Out the saddle

[He’s off again]

I’ve never been good at out of the saddle riding, literally a minute of it and I’m cream crackered!!

Though I can quite merrily ride a 200km audax.  I don’t think I’m slow, though neither the fastest.  My FTP is #o where around 250.  I’m a bit podgy at the minute at 85kg.

Is there a way to train and improve at out the saddle riding.  At the minute I tend to do 50 revolutions now and again, if I come to bit of a hill, but literally, 50 and I’m done.  Should I just try upping it to 55 next time and the…

Or am I missing something obvious?

[Ian H]

It might be technique.  You should move forward as you stand so that your weight is on the bars.  Only in extremis (20% up kind of thing) should you be pulling on the bars to any extent.  If you can see the front hub ahead of the bars, you're about right.

Otherwise, it's just practice, best done on short hilly rides where you can go into oxygen-debt without having to worry about the next 100k.

[Pickled Onion]

Getting out of the saddle won't get you there any quicker without expending more energy. On a long ride there are only two good reasons for standing on the pedals: (1) you've run out of gears; or (2) you want to rest your arse.

It can be used to put more oomf into a climb, but you still need to gear down (assuming you're riding with gears). If you're riding fixed or have run out of gears, then to avoid blowing up take it slowly and concentrate on just keeping the pedals turning.

To get more comfortable in the out of the saddle position, practice it on the flat, but don't expect to go any faster than seated. Try to keep the bike perfectly straight, as Ian H says don't pull hard on the bars or throw the bike side to side.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

There's a third reason to get out of the saddle.  Riding seated only for very long distances can tighten the hamstrings so much it gives them and the lower back problems.  Getting out of the saddle for 100m or so every 10km can help stretch hamstrings and the lower back.  It was something I read when first reading about riding PBP way back when.

The consequences of riding 24 hours in a TT position are illustrated in Damon Peacock's video of Andy Wilkinson's 24-hour record in 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tix9iF3reSE

(from 4 minutes on)

[hubner]

I don't keep my bike straight, it goes side to side, not in an exaggerated way though.

As for pulling on the bars, that depends on the effort and gear.

[mrcharly-YHT]

When young, I use to commute over Saddleworth Moor from Holmfirth and back again, on a 3 speed bike.

I developed an efficient technique for climbing in my not-very-low gear - standing up, 'trudging' on the pedals.

Trying to maintain medium/high cadence when riding out of the saddle is for the cardio gods.

For lesser mortals, just keep up a slow trudge, a bit like hill walking.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

It's good for getting up short bumps when gear changes would lose you time.  Zwift has shown me that high cadence in the saddle works best for me.  My FTP is 210/220 and I am 72kg.  Average cadence 80-85 but I did hit 133 recently - not sure what happened there!  Signal error?

 

[zigzag]

checking my recent pbp stats i've spent 34h41 seated and 10h32 out of saddle. riding out of saddle was mainly to engage different muscles and give some relief to the undercarriage.
out of 10h32 standing i've spent 2h20 on the outbound leg and 8h12 on the return, which illustrates the fatigue and the need to change position v.well.
with regards to cadence - whatever feels comfortable, for me it's in the range of 50-70rpm.

pedalling dynamics was measured by assioma duo pedals, which sense where the peak power is delivered through the pedal stroke (on the lower section when out of saddle).

[T42]

My recipe has always been to shift the gears up a couple of notches and reduce my cadence so that my heart rate and the perceived effort stay much the same.  Never tried any fancy devices or worried about FTP: I reckon it's just a matter of maintaining your level of [dis]comfort all the way up.  Did it on the flat as well, to save bum wear or just for fun.

Using a motor these days I've been admonished that riding en danseuse uses more juice but fun is what I'm after so f**k'em, I can always get home without.