of the saddle (https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/603323-how-learn-get-out-saddle.html)

One thing that has help me climb out of the saddle lately, and mostly by mistake, has been riding at night with a headlight. I never realized how wild I was with the bars until I had the headlight on the bike moving left and right like the red lights on the front of K.I.T.T. (am I dating myself? :)) I was steering side to side instead of swaying the bike side to side. I've worked on keeping the bulk of the beam right in front of me and it's helped in gaining the feel for being more quiet on the bars in those situations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpediemracing (Post 10042355)

Important thing about standing up (in all seriousness).

Most riders push their bike back about 6-12 inches when they stand up. This is because there's a moment, when you stand, that most riders stop pedaling for a brief time while they shift their body forward. This is when the bike goes "backwards".

(Think of this as a reverse bike throw - the rider leans forward about 1-2 inches, and since the rider is 10x the weight of the bike, the bike goes back 10+ inches).

To avoid this (and potentially taking out a tired, distracted, etc rider on your wheel), you have to keep pedaling when you stand up. No pauses. It takes more energy but until you're at your limit, you should have the 1/4 second of extra energy to keep the bike rolling when you stand up.

The other way to keep from crashing when people in front of you start standing, you stand too. It's instinctive in many riders, even if they don't realize it. So when riders start to stand, everyone stands. It's like the group is doing the Wave.

Riding out of the saddle is a different thing. Basically focus on torso going in a straight line. Bike will wiggle, torso won't, generally speaking.

cdr

It took nearly a page and a half to get a straight answer! Thanks, carpe. I hope all your predecessors on this thread read your post. (And I wish the guys in my weekly group ride would read it, too. They throw backwards. I don't. It can sometimes get "close".)

Quote:

Originally Posted by khatfull (Post 10122365)

Where's the great photo of Gary Coleman, K.I.T.T. and the Hass man doing the thumbs up thing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daytrip (Post 10122638)

Here we go:

Classic!!

I see a lot of people, particularly gray hairs who don't stand, and they're having fun. When I restarted riding a few years ago, 120 pounds overweight, with balance issues, I never stood up unless I was coasting. After getting to almost-normal weight, and many thousands of miles, I started practicing slow-cadence stand ups from stops and on climbs. Most recently I have been having a blast doing 100+ rpm spinning out of the saddle, for short climbs, and it's a hoot to accelerate going up hill when others are slowing down. For this, my butt is just slightly ahead of the saddle nose, the bike doesn't rock.

Start with slower-cadence standing up. 60 rpms is fine. You can do this platform pedals. As others have said, and videos show, rock the bike--this will become natural-feeling quickly, and you'll have fun. It's also a nice way to give your bum a break, and stretch your body. So if your cadence is 80 sitting, shift one or even two gears taller.

To do fast-cadence standing, you really should use clipless pedals (or toeclips). At high rpms you really don't want your foot to come off the pedal.

The interesting thing about this thread (to me, anyway) is how it illustrates the saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" -- or maybe more specifically, how we assess risk as we age.

Granted, every cyclist eventually learns how to stand on the pedals, whether for fun or out of necessity. But I don't remember any kid near my age who couldn't stand up, nor did anyone think to ask how -- we all just did it.

There's a lot of analysis in this thread, too, talking about heart rates, body positioning, gearing, etc etc -- but we never bothered talking about all that stuff when I was a kid, either.

The unintentional problem with this discussion is that we're overthinking how to ride a bike. There are 5-year-old kids racing BMX who can stand and pedal like monkeys on crack, and I'm pretty sure they're just thinking about going faster and not worrying about the nitty-gritty we've been discussing here.

Being new to road biking, 20lbs overweight and weak in the core, I find standing for any amount of time to be difficult. I know that for me, it's more a matter of fitness level than ability or technique. I've seen marked improvement in the last 3 weeks, but even so, 15 seconds out of the saddle when climbing feels like an eternity. As my fitness improves and the core, quads, hammies and calves strengthen I'm sure that climbing out of the saddle will prove to be easier and more benefiicial.

Perhaps some 007 technology is in order..?....

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesmoothdome (Post 10123516)

I've found climbing out of the saddle to be more demanding on my cardio-vascular system than climbing sitting down. That's a bit odd, since you're using your legs more when standing, but it "stands" to reason that more muscle action requires more oxygen and blood. Anyway, I tend to have more cardio to spare than leg strength, so I find climbing out of the saddle to be easier on steep grades. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, it helps keep the butt more comfortable.