Transitioning From Sitting to Standing When Climbing Hills

[rebeccaC]

When you stand you’re shifting all your weight onto your legs and knees. That might be part of what you're feeling in your already tired quads and knees during a long climb when you come off the saddle. That bodyweight is also what can give you a little more power on the pedals though. Standing also brings into play more upper body muscles, which can use more of your energy and can also increase HR and more cardio/breathing stress if your strength to weight ratio isn’t optimal for out of the saddle climbing. That optimal ratio is rarer than many might think.

I ride long steep climbs (11-17% sections) on my weekend rides for my strength and endurance training. I’ll get out of the saddle to stretch or on a really difficult climb to make changes in my muscle groups for a few minutes and/or for the added power.

For a smooth transition I’ll move my hands to the hoods, shift to lower my cadence while standing as my right foot begins its downward stroke. I’ve learned by watching the movement of my stem I can quickly get a fluid rocking movement and know the rhythm that allows my leg to make a direct push on the pedal making the best use of my weight while keeping a smooth stroke. Keeping my chest open for breathing efficiency, upper body relaxed, back straight, not leaning forward enough to put weight on the front wheel but enough to put my weight over the axis of the crank rotation and having the tip my saddle just barely brushing my thigh gives me a body position that works well for me. It can take some practice to adapt to the position for both motor learning and upper muscle development reasons. Like most things more practice is good.

All this said staying seated and pedaling at a high cadence is probably a more efficient use of most people’s energy while climbing....and that shouldn't be looked at as worse than being able to ride out of saddle