Hold a higher power out of saddle than seated

cougie

Dodger747 wrote:

diy wrote:

but I guess my serious point, is for cycling you don't really want to be doing too much out of the seat pedaling, unless you are an MTBer then its essential.

Why not? I spend a lot of the time out of the saddle, it seems to be my natural style and something that I'm comfortable with. I therefore, try to replicate it on the turbo throughout the winter.

Out of the saddle isnt the most efficient way to climb - you're using more muscle groups and therefore more energy. You're presenting a larger profile to the wind too - so its not very aero.

It has its uses - but sitting in the saddle should be the most efficient way to climb. Entirely up to you though.

neeb

If I'm doing a proper long climb of the type that you don't really get in this country and really pushing it I might spend about half of the time out of the saddle and half in. By alternating I can sustain a higher average power over a longer period than I could by just sticking to one position.

You can definitely learn to improve your efficiency climbing out of the saddle with practice - many people only ever get out of the saddle for short, distinctly anaerobic efforts, but you can also learn to sustain an effort at around threshold or below out of the saddle by getting your rhythm and gearing right. I find it helps to keep the cliche of "dancing on the pedals" in mind when doing this, you are not trying to mash it as hard as possible but more "bounce lightly" (that's how it feels to me anyway). It's almost certainly still sightly less efficient than being seated, but if you alternate I think your overall efficiency can be greater because of the slightly different muscle groups involved and the fact that you are resting one group a bit while using the other.

Only on hills though. I basically never get out of the saddle on the flat (unless sprinting), I guess because if you do you are immediately aware of the vastly increased air resistance.

diy

I think the cut off is about 10-12mph. Under that and the benefits of broader muscle groups will outway the drag, over it and you are basically working against yourself.

As others have said on longer climbs (e.g. proper mountains) where you will be attacking a 10-15%er for at least 1/2 an hour, I will do a sort of yomp (30s out, couple of minutes in) to maintain better power.

chaffordred

styxd wrote:

Have you had a bike fit?

Never had a bike fit. Tried moving my saddle forwards last night as it doesn't feel quite right.