Best way to climb a hill ..sitting down or standing up ?

[maillotpois]

If you're watching the tour, notice how on many climbs, riders try to get away from Wiggins by standing and accelerating.

And Wiggins eventually catches up to them by keeping a good tempo while sitting, rarely standing out of the saddle. Seems to work well for him!

Yeah - I was noticing that: does he ever stand? Obviously standing works well for some, Armstrong, Contador, etc.

I do a bit of both, mostly to use different muscles and give the butt a break. It also helps to get you over smaller rollers, etc., without shifting down.

[indysteel]

I find myself climbing out of the saddle now with my compact crank than I ever did with my triple. With short rises, I sometimes just don't feel like shifting into my small ring. I'm lazy. Plus, I think I've gotten better at it over time. I really like rocking the bike underneath me and using a lot of power on the upstroke. It's fun. Maybe not always efficient, but fun. Still, if the hill is pretty steep, I typically stay seated because I struggle to transition between seated and standing climbs when the road on steep pitches.

[jobob]

Yeah - I was noticing that: does he ever stand? Obviously standing works well for some, Armstrong, Contador, etc.

Once in a while. For instance, during today's stage he stood for a brief amount of time near the summit of the final climb because he needed to accelerate a bit. But he hasn't relied on that. Now, that could be because he hasn't really needed to ... but I was noticing this in the earlier climbing stages as well, when Cadel was trying to get some time on him. Cadel would put in a strenuous attack and get a bit of a lead, but eventually Wiggins would show up, patiently spinning along at a fairly consistent tempo, looking (relatively) relaxed and unperturbed. I was rooting for Cadel, but Wiggins really impressed me with that.

ETA: That said, if he were up against stronger competition in the mountains this year, or had a weaker team, I imagine his climbing style would have needed to be quite different to keep up. He's not a natural climber (a la Armstrong, Contador, A Schleck, and so on) so who knows how he would have fared against them. Or a slightly younger Cadel. Although he's holding his own against Nibali but that may have more to do with Chris Froome.

Sorry for the thread drift

[Crankin]

I've always been a spinner. At first, I couldn't even lift myself up to stand, and I really don't know why. I wasn't heavy then, nor particularly weak. About 6-7 years ago, I began to be able to stand on little rises and that is all I ever do. I can stand on a spin bike, but not very well on the trainer. Even when my bike is in a very hard gear on the trainer, I feel wobbly. When I have tried to stand on a real climb, my legs hurt so incredibly bad and i lose speed, and generally feel miserable. I look at the way my DH can power up a climb (although he doesn't always do this), it pisses me off. My son, who raced, was a "climber," too and watching him was like looking at a work of art.
I can climb quite well, compared to most of the people I ride with, so I don't complain. I may try working on the standing more on my bike with the compact, as Indy said, as I can see how being "lazy" to shift might help. But, overall, I am happy that I can get up the climbs I do, i.e. my lovely driveway and street.

[SadieKate]

I do a bit of both, mostly to use different muscles and give the butt a break. It also helps to get you over smaller rollers, etc., without shifting down.

Ditto.

I would describe myself as a spinner on the hills, with a faily high cadence, but I look for opportunities to stand.

[Wahine]

I do a lot of sustained climbing and long rides. I try to sit a lot but then make a point of standing periodically, even if I don't have to to take a butt break and to change my posture. But if I'm struggling up a climb I will often count pedal strokes and I'll stand as much as 1 third of the time. Often I'll go up 2 or even 3 gears, stand for 50 pedal strokes then sit down again. It breaks up the climb in my head and allows me to change tempo and deal with fatigue.

[zoom-zoom]

I do a lot of sustained climbing and long rides. I try to sit a lot but then make a point of standing periodically, even if I don't have to to take a butt break and to change my posture. But if I'm struggling up a climb I will often count pedal strokes and I'll stand as much as 1 third of the time. Often I'll go up 2 or even 3 gears, stand for 50 pedal strokes then sit down again. It breaks up the climb in my head and allows me to change tempo and deal with fatigue.

I don't do a lot of sustained climbs, but I will even do this on relatively short ones for a change of pace and to work different muscles. I thought I was the only one who did the counting thing.

[Wahine]

I don't do a lot of sustained climbs, but I will even do this on relatively short ones for a change of pace and to work different muscles. I thought I was the only one who did the counting thing.

If I am struggling, I walways revert to counting strokes. I do it running and swimming too. I think it helps me not think about how much farther I have to go and to only focus on the next 10 pedal strokes, arm strokes, strides...

[zoom-zoom]

Exactly!

[ShutUpLegs]

I do a lot of sustained climbing and long rides. I try to sit a lot but then make a point of standing periodically, even if I don't have to to take a butt break and to change my posture. But if I'm struggling up a climb I will often count pedal strokes and I'll stand as much as 1 third of the time. Often I'll go up 2 or even 3 gears, stand for 50 pedal strokes then sit down again. It breaks up the climb in my head and allows me to change tempo and deal with fatigue.

Holy crap, I do this too!! Ha..also glad I'm not the only one

I think momentum is huge in my decision on sitting vs. standing if it's rolling terrain. When I start the beginning of a steeper hill, I keep it in the same gear as when I was going downhill from the previous hill (or if it's coming from a flat, keep that momentum from the flat part), and then when the road tilts upward, get out of the saddle and start the counting thing (as long as the upcoming hill isn't TOO long). I count, say, 20 pedal strokes (# depends on how long the hill is), then shift a gear down and get back in the saddle and keep crankin. Then I continue to shift down as necessary, but I'm usually at least halfway up the hill by then. It has taken me practice to get this right and not burn out immediately at the bottom of a climb. I have done that many times trying this technique but when you do nail it, you get up the hill faster than you expected and it's fantastic.

With longer sustained climbs, I do as Wahine does..in and out of the saddle, alternating to give my back & butt a break.

[climbergirl]

I'm not a great hill climber by any means, but I, too, do a mix of standing and sitting. I read somewhere that if you stand and you're not super close to the top, that you should keep it to 8 to 10 seconds, then sit and spin, then do it again. I think this has to do with the amount of time it takes for your muscles to recognize lactate buildup or something (12 seconds?) so you're working at your LT but not for long enough to burn out immediately. I count pedal strokes (sometimes half pedal strokes, a number as each foot hits bottom of the stroke)

You know, I have to ask about all the people who say they just "spin up the hill". I get the theory. But there are plenty of hills where I'm in my biggest, lowest gear, and I'm still pushing barely 50 or 60 rpm and "spinning" as a perceive it is simply not even an option. There's one hard hill near my house that I ride pretty regularly - it's oly 140 feet of climb over just under a quarter mile. It feels brutally steep, but I think it works out to only being about 10.6% grade. And there are people around here talking about 26% grade?!?!

[Biciclista]

funny question. a lot of us do both. It really does feel good to power up a hill. but if the hill is a little too long and you run out of steam, you plunk right back down into that saddle
and spin the rest of the way up.

the fitter i am, the easier standing is.

[Crankin]

Maybe I am perpetually unfit?
I just cannot stand. On a steep climb, I doubt I could actually get my azz up off the saddle, and on smaller ones, it just hurts my leg so much, why do it? My speed goes down, too.
My core is strong, so I don't know what is wrong with me. Sometimes, I'd like to power up a small climb, but I'd be left in the dust, just going slower and slower.
I get the predicament about just "spinning" up a steep climb. On the 10-20% grades I've done, or the sustained 6-8% 10 mile climb I did in Spain, I just sat and spun away. At 3 -5 mph. My cadence was probably 50-60. It's still spinning to me.
However, I felt OK, I made it up, and I didn't walk. I guess I don't care about speed on these types of climbs, just getting up the hill.