Jarery

if you can spin at 100 rpm and be doing 20 kph thats not a hill, thats a slight incline. This thread has piles of posts with people asking "why ever stand to climb a hill". All i have to say is if you have to ask the question, you've never seen a real hill.

And if you can climb a long steep hill seated, well my hats off to you.

agarose2000

I'm not a great biker/cyclist, but I'm a fairly experienced marathoner who enjoys riding hard on my mtn bike whenever I can (not often enough).

I find that I can climb better in the standing position, because it's closer to the "running" upright position. Many of my colleagues inform me that I'm using bad form and will never make it all the way up the mountain standing upright, but I seem to be able to "brute force" it with my aerobic ability and I often go standing for 5-6 minute stretches at a time until it flattens out.

Interestingly, I've tried the exact same climbs in a seated position, and I have no chance. My quads simply give out too quickly. I suspect this has everything to do with the fact that I don't have the quads of a true cyclist, but there's no doubt that as a runner, I can do longer steep climbs by staying out of the saddle.

That said, I'm working hard now to build up those quads so I won't have to stand all the time and waste energy - it does seem inefficient in the long run.

Carbonfiberboy 

It's not your quads. It's all the other muscles and (most importantly) their coordination. You have to learn to spin well before you can climb well seated. Do this: for 20 minutes on the flat, small rollers, shallow hills, etc., maintain a cadence of 100 while keeping your heart rate toward the upper end of zone 3, about 83% of max HR or 90% of lactate threshold HR. Take 5 minutes rest in zone 2 and repeat the 20 minute interval. Do that once or twice a week. In a month, you'll be climbing much better seated. Try a 75-80 cadence for ordinary seated climbing.

To all those who prefer to climb standing, a riding friend of mine, John Cacabelas, just set a new fixie record for the Seattle-to-Spokane race (S2S), cutting 4 hours off the previous record. It's not that flat a route, with 12,000' of climbing and grades of about 6%. But get this: using an 89" gear! That's where the record comes from. I've never seen him stand on a climb. That's some serious strength. My favorite advice from him: if you need to pee on a 12 hour ride, you simply aren't going hard enough!

dallasmike

Great question for a new rider. I didn't post this question to BF, but I did take some advice from this article from SB

https://sheldonbrown.com/standing.html

dbikingman

I saw this record the other day when I was looking at the S2S webpage. I can't believe it. When I am struggling up a hill I think of "John" even though I never meet him and wonder how does he do it.

palesaint

HHmm, I got dusted at a race on a mile long 10% "slight incline" when the lead group averaged ~ 24km/h (15mph). I can make it up at right at ~ 20km/h (12mph). Those extra few mph just killed me. This was at a lowly cat 5 group. I was only doing 90rpm, limited by my 39t little ring.

Gotta agree with the other posts - sitting is more efficient and I get more speed on long climbs seated. During training though, it's a good idea to occasionally mix in lots of standing climbing. It's a heck of a workout and build strength.

umd

f-that. I've averaged 18kph on a 8% average grade for 3 miles, and done 15+ mph (24kph) on a 6-8% grade for shorter stretches. And that's not even counting races.

pista

The lighter you are the more fun and endurance you will have riding out of the saddle. I'm 6'2" and weight 165 lbs today and I can ride out of the saddle for least a mile.