when climbing out of the saddle what kind of cadence is generally considered most effective? i fifnd i can generate much more power at a cadence of around 60 when climbing out of the saddle than if i stayed in the saddle with a cadence of 75-80.
is it normal to have higher sustained power (over 5 mins) while climbing out of the saddle than while remaining seated?
what gets you to the top faster?
The answer is YES and NO!! Depends on the individual, essentially his strength/weight ratio, his aerobic conditioning, body weight and his technique. I for one can climb better in the saddle. When I stand I use a lot of extra energy, probably due to my technique. I only stand to alter my position on long climbs, but in general will stay seated and try to spin the cranks (otherwise known as “staying on top of the gear”). My strength is climbing & TT and my weakness is sprinting. That says my out of saddle performance is not very good. I have ridden track for a number of years, but never got the hang of sprinting. Kilo & pursuit were just fine. Sooooo you need to find that out for yourself. Pick a hill that takes at least 10min to climb and try standing, staying seated, using a large gear, a small gear and see what’s best for you. It needs to be at least 10min duration to throw out any anaerobic rides. When you ride long hills, you need to ride them right on the line of LT. So keep the same LT for each trial and see how you do.
what gets you to the top faster?
…and more efficiently, assuming it is a triathlon.
I did that yesterday (4X 7-8min not 10) and was able to average 381 and 382 watts for the 2 intervals out of the saddle with cadence only 55-60…big gear. In the saddle intervals were only 342 and 343. Will training out of the saddle at 381 watts benefit my tt or should i stick with the in the saddle tt specifit intervals?
int 1 341 watts in saddle in tt position for 7:49
2 345 watts in saddle in tt position for 7:39
3 382 watts climbing in big gear out of saddle 7:13
4 381 watts climbing in big gear out of saddle 7:13
The next logical step in the investigation is how your time and energy reserves will be effected over the next 10 min, next 30 min, or next hour. A higher wattage at a lower cadence mathematically indicates a higher watt/stroke average, which means you are digging deaper in the well for energy to save approx. 30 seconds. Maybe that is positively significant if your subsequent miles don’t suffer from the effort or maybe the inverse is true.
I love hammering hills in big gears. I’m pretty good at it. But if it’s a longer ride, I pay for it later. I think your answer has to do with the length of your race. Shorter events, get out of that saddle and hammer away. Longer events, tend to keep it in the saddle and spin up those hills. Save the legs for later.
Bob C.
depends highly on the individual
for me, climbing is explosive, but leads to fatigue much quicker
.
11% more power to go 7% faster. Maybe it’s worth it, maybe not, definitely depends on the length of the entire race. Do you know your CP60? I’ve found that climbing out of the saddle in the 55-65rpm range is very effective for me, so long as I’m under threshold pace. When I’m at threshold or VO2 type of pace though, I’m much more efficient out of the saddle in the 75-90rpm range. Basically, there seems to be a certain level of torque my muscles are most comfortable with and I’ll just wind it up to stay in that range if an increase in wattage is needed.
How much do you weigh? Maybe 380 watts isn’t that high a load of torque for you if you are a big guy with huge gnarly thighs.
What was your HR for each effort? You may be paying a premium price for the additional wattage. The key here is to keep your HR the same for each effort, log your wattage output and see how it changes for each effort. Sure, most people can produce more watts standing, but it’s the cost of those watts that count. So try that next time out - keep the HR constant and just change your riding style and see what the difference is, then you can determine if the extra wattage is worth the additional effort.
Also- how far did you go in the respective efforts? Your frontal area goes up a lot when you stand so higher watts may not make you go a lot faster, especially if the climb is not steep.
Okay, so in an olympic triathlon, some of the longer hills could definately be more consistent in the saddle. What about if there is a short, steep hill that I can get up and over quickly standing? When i’ve done hill repeats I always stay in the saddle because its done on steady climbs. Is the methodology that standing is a no-no for triathlons out the window?
If youre training to race in the saddle most of your training should be specific to racing. I think doing sprints to increase muscular strength should be done with as much power as you can produce, ie out of the saddle. Long aerobic repeats will be more beneficial in or close to hte position you will race in. I would climb on the hoods becuase the backward tilt of a climb makes riding in teh aerobars awkward, at least for me.