To waggle or not to waggle?

[HLaB]

Had a ned'ed up chav mobile taking exception to my waggle this morning. OK I was sprinting up a hill but I'm hardly big, the bike would have moved at most one foot and the road was wide; then again perhaps he didn't like my bum

 

[cloggsy]

"If it gets too hard for you, self-gratifying up the hill will help until the grade eases and you can drop back down on your fanny."

Talk about 'lost in translation'!

Ah, God Bless America (Someone has too...)

 

[the_mikey]

To give you an idea how slowly you'd be going if you keep a consistent effort on a hill... say you're riding a long at a nice sedate 13mph on a city or trekking bike & you continue at that effort level as you ride up a 2.5% gradient you'll be doing about 7mph. As it gets steeper & gets to 5% you'll be doing about 4.5mph.

Agree with this somewhat, climbing a 15% hill, sitting, in a 34/25 chainring combination on a road bike, I could only sustain 8km/h, running out of oxygen if I try to go faster, getting out of the seat and 'honking' on steep hills is something I reserve for trying to get past a junction or getting out of danger.

 

[Dan B]

Honking is all about pulling up on the handlebars with your arms as well as pushing down with the legs. Simply standing on the pedal will only give a 12 stone man 12 stone of torque into the pedals, pull up with the arms and that torque may go up to 15 or 16 stone.

This. (Well, 50% this. I think the change in muscle recruitment caused by different position, bigger gear and slower cadence is also a part of it)

The bike waggles because you are pushing it very hard with your legs, not because waggling is in any way intrinsically good. It waggles less you hold/pull the bars to stop it flapping around, and this gives you more to push against.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

If it gets too hard for you, self-gratifying up the hill will help…

i can't even imagine how the pros managed to pee whilst riding along, let alone that

 

[Wankelschrauben]

I give it large on the hills, off the saddle, leaning forwards, shoulders down and grunting away in the only gear my bike knows, top gear...

I keep the bike fairly upright and pull on the handlebars whilst leaning over them.