To waggle or not to waggle?

[DrSquirrel]

When hillclimbing, I mean, and when climbing a big ol' bad boy of a hill.

Do you prefer to get up out of the saddle and do the whole routine of standing on the pedals with the bike waggling from side to side, or do you stay sitting down, change down a few gears and just power through with your thighs?

Personally, I stay sat down and try to keep a good cadence going, without doing any waggling. I've never been sure which is the most efficient way to hillclimb though! I feel that it should be the non-waggling way because to my mind waggling just expends energy in a useless fashion.

I only waggle under acceleration - other than that I tend to keep the bike straight whilst out of the saddle.

 

[BentMikey]

I find that a good fart whilst honking gets you up the hill in half the time.

*snigger*

Mind you, on my bike you'd have to start again since it's pointing the wrong way.

 

[HLaB]

I prefer to mix it up, do both sit down and stand up, varying according to the hill and how I'm feeling.

 

[chillyuk]

I tend to stay seated and just try and survive to the top. If I can't I hop off and push the bike, although this is becoming less and less thankfully, especially on the road bike!

 

[Bicycle]

For me, it's either a 'last resort - final push' thing or a way of maintaining momentum for a short inclinewhen I don't want to change gear or don't have gears.

I'm too old and portly now to gain much advantage from standing up.

My recipe is to stay seated most of the time and hit a good, low gear early - not just when I really can't turn a bigger one any longer.

I also find I can sustain something like a good speed by moving rearward or forward in the saddle for a while.

The other way I keep going up hills is to concentrate on my pedalling if my cadence drops right off.

Climbs are a really good place to work on pedalling technique, because your toes are turning slowly enough to be able to work on different parts of the stroke.

What I'd like to write is "I'm out of the pedals as soon as I sniff a gradient and I stay that way for the first 5 km of a climb".

But I'd be telling lies.

 

[snorri]

I feel that it should be the non-waggling way because to my mind waggling just expends energy in a useless fashion.

I agree with you, if I wanted to be standing I wouldn't have taken my bike.

 

[Hacienda71]

Bit of both for me. Have found my self out of the seat in the granny gear if the hill is steep enough though.

 

[Keith Oates]

I usually sit for most of the rides but do honk when I feel the need to do so, it is also good sometimes on a long ride when the bottom is complaining from too much contact with the saddle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rebel Ian]

I'm an advocate of both too, mainly because I'm rubbish at climbing hills. I stay in the saddle until it feels uncomfortable then stand until it hurts then sit again and so on and hopefully get to the summit before it feels like someone's ripped my lungs out!

 

[downfader]

Saddle + cadence is great for burning the leg fat, riding out of the saddle is great for cardio when you blast it a bit.

When I read waggle I was thinking "coffee shaker"

 

[asterix]

Y'day I was out in the hills and thought I'd see what happened when I rode up hills out of the saddle. It's not something I think about so I couldn't remember if the bike 'waggled' much at all. I was on the Roberts compact audax - designed for use in hilly areas.

Anyway, it proved reasonably easy to ride without 'waggling', in fact it just seems to surge forward in a nice straight line. Near the top of one hill I felt the dreaded lactic build-up so sat down and span till it went. It is still only April after all.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Depends how i am feeling !

Sometimes i spin up the hill or if i feel fresh i get out of the saddle.

The waggle is a bit of a misnomer as long as you overcome the q factor ( the distance between your cranks ) any extra waggle is a waste, if i am really powering then i use upper body strength to make sure i do not over waggle.

That's my method too. Max the power but conserve as much energy as possible.
I racall somebody on Ditchling Beacon on a full-sus mtb literally trying to wrestle his bike up the hill, throwing the bike from side to side, huge energy wastage, when he could have sat back and span away. Needless to say he didn't get far before he collapsed in a sweaty heap!
Riding fixed also teaches a smooth, economic and efficient honking technique.

 

[DrSquirrel]

Anyway, it proved reasonably easy to ride without 'waggling', in fact it just seems to surge forward in a nice straight line. Near the top of one hill I felt the dreaded lactic build-up so sat down and span till it went. It is still only April after all.

On the fixed I get the surge... usually followed by me dragging my body to keep up with the bike

 

[GrasB]

I climb in & out of the saddle on my commutes, I just try to climb in a different manner to the last incline. When climbing out of the saddle the bike has a smooth, controlled, rhythmic, sinuous oscillation to it, looking at videos I'm guessing the handlebars are being moved about 2-3" off centre. I definitely don't 'waggle' the bike, to me that's indicating a full out sprint where you abandon any thoughts of efficiency in preference for production of maximum power.

 

[Bigsharn]

If it's so bad that I have to get out of the saddle, I just dismount. I can manage most hills without even resorting to my granny ring though, so maybe I'm just lazy