Climbing - sit or stand?

nasahapley

Hi all,

I was wondering - if you're climbing a hill that requires a sustained effort - as opposed to a rise that you can just power up - is there a definite gradient at which it becomes more efficient to climb out of the saddle rather than sitting? Or is this largely down to personal preference?

My tendency is to stay in the saddle - in fact I only stand when the gradient gets in excess of about 25% and keeping the front wheel down becomes a problem (i.e. not very often!). Standing just feels wrong to me and my calves start to hurt pretty quickly, but if there was a benefit to standing whilst climbing I'd work on it!

Any thoughts?

robbie the roadie

I find that if a climb is quite long, ie can't blast up it, then sitting in the saddle is the way to do it. however to 'rest' my legs I sometimes get out of the saddle for 30 yeards or so. When I stand up though I tend to knock it into a harder gear or I spin out a bit. This is what works for me anyway. Your calfs will get stronger if you climb out of the saddle a bit more. If your still sitting on the steep stuff are you running quite low gearing? I run a standard chainset and 12-25 (I think) on the back. Hope this helps a bit.

McBain_v1

Depends if your knees hurt in either position I guess

Chris5150

I much prefer to attack hills and the best way to do that is up off the saddle and power up...so much easier to attack when you can throw the bike side to side with the pedal strokes. If its a very long sttep hill then I tend to attack it standing and then sit & pedal for a few mins to rest up, then back up out of the saddle.
I think its far more natural to climb standing than it is to be seated. Quite often even on the flat I stand and put the power down for a hundred yards or so just to stretch out the legs.

Aidocp

When a short but steep hill I like to stand up and power over it. If its longer I like to stay seated and stand up periodically or near the top.

pneumatic

Neither, I just lie down and cry.

Lbaguley

Nice one pneumatic

especially given your avatar!!

drenkrom

The most efficient position is sitting, but you have to mix it up to work other muscle groups. A short burst out of the saddle once in a while is essential on longer climbs. I learned that the hard way in the Dolomites. Especially on the Stelvio! Just be careful to keep the same level of effort while going out of the saddle. The tendency is either to start sprinting or to stay in the same gear and slack off a bit. So, once every few minutes, shift to a smaller cog, go out of the saddle for about 30-60 revs, then come back down while shifting back up. In the long run, it'll keep your legs fresher.Also use the standing parts to stretch your back and calves a bit.

Well, that's for continuous power "rouleur" types like me. If you're a wee pocket climber, you'll be getting out of the saddle a lot more often to get the pace going again. And you'll rip the legs off the bigger guys while doing so.

Brian B

Spot on advice there Drenkrom, it took me several years and a few Hor catergorie climbs in France before I startied to climb just like you have mentioned. The saying "a change is as good as a rest" really does work in this case.

Monty Dog

According to some recent research, no one position is more efficient, but there is a risk that you'll burn yourself out quicker riding out the saddle because of the more intense effort. When doing my occasional hill-climb set on a local hill - 100m vertical ascent at about 10-20% gradient, 10x repeats. Whilst seated, it's pretty difficult to generate much more than about 300 watts, whereas getting out the saddle means i can easily lift it to 400 watts plus and 500w peak effort - therefore if I want to get up a hill quickly in a race, there's only one way - out the saddle, but for tempo rides, stay in the saddle. Being able to mix-up the two is a great way of getting recoveries on longer alpine-style climbs and also gives you the ability to respond to changes in gradient or inject pace during climbs. There's no secret but practise, practise, practise.

PhilthyPhil

I tend to only get out of the saddle when it is too steep to spin in my smallest gear or when racing.

John C.

I used to spin right down to 26 front 32 rear, then I started riding fixed and now I tend to stand and ride some hills as a slow bike ride. One thing to remember is if your spinning slows down to much on a very steep hill you could damage your Knee muscles easier than if you are standing. I believe this is down to the way the weight is put on the calf muscle but someone out there will tell you more specifically or tell me I'm talking *****. On a recent ride over Wrynose and Hardknott my buddy rode 26 front 25 rear and span while I rode 42 front 32 rear , a lot higher gear and stood up, we rode side by side.

phreak

I pretty much always sit and maintain a high cadence, unless the hill becomes such that I can no longer maintain a high cadence, then I'll stand. Of course if it's a smaller lump in the road then you can blast over it standing but I find I can't keep that up for too long.

nasahapley

Thanks for the replies, sounds like a lot of good advice! At just under 6' and 13 stone I'm certainly not a natural climber, and at the moment I'm liking longer (80 mile or so) rides around the Dales where I'm mindful not to thrash it up the bigger hills early on (and thrashing it up them at the end is pretty much out of the question).

I'd like to start competing next year though, so want to work on getting up them a bit quicker (holidaying near Mt. Ventoux in August too...). I'm off to do some hill reps now, will try getting out of the saddle a bit,

Cheers all!