Standing to pedal

[equus123]

I've been working out on the trainer and recently got into Spinervals. I love 'em.
But I'm been having trouble standing to pedal. When I was riding outside I figured it was something I could work on on the trainer, but no such luck. I read some past threads about standing but they were more focused on the outdoors and now I'm having trouble on the trainer.

When I'm doing Spinervals and Troy says to stand and pedal I have a lot of trouble even when I'm in the gear he suggests. I guess I feel like I'm mashing and the pedals that is coming back up is coming up too quickly. Does that make sense? I'm not smoothly turning over the pedals.

I keep trying to focus on circles but that's just not working. Am I putting too much weight on my legs? Should I try transferring some weight to my handle bars?

Any tips?

Thanks! Sometimes I feel so silly starting out on the bike. So much to learn.

You're asking about techniques for spinning out of the saddle at a lower resistance and higher cadence?

Try focusing on the upstroke more than the gravitational pull of your downstroke. I like to visualize myself running upstairs at a 60-70 degree angle forward (i.e. 90 degrees being straight up and 0 degrees being parallel to the handlebars). I think about running upstairs because it makes you focus on using both legs - one to pull, one to push - instead of just pushing down.

For lower cadence stuff out of the saddle, I tend to have my center of gravity (or balance) over the bottom bracket. You know you've found the sweet spot when your leg is at the bottom of the pedal stroke - keep your butt and hip rotation such that your quad is not contracted or squeezing. It will significantly increase the amount of time you can stay standing. It also takes time to find. Play with how vertical or bent over you are, play with the height of your butt, play with the rotation of your hips (i.e. sticking your butt out or not), and play with how forward or back you're positioned.

Higher cadence stuff out of the saddle for me is most comfortable positioned farely far forward (towards the bars) and somewhat bent over (the 60-70 degrees). I do the majority of my pulling in the pedal stroke from 7-2 o'clock and the majority of my pushing from 2-7 o'clock.

Hope this helps.

[mimitabby]

bottom line, it's YOUR workout. Change the gears before you stand up if you want to; or just don't stand up!

good luck