I very rarely stand up to cycle – I prefer to grind out hills sitting down, rather than honking up hills standing… and I seem to be in the minority
Is this just pure bad technique on my behalf – or is it it choice, or am I just lazy?
I do stand up for steeps / down hills etc the get weight balanced right and to all me to move the bike under me.

Any suggestions

surly all depends on the hill? If its something short and I know I can sprint to the top I will, might as well get it over with. A long climb up a boring fire road I will just sit, spin and chat.

Go for a short MTB ride (5 – 10 miles) with the saddle fully lowered so seated pedalling with any effort is uncomfortable. Instead stand the entire ride. Experiment with different cadences, different body positions, how tall can you stand up, lean forward, backward, low, etc.

Bit of both for me especially on long climbs because it uses different muscles. Probably more stood than sat because I’ve had single speeders and road fixes for years.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way. Standing is quicker, but if you’re not racing, who cares. </span>

A lot depends on the grade and your gearing, sometimes the “right” gear is between two gears and you are either slow grinding or spinning that little too much.

On steep stuff (> 25%) it’s much easier to stand and find that ideal spot between grip on the rear wheel and the front wheel not lifting.

On long steady climbs a few pedal revolutions stood up uses different muscle groups so spreads the load a bit and gives the usual suspects a bit of a breather.

Part of the reason I didn’t was achilles issues – my surgeon said “avoid standing up on pedals” ( My achilles is likely to snap as some point).
But answering Sirroj’s point – I guess that is the issue – it is more fatiguing ( though I can stand up and walk for hours) – and TH I do not think I could do 10 miles on a bike standing up. I that because I am unfit?

and TH I do not think I could do 10 miles on a bike standing up. I that because I am unfit?

It’s down to core strength.

The first time I go back to singlespeeding after a while its always painfull as its pretty much that, there’s very few times when you can sit down.

There’s also good and bad standing up. You see people struggling up hills stiff as an ironing board trying to compensate for no core stability by basicly trying to keep their arms at their side and back/legs straight.

Then you see people making it look effortless bent forward in an “attack” position working their weight forward and back for grip.

I’ve found that I am now standing up to climb more -I’ve lost some weight recently and also have a new bike which is much longer than I’ve had before. Both of which seem to make quite a difference for me.

It’s something that needs working on – it engages far more muscles and often the purpose is to generate more power, then it places bigger demands on your core and aerobic system. It’s good to switch techniques on longer climbs – helps cope with changes in gradients or simply gives some muscles a rest.
My seat post saddle clamp bolt once snapped 35 miles from home – I rode home with the saddle in my jersey pocket – that was a good workout.
I used to train specifically – fixed gear bike and long, steady 5km climb or hill repeats on a 1km/10% hill – 1 standing, 1 sitting until I couldn’t do anymore.

I’m a twiddler of pedals from the saddle.

I’m not a masher of pedals while standing.

It’s good to switch techniques on longer climbs – helps cope with changes in gradients or simply gives some muscles a rest.

This is what I used to do on a singlespeed on long climbs.
Start off seated then as the grind got tough stand until that started to hurt, then sit again and repeat until the top of the climb.
Kind of like changing gear for a different cadence when you have no gears.

Do you smoke a pipe by any chance?

and what is in the pipe?
“I do stand up for steeps / down hills etc the get weight balanced right and to all me to move the bike under me.”
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Is this just pure bad technique on my behalf – or is it it choice, or am I just lazy?

It’s your choice mate…. assuming your not racing then getting to the top is getting to the top ..
I’ve got a bad back from decades ago and I’ll get out of the saddle to ease pressure or I’m between gears etc. but then might get back in the saddle if I lose traction.

Broadly from reading about this recently standing up is more tiring. However then rider weight and technique comes into it. People like Chris Froome tend to sit and spin fast – but then the likes of Quintana (who is very small and light) can just stand and pedal for ages.

For me I mostly stay seated on the mtb when going uphill to avoid bobbing up and down – but on the road bike most reasonably testing hills I do a bit of both. I think splitting up grinding sat down and pedalling stood up keep my legs feeling fresher / change the test on them.

I’m 5’9 / 81.6kgs so not lightweight but not huge either.

Thanks all

It is pretty easy to do it. I am doing it most of the time.

Used to stand up but since full sus and injury I don’t so much.

My core strengths shagged

Short hills, stand and blast up. Big hills or long fire roads, sit back, spin and watch the world go by.

I am not fit, fast or light.

I do like to stand and crank on hills though. If it’s a short rise then I like to see if I can power to the top of it; if it’s a longer climb I like to mix it up a bit. This is on road and MTB.

I’m under no illusions that it makes me any faster, but I do think the variety is good.

People like Chris Froome tend to sit and spin fast – but then the likes of Quintana (who is very small and light) can just stand and pedal for age

Really who gives a toss what a junky does?

Variety is the spice of life! As I get older I find it increasingly useful to mix things up a bit – saddle for technical climbs or not so great surfaces, standing for short stretches on good surfaces for a burst of speed or to change muscle groups for a bit.

Depends on the length of hill for me and how hard I’m trying. If I’m trying hard and looking for a PR I’ll stand if less than 2 mins. Any longer and I find it more efficient to sit.

Has been analysed a fair bit on road bikes with the answer being depends on the individual.

Personally it’s good to mix it up especially on longer rides or if you ride more than a couple of times a week.

Generally if I’m out training (loose term) on the road bike then I won’t let myself stand when climbing and force myself to either spin or grind it out. But if on my singlespeed I’ll pretty much only sit down when on the flat.

For slogging out climbs, I pretty much only stand up when my arse is sore.

This is all very interesting! I had always understood that sit and spin was “better” because something, something, slow twitch muscles.

Personally on FS I find sitting and spinning nicer since I hate any rear suspension bob when out the saddle.

On HT I mostly climb standing, much prefer it.

I’ve only just realised in the past few months, that being slow and knackered on climbs, came down to me sitting and spinning.
Since i’ve started out of the saddle a lot more, that becomes my go to, and I take brief rests sitting and spinning before getting up again. Not going to suit everyone but it works better for me

Totally depends on bike, and surface.

Flat barred commuter, I’m always out the saddles on Shirt climbs, and mix it up on longer ones.

FS bike, very rarely to be honest.

Do you stander-uppers use the same gear standing as sitting, or a differnet one? (Obviously if you decided to stand up as the hill got steeper rather than change down, that is not the same gear.) I find using a harder gear makes standing up pedalling easier for me. Attempt to explain this below…

I am quite old and not a very strong pedaller. I find that if I stand, my natural reaction is to ride harder. Unless I am in a harder gear than I would be sitting, I rapidly get out of breath. I put this down to the natural amount of pedal force that standing up induces (very roughly* one’s body weight on the pedal). In a given gear, this implies a certain power output. In my sitting gear, for me this is a bit above my maximum sustainable. In a cog harder, the cadence slows, reducing the power output for the pedal force, and I can keep it up (oo er missus). I am guessing that a younger/fitter rider would not experience this so much (I can’t actually remember how it felt when I was younger). Overall, I prefer to sit when I have gears, standing up only in short bursts, or when it gets so steep I have run out of gears on the road bike. I just stay seated and mash the pedals harder on the mtbs, hardtail and full suss.

I used to single speed a lot, and my commuter is a single speed (though I no longer commute). I can still do long climbs single speed standing up (only on the road bike, I have given up off-road single speeding), but of course that is in a much higher gear than I would be in sitting on my geared bike, so it supports this theory. I think that I do sit more single speeding than I used to though.

* of course you can vary this by taking more body weight on the handlebars for an easy ride, leaning back and pulling on the handlebar to generate more force.

Out on the road, I’ll usually stand on short steeper gradients, unless the tarmac is damp. On the turbo, it’s something I rarely do, however yesterday was an exception…

I noticed straight from the off that my cadence was lower than normal for z4/5, trying to hold my normal ~95-100 was impossible and I was dropping to ~80 during the 5min intervals. Pretty much as soon as the 4th interval started, my legs gave up and dropped to ~50 and ERG could no longer power match, at this point I began standing to desperately try to increase cadence and get power back up but doing this for more than ~1min at a time was a struggle.

I expect I’m simply paying for three z4/5 workouts over three days having been unable to do much since my first jab almost a month ago , ~300TSS over three days is way above my norm since Feb ’20, in the hope of quickly finding some form to tackle steep ramps around Prestatyn in two weekends time.

I mix it up but then if you’ve ever spent any time on a single speed you get used to transitioning between sitting and standing a lot. That said though I sit down an twiddle the gears a lot more on a gravel bike & when I do stand up to pedal I generally have my hands on the drops for more leverage.

Standing up and pedalling does ease the leg muscles after prolonged pedalling sat down though

After stand difficult gets of pints it to Guinness twenty up.