Pedalling Style
- Thread starter starthms
- Start date
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Rob3rt
Man or Moose!
- Location
- Manchester
The OP seems to be talking about standing up, just for the sake of it, on the flat even. Other than to rest your arse for a few seconds, or if you need to put out a lot of power for a short period of time, I can not fathom why anyone would want to stand up just to ride along.
Rob3rt
Man or Moose!
- Location
- Manchester
No. Sprinters don't ride any differently to other cyclists really except in the bunch sprint, in which they are standing because they are producing a short duration maximal effort!
opps no i don't mean standing up to just ride along, more pick up speed, little hills, and to just give your ass a rest lol. just the whole spin to win thing, By standing to do the stated do u lose out to just dropping a gear and spining. i ask as i just find getting out of the saddle now and then more fun and than sitting and spinning. i do like to psh a bigger gear than spin a higher gear ( tho maybe knees with start to shout at me later in life) so really iam asking iam losing out to much standing than spining or its so small diff i dont really need to worry.
Turbo Rider
Just can't reMember
- Location
- A compounded speck of dust
I just spin as fast as I can, for as long as I can, in the highest gear that I can that's comfortable (though sometimes I push through comfortable for the fun or torture of it, which hopefully has the dual effect of strengthening my legs and building up my cardio).
Used to stand up on hills when I started but found that on some of the longer, steeper climbs I was trying, I'd come to a standstill at some point, having ran out of gears to push with. Best advice I got was to do as I do now and try to maintain the highest cadence I could whilst sitting down and it worked pretty much straight away, with me shooting up hills with gears to spare. Only need to stand if you want to stretch your legs out a bit and if you do that on a hill, try going up a gear or two so that you do;t run out of gears when you sit down again. Not sure how great that advice is, but it works fine for me
Used to stand up on hills when I started but found that on some of the longer, steeper climbs I was trying, I'd come to a standstill at some point, having ran out of gears to push with. Best advice I got was to do as I do now and try to maintain the highest cadence I could whilst sitting down and it worked pretty much straight away, with me shooting up hills with gears to spare. Only need to stand if you want to stretch your legs out a bit and if you do that on a hill, try going up a gear or two so that you do;t run out of gears when you sit down again. Not sure how great that advice is, but it works fine for me
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Yeah, many of KLWNBUG's pootles would count as "ultra-endurance cycling (i.e. >4h)" by that simplistic view, but I don't think it qualifies if you spend an hour on lunch+beer or coffee+cake at halfway!
jack smith
Veteran
- Location
- Durham
An average of around 20-25 in flat roads just a slow grind
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Nigelnaturist
Guru
- Location
- Pontefract
Well on a road bike, at 22.5mph its about 58rpm.MPH or KmPH ...?
Sea of vapours
Guru
- Location
- Clapham, Yorkshire Dales
Very true!. That said my >4 hours rides are more down to there not being many roads around here, so circuits are unavoidably long and I'm going pretty slowly ;-)
ayceejay
Guru
- Location
- Rural Quebec
If the question is really simple like - which is more efficient (better use of energy) sitting or standing - then the answer is equally simple: sitting.
Whether the objective is long distance endurance or some other distance at speed it is equally important to conserve or make best use of your energy, training will help with this but on the day of the event getting up to speed takes more energy than maintaining that momentum. It follows therefore that an even tempo (not often possible in a road race) is the most energy efficient and if getting out of the saddle on a hill or when lagging behind gets you back up then there is your answer, as a brief spell out of the saddle will use less energy than pushing a too high gear or recovering from a standstill.
Whether the objective is long distance endurance or some other distance at speed it is equally important to conserve or make best use of your energy, training will help with this but on the day of the event getting up to speed takes more energy than maintaining that momentum. It follows therefore that an even tempo (not often possible in a road race) is the most energy efficient and if getting out of the saddle on a hill or when lagging behind gets you back up then there is your answer, as a brief spell out of the saddle will use less energy than pushing a too high gear or recovering from a standstill.
T.M.H.N.E.T
Rainbows aren't just for world champions
- Location
- Northern Ireland
No it simply can't be that simple. What about cadence? And and and carbon frames, they have a naturally higher cadence but can't be ridden when it's minutely moist.
ROBERT! Explain these things!!!!!!!!
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Well, there's your answer. If it's more fun - do it. If it isn't - don't.
My secretary will send you my consultancy bill.
Rob3rt
Man or Moose!
- Location
- Manchester
Given that information, I would suggest that the people suggesting you do something about your cadence are indeed correct and you ought to lift it a bit. Very few people would find their optimum cadence in that sort of ballpark you are riding at.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Optimum for what, though...