Hills - Bum off or on seat?

[Rooster1]

I do a bit of both as an when I can manage.

 

[HLaB]

It varies a bit but my general approach is to attack short sharp hills standing up, long hills are seated and very long hills whilst seated mainly standing up every so often to releave muscle groups and shift up to enable me to shift down when seated. Less and less I'll attack a long hill too at the start if I need to drop someone then transition to the norm (seated)

 

[Ming the Merciless]

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

Hot and breathless, stand up, slow and comfortable, lie down

 

[Blue Hills]

That standing can be useful in urban situations, to get a commanding view of the lay of the land.

No commanding view of the situation for many of those I see doing it around London, for their head is often bobbing up and down.

 

[NorthernDave]

 

[Soltydog]

I prefer spinning low gears and that is better done sitting down so most of my climbing is done on the saddle.

Very steep (20+%) hills are different. Sometimes it is hard to keep going when sitting down, even using low gears. On super-steep climbs the front wheel can start to lift. Getting out of the saddle and putting more weight forwards can help.

Sitting down mostly.
I stand up if it's really steep, and I'm at risk of grinding to a halt and/or lifting the front wheel.

I normally sit & spin, but yesterday I attempted Shibden Wall & on the steeper bits there, the front wheel was lifting whilst the rear was bouncing all over the cobbles. Sadly I ended up walking. Reckon it was close to 30% when the front was lifting, is there another way to keep the front down without standing? Wasn't sure if being 6'5" & 'heavy' was a contributing factor? Is frame geometry a factor too? or am I just grasping at straws Maybe I need to work on getting out of the saddle on steep climbs, but there's nothing over 20% to pratice on for about 50 miles from here

 

[ColinJ]

I normally sit & spin, but yesterday I attempted Shibden Wall & on the steeper bits there, the front wheel was lifting whilst the rear was bouncing all over the cobbles. Sadly I ended up walking. Reckon it was close to 30% when the front was lifting, is there another way to keep the front down without standing? Wasn't sure if being 6'5" & 'heavy' was a contributing factor? Is frame geometry a factor too? or am I just grasping at straws Maybe I need to work on getting out of the saddle on steep climbs, but there's nothing over 20% to pratice on for about 50 miles from here

I have never actually got round to trying that one!

If I am not going to stand up on the really steep stuff then I often bend right forward and climb on the drops. I think that is a good compromise position balancing the risk of the front wheel lifting and that of the rear wheel slipping.

 

[Edgy Dee]

Chris Froome sits and spins. Seems to work for him.

 

[mgs315]

Had much fun on the L2B yesterday deliberately trying to wheelspin as much as I could up a couple of the climbs when overtaking stragglers. Full gas and leaning on the bars helped this.

Got to have a giggle when you can. Gave me a good idea about how much I could get away with leaning on the bars too.

Most definitely spin to win for me.

 

[TonySJ]

I normally sit & spin, but yesterday I attempted Shibden Wall & on the steeper bits there, the front wheel was lifting whilst the rear was bouncing all over the cobbles. Sadly I ended up walking. Reckon it was close to 30% when the front was lifting, is there another way to keep the front down without standing? Wasn't sure if being 6'5" & 'heavy' was a contributing factor? Is frame geometry a factor too? or am I just grasping at straws Maybe I need to work on getting out of the saddle on steep climbs, but there's nothing over 20% to pratice on for about 50 miles from here

I have never actually got round to trying that one!

If I am not going to stand up on the really steep stuff then I often bend right forward and climb on the drops. I think that is a good compromise position balancing the risk of the front wheel lifting and that of the rear wheel slipping.

I found out that on hills when I'm slowly grinding to a painful very slow pace if you roll your hips forward while seated you engage your gluts more and I'm able to push the speed up again releaving my grind and painful legs. Told my mates but it don't work for them,,, strangely enough..

 

[Tin Pot]

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

On.

Always have, I can’t understand why people think standing helps.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Had much fun on the L2B yesterday deliberately trying to wheelspin as much as I could up a couple of the climbs when overtaking stragglers. Full gas and leaning on the bars helped this.

Got to have a giggle when you can. Gave me a good idea about how much I could get away with leaning on the bars too.

Most definitely spin to win for me.

Decent tyres will sort out the wheelspin.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

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.
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

I see it all the time myself, often it's BSO MTB riders who only ever seem to use 1 out of their 18 gears regardless of the road conditions. The only time my backside is off the saddle is if I'm going over a bump and I want to take the sting out of the impact. If I can't get up a gradient whilst remaining seated I get off the bike and walk it up, which of course uses the leg muscles in a slightly different way so reduces fatigue.

 

[ColinJ]

Decent tyres will sort out the wheelspin.

Not on wet/greasy/mossy cobbles at gradients of 20+% they won't!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Not on wet/greasy/mossy cobbles at gradients of 20+% they won't!

And where on London to Brighton are they to be found? I do not remember any such surfaces or gradients anywhere near that.