Hills - Bum off or on seat?

[Skibird]

Lol, that's a bit difficult when you now live in the Isle Of Wight where even the roads you think are flat have inclines.

 

[Hitchington]

[QUOTE 5218356, member: 45"]I'm a plodder - lowest gear and take your time. Periodically I'll up a couple of gears and stand up until my legs hurt, then back to plodding.[/QUOTE]
me2

 

[Bryony]

Definitely a plodder here as well, and if that fails, then walk.

Yep that’s how I do it!

 

[welsh dragon]

Yep that’s how I do it!

 

[mgs315]

Spinner all the way here. Keep the top half immobile and just focus on a nice smooth action. Keep my cadence (prefer 90-100rpm)/gear combo in line with about 180bpm on the old HRM (remembering it will creep) and breathe. Tends to get me up most things in a respectable time.

I’m not scared to have a 34-32 lowest gear either. Always better to have one more than I need.

Oddly I pretty much always stand when accelerating on the flat from traffic lights though.

 

[Dave7]

I feel more comfortable and safer while sitting so generally do that. Mostly I spin but as I have done very little over winter I am mixing it with building my calf muscles up again.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Sit on handlebars to keep front end down and spin away.

 

[Blue Hills]

Short sharp hills - keep in the gear I'm in and stand up if needed.

Long draggy hills - get in what I anticipate is the correct gear at the bottom and grind up seated.

Standing uses more energy overall because you have to support your weight as well, but it's better for sudden bursts of power because you can use some of your mass to put more force on the pedals (but you are supporting all of your mass, so overall it's less efficient)

Doing whatever suits you is best though. When I first got back on a bike a few years ago, hills on my commute I now barely notice were stand-up thrashing away with all my effort hills. You will get there is you stick with it!

+1 to all of this.

Definitely as I understand it less efficient to stand. The only reason to do it is as you say to get a sudden burst of power when racing, and to psych the opposition, or possibly in general cycling to get you that final bit to the top of the hill so that you can then relax/coast. But you don't want to be standing for long.

Sometimes around London, mostly flat of course, I quite often see folk out of the seat for longish periods for no great point. Usually they are just in the wrong gear. I rarely point it out to them and of course if I dared offer it as a friendly bit of advice to the opposite sex I'd be jumped on by some on here.

Of course current fashions in bike gearing don't always do folk favours.

So, yes, change down, work your way up the hill at a pace that feels comfortable. My 26 inch expedition bike has a 36T cog on the back

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Lol, that's a bit difficult when you now live in the Isle Of Wight where even the roads you think are flat have inclines.

You need one of these:

 

[NorthernDave]

It depends.

If I'm out on my own and there's no-one about, I'll tend to stay in the seat and spin up the hill.
However, if I'm out riding with mates, I'll be out of the saddle and chucking the bike about giving it full beans.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Short sharp hills - keep in the gear I'm in and stand up if needed.

Long draggy hills - get in what I anticipate is the correct gear at the bottom and grind up seated.

Standing uses more energy overall because you have to support your weight as well, but it's better for sudden bursts of power because you can use some of your mass to put more force on the pedals (but you are supporting all of your mass, so overall it's less efficient)

Doing whatever suits you is best though. When I first got back on a bike a few years ago, hills on my commute I now barely notice were stand-up thrashing away with all my effort hills. You will get there is you stick with it!

^^^^This sums up exactly my attitude to hills.

As an aside, during the Tour of Cambridgeshire last year, for the first 20 miles or so I was cycling alongside a guy who had no saddle or seatpost on his bike. His technique was to ride a slightly higher gear than everyone else with his hands in the drops.

It was amazing to watch. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I reckon after about 5 miles of this my quads would burst into flames!

I lost contact with him but would guess, based upon his performance over the first 20 miles, that he probably averaged 18 or 19 mph for the 80 mile race distance. Amazing really.

Apparently, he started riding standing up due to getting severe saddle sores, and after getting used to it binned his saddle and seatpost as they were unnecessary weight. It also reduced the likelihood of his bike being stolen.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing him ride.

Graham

 

[fatjel]

I tend to sit and spin up hill and stand up when rolling down tother side.

This is only since I moved to Wales. When I lived in Kent the subject was not terribly relevant

Have added a mtb crankset to a road bike which gets me a 28/32 low gear

 

[Welsh wheels]

Mostly seated. Short, steep hills I might get out of the saddle. Tip - change up a gear before getting out of the saddle.

Another tip - make sure anyone who might be sitting on your wheel is aware you are about to stand up and climb. Several times I've sitting on wheels up climbs, the rider in front stands up and the sudden reduction in speed means that I've nearly gone into the back of them.

 

[Welsh wheels]

Hi All,

I'm trying to improve my confidence and ability up hills but really struggle to stay seated on any hills, which I'm working on. What works best for you and why (fitness, ability, preference)?

Thanks

Bev

Short and steep, stand up. Long and gradual, sit down.

 

[gaijintendo]

Sometimes around London, mostly flat of course, I quite often see folk out of the seat for longish periods for no great point. Usually they are just in the wrong gear.

That standing can be useful in urban situations, to get a commanding view of the lay of the land. I find it hard to know when someone else is in a wrong gear. They could always be doing cadence work, or other training (I suspect not most of the time though).

I ride fixed a fair bit, and use the power from standing for deceleration.

Back to the OPs question with regards to hills: I stand up for hairpins and turns on a climb. For some reason having to steer and think lends itself to that, for me.