How do I climb out the saddle?

ben@31

Ok so I'm no Contador or Rodriguez duelling up that ridiculously steep 24% mountain yesterday.



But, how on earth do us mere mortals hill climb out the saddle? After a just few metres going up the most gentle of slopes my legs give way :-( Is there a technique to this?

slowbike

practice?

I'm no expert either - but I've battled up a (short) 20% climb - out of the saddle ...

Have you tried just riding a short distance out of the saddle - is it too easy? drop a gear or two - your cadence will be slower ...
Other than that it is exactly what it is - you stand up and push down on alternate legs - pulling up on the handlebars to compensate - if you get really good you can pull up on the backstroke too ...

Graydawg

not really a technique I guess other than just push and pull at a regular pace... take a gear which doens't strain you too much and just push and breathe....

Suppose you could try squats and lunges off the bike with weights to build up strength in the legs but the best way IMO is just to ride those hills!

team47b

you are having to raise your entire body weight, course it hurts at first.

each time you do it you will be able to spend longer out of the saddle, try leaning forward more.

iampaulb

Yeah...i stand up pretty tall and lean forward so my chest is more or less in line with my bars. But dont lean too forward you may lift up the front well and end up doing some kind of endo! LOL although that would be super funny, doing that clipped in up a steep hill would also hurt like a mother hucker if you came off

Lightning

If you keep doing it you'll get used to it and that won't happen anymore. I suggest not leaning too far forward though (most people seem to do this).

I never climbed out of the saddle when I first started so after a while I started climbing a 5km hill out of the saddle for as long as I could whenever my route passed through it to get used to it. At first it wasn't so good but it got better every time until I was able to do the whole thing without seating. Nowadays I alternate a lot between seating and standing on any climb, no matter how long it is.

t4tomo

Lightning wrote:

Nowadays I alternate a lot between seating and standing on any climb, no matter how long it is.

+1 (ish -sometimes I just sit all the way up as I'm 40+ and a bit lazy)

Sitting is more efficient as it takes less out of you, provided you keep spinnng at a decent cadence. Standing tends to provide an acceleration up a hill (or a last ditch attempt to keep moving if its really steep..) as you can get more power down.

Alternating is good as you use slightly different muscles (or the max strain is on a different muscle) so you rest one bit as you exercise the other.

See Pantani going up a hill in his prime trying, and usually succeeding, in dropping people. he'll be sitting and spinning up at a decent rate and then he comes out of the saddle and darts off into the distance like some drugged up superhuman.

Back to the OP - Practice Practice practice and you'll build up the right muscles.

bobtbuilder

We all had to start somewhere. Like most things cycling, it's all about practice. If you want to get better at it, keep doing it.

I like climbing out out the saddle and am comfortable doing so for 4-5 minutes at a time now.

B.M.R.

I've found being clipped in (Look Keo pedals for me) makes climbing severe hills a little easier, because you can pull as well as push so you get a more constant power output to the pedals and onwards.

Be careful though, I practice up a really REALLY steep short hill near me, and I know that if I don't keep moving, I'll slow to a stop and fall over because I'm clipped in and probably won't be able to clip out on time. First time I did it I was nervous for just this happening, but I managed to drag my pedals up it.

slowbike

B.M.R. wrote:

Be careful though, I practice up a really REALLY steep short hill near me, and I know that if I don't keep moving, I'll slow to a stop and fall over because I'm clipped in and probably won't be able to clip out on time. First time I did it I was nervous for just this happening, but I managed to drag my pedals up it.

First time I did it there was a photographer at the top ... that helps getting you to the top without coming off!

karlth

B.M.R. wrote:

I've found being clipped in (Look Keo pedals for me) makes climbing severe hills a little easier, because you can pull as well as push so you get a more constant power output to the pedals and onwards.

Be careful though, I practice up a really REALLY steep short hill near me, and I know that if I don't keep moving, I'll slow to a stop and fall over because I'm clipped in and probably won't be able to clip out on time. First time I did it I was nervous for just this happening, but I managed to drag my pedals up it.

Great motivation that isn't it? Having said that I still ended my one attempt on Winnats with a controlled fall to the verge side three quarters of the way up...

Pross

team47b wrote:

you are having to raise your entire body weight, course it hurts at first.

each time you do it you will be able to spend longer out of the saddle, try leaning forward more.

This. When I started riding after a long break I really struggled to stay out of the saddle for more than a few seconds. If you are relatively unfit and carrying a bit of extra weight it is a double wammy. As you ride more you'll get fitter and probably lighter and will be able to last longer out of the saddle.

scwxx77

I tend to shift my weight a little further back rather than leaning over the bars. My theory is I'm using my weight to turn the pedals rather than muscle power.

RoadMeridaBen

I have no problem getting out of the saddle, what I find is giving it some welly on steep climbs is my arms
give out long before my legs, wrestling with the bars it gets to the point where im unsure if i can hold onto
the bars anymore lol

♠ChumBucket♠

scwxx77 wrote:

I tend to shift my weight a little further back rather than leaning over the bars. My theory is I'm using my weight to turn the pedals rather than muscle power.

I alternate between power & weight by shifting my foot position. You can't do this clipped in though. Ball of foot to use leg muscles & bridge to use more weight. Helps if the power runs out!

springtide9

Have been told to keep the weight over the pedals and keep your arms light... the idea being all of the force from shifting body weight is going through your legs (and hence pedals) rather than arms. You also need 'soft knees', meaning you don't fully lock out your legs with every push.
And if you are having to use the bars to apply more force to the pedals (rather than just body weight), then the action would be to have the arm on that side pretty much locked out, and you push on the pedal leaving your core take the strain, rather than a pulling action on the bars. In may ways, I think the action is similar to a rowing machine :-)

It sure does strengthen your core and you can practice even on not so steep hills if you are lacking >8% hills (which I guess is like most of us in the UK).

hipshot

On a related note, how do you achieve that smooth consistent metronomic sway (honking) the pros do so effortlessly?

Is it a core strength thing, or dodgy cadence or am I just crap and need more practice?

I love getting out of the saddle and can keep this up for some time, but at some point the pedal stroke and the sway always goes slightly out of sync.

carl_p

You could try riding quickly (not a sprint though) out the saddle when on a flat road to optimise your position and how much you want to chuck the bike around. Then try it on a slight hill adjusting your gearing to get up it as fast as possible. Progress to steeper hills if you can find them. A lot of riders who say they can't climb out the saddle actually find it difficult to ride out the saddle even on the flat.

Contador's great at it isn't he? Virtually dances on the pedals! I wish I had more hills to practice on

siamon

Just pull up on the alternate hand to brace against the downward push of the leg? If you time it right the bike will move, and make sure it is the bike that sways rather than your hips/core other wise you will go into oxygen debt real quick and that is not a nice place to be. Your body should stay relatively still. Similar to Cav's fishtail sprinting technique without the aero position.

alistaird

ben@31 wrote:

But, how on earth do us mere mortals hill climb out the saddle?

If you're like me then.... very slowly...

A

anto164

One thing that helps me climb out of the saddle is practice. I try to do at least 5-10 minutes non-stop standing on my ride. Whether on the flat, uphill, or descending, any time out of the saddle pedalling will help when climbing out of the saddle.

5 minutes non-stop standing whilst riding will hurt when you start doing it, but after a while it becomes much easier.

polyx

I know it's rather old topic which I just came across but thought may give my few cents:
By no means I'm an expert, but I was in the exact situation with topic starter, my legs were just giving up after few seconds of out of saddle climbing. However I found shifting one gear up just before going out of saddle keeps legs more durable to the rest of the climb Give it a go!
Also, it's a bit rider's weight specific. if your mass is 2.5 pounds or more per inch of height, it's better to keep in the saddle during climbs, very rarely going out of it, because of the upper body weight on legs.
FYI, Purito is just 57kg.

nolight

I am 58 kg and is weak out of the saddle .

rolf_f

polyx wrote:

By no means I'm an expert, but I was in the exact situation with topic starter, my legs were just giving up after few seconds of out of saddle climbing. However I found shifting one gear up just before going out of saddle keeps legs more durable to the rest of the climb Give it a go!

Your natural cadence is lower when standing than sitting (try spinning up to 110 cadence seated and then get out of the saddle and see how you feel if you don't believe me!) - so shifting to a higher gear enables you to maintain speed as much as possible at the same comfort as when you were seated.

As the gradient eases at the top, as your cadence becomes too high for standing, you can then just sit down and hopefully find yourself already in the right gear.

declan1

It may be body weight. My dad's 85KG and he doesn't like climbing out of the saddle, presumably because his legs have to support more weight.

I'm 67KG and I much prefer to climb out of the saddle - it's much easier than sitting...

roger_merriman

declan1 wrote:

It may be body weight. My dad's 85KG and he doesn't like climbing out of the saddle, presumably because his legs have to support more weight.

I'm 67KG and I much prefer to climb out of the saddle - it's much easier than sitting...

my hunch is weight has little to do with it more, preference.

I've always preferred climbing out of the saddle, I'm around your dads weight a little more at the moment!

bahzob

I've done a hell of a lot of climbing and done most of the climbs in Europe including the longest and steepest, so here is my tuppence worth of advice.

Firstly there are 2 sorts of climbing standing up:
- Massive short efforts that are effectively sprints that you would use to launch an attack if you are racing. When not racing you may use this to muscle up a very short climb, do the last 100m or so to a summit or do a very short but sharp section of a longer climb. Generally though you want to avoid this sort of effort, it is very tiring and will quickly knacker you.

- Other way is climbing standing for relatively long periods of time (c. 3 mins plus). Here the technique is completely different. Key is making the stroke as easy as possible largely through a combination of good balance and good technique.
> Stand tall on the bike, weight should be largely on the balls of your feet with the arms relaxed but taking some of the load. If should feel as if you are pretty much centred over your stomach.
> Aim is to keep a relatively high tempo of 60rpm+ so use an appropriate gear for this.
> Strokes are made largely by subtle shifts of body weight, load up a pedal round about 1 o'clock and then unload and shift weight to other pedal at around 4 o'clock. The emphasis is on "subtle", very little actual movement is needed to achieve this, the body should not be swaying all over the place. It's a bit like skiing or a good golf swing, its all about timing the weighting/unweighting of each leg in synchrony.
> Legs should be working through the lower half of the stroke to keep momentum and tempo up as weight shifts.
> If the hill is very steep you can try using the arms to help, pulling on the handlebars with the arm on the same side as the body is moving to each stroke. The "pull" does not need to be a big one, this can get very tiring. Just enough to keep tension is often enough.
> Keep hips high throughout.
> Overall the stroke should feel as if you are dancing on the pedals, one good thing to check out is the pressure on the balls of your feet. It should feel nice and light, similar to how it would feel if you are running up and down on the spot. Indeed running up and down on the spot in a relaxed manner but keeping knees high is one way to get the feel for climbing this way.

polyx

bahzob, I tried this technique (Shifting weight) and it's absolutely superb! I shaved off 4 minutes in a month from my personal Richmand Park lap record.

careful

if you get really good you can pull up on the backstroke too

I'm a bit wary of pulling up hard with the upper foot. I tore a cartilidge doing this years ago and had to have an op and 3 months off the bike!

rick_chasey

hipshot wrote:

On a related note, how do you achieve that smooth consistent metronomic sway (honking) the pros do so effortlessly?

Is it a core strength thing, or dodgy cadence or am I just crap and need more practice?

I love getting out of the saddle and can keep this up for some time, but at some point the pedal stroke and the sway always goes slightly out of sync.

Practice and a bit of necessity.