Optimized posture for pedaling while standing
 

I have reviewed a few books and online postings and now seeking input from Bike Forums on finding an optimal standing posture on a road bike. Although I am not racing, I ride mostly on friendly yet competitive group rides while doing frequent mountain routes. I would suspect there are various "optimal" postures for various goals. In the broadest terms, my goal is 3-7 minutes of sustained, standing power while climbing or also while needing to accelerate to catch up (or drop!! Haha) some mates. Or, secondarily, learning to understand pros and cons of various postures for different situations. My question may be too broad. I just want to learn to be more effective and efficient while standing on the bike. I typically fatigue too much after 30-90 seconds. Are there any generally accepted cycling principles for pedaling while standing?

There are as many ways to stand as there are angles to maintain your foot at when seated. If everyone with an opinion on what works for them answers, this could run many pages. So I am going to say nothing about what position you should have other than - if your back is rounded down, ie, hips rotated back as you reach forward, you are compressing your abdomen and restricting your ability to take full deep breaths. I was doing this without being aware of it on a commuter I had that was short on the top tube and had a long head tube. Made a huge4 gamble and had a stem made that was 2" longer than the longest at any bike shop. Stretched me out like a cat doing one of those stretches where it gets really long. And on hills - radical improvement - in breathing, in comfort and comfort late in hard rides.

So observe what you are doing and what you could do to get more torso elongation. Another trick - this from a swim coach who was also a physiology major grad student - exhale! She stressed that in freestyle, the exhale was far more important than the inhale. That 100% exhale and 25% inhale was radically better than 50% and 50%. What a gift! I forgot her name years ago but I hope I never lose sight of the importance of the exhale. (When I start dying on climbs, it's "Exhale!" A boost every time I remember.)

Not sure why you would want to go full gas standing for 3-7 minutes? You fatigue after 30-90 seconds because standing isn'g a great way to sustain power for anything other than short bursts.

You can train to be able to stand for long periods. That's what you have to do - practice standing, like ordinary intervals. Stand, rest, stand, etc.

IME the best posture is weight over the pedals, back of thigh brushing the saddle nose, hands light on the bars, the hand on the side of the downstroke foot pulling up slightly. I find I do better in the drops, but that's individual. It is important to weight the pedals, not the bars. I attempt a Pantani, pointed toes and all, but of course do not succeed. He's a good model though. I have observed that riders who run a lot have better experiences standing.

I find it really helpful to watch how the best pros that stand a lot do it. Julian Alaphillipe is one of the best to watch as he rides standing more than almost any other top pro. His body is pivoting in very subtle ways, and the bike is also moving in sync with that, and the combination looks effortless.

I rarely stand myself, I can get the same watts for a lot less work on all but the highest zone of effort. I have improved at it over time though.

I love to stand. I also love having my bars reasonably low and far forward. I have a lot of weight on my hands and pull up considerably on the upstroke. I read here that much of what I am doing is wrong but I've been doing it for 50 years. During my brief racing "career" I was the guy others did not like to see at the start of the hilly races in Vermont.

I do not have any one thing I always do. Sometimes I rock the bike a lot. Other times I hold it vertical. I do love "the dance" where everything excerpt my eyes is moving. (Well; my head will be rocking from side to side so my view of the world is rocking but the bridge of my nose is going straight uphill. Tires too. That from my coaches back when.)

Best advice? Stand. A lot. Work on doing it longer and longer. Observe what works, what feels good. Try playing with brake levers, handlebar height and rotation. (Mark everything first so you can return to it. It may well be that you are looking for a compromise between seated comfort, power and efficiency and the same standing.

A tip if you like to rock the bike a lot and ride in the drops - avoid handlebars with the now popular almost square outboard "corners". Those corners can do a number on your forearms. For me, they hit near bare bone rather hard. Older bars with the far more rounded "corners" are much more forging and rounded shoulder track bars are wonderful.

Well, what do I know, but it seems to me that the crossover point where the energetic cost of standing exceeds the extra power comes at fairly modest durations.

On the trainer, I try to stand for a couple of minutes out of every ten just because it eases the discomfort of sitting on the saddle. And so I get lots of experience seeing that at constant power, when I stand my HR goes up. Of course, there's always going to be that extra metabolic cost for the added effort on your core muscles.

For short bursts, that metabolic cost is outweighed by the extra power. But eventually, the lower efficiency of standing becomes a hinderance. And I would think that few of us are putting out so much power for 3-7 minute efforts that there is a benefit that outweighs the extra demands from the core.

I sit the majority of the time. But a while back I think it was Carbonfiberboy that posted a video of Pantani standing for a long time during one of his races. I was impressed. I also noticed and think it may have been part of the discussion that Pantani was in the drops as he pedaled.

I'd previously always tried to stand holding on to the hoods or tops of the bars. And it seemed I didn't like that. However after seeing that video, I too found that for the times I do stand, holding on to the drops seems to make everything better about standing. It also uses some different muscles or at least a different range of motion for the muscles. And I still tend to think that the effort of standing uses energy just to stand that could be saved for pedaling. But for a last minute stab at staying on the bike when a grade briefly and suddenly pitches up to steep angle, I'll definitely use my last little bit of energy to stand as I gasp for air and try to get to where the grade lessens. Otherwise it's that walk of shame most of us don't want to do! <grin>

However it's still something I don't do enough of and need to practice. My cadence in the saddle while climbing is over 90 RPM until I start to run out of steam or run out of lower gear ratios. And at the moment I can't pedal more than about 65 maybe 70 RPM standing. So I have to actually slow down to stand up!

I love practical advice. This is excellent input. Thanks for those two pointers.

Interesting. A friend said pulling up on the Opposite side of the downstroke. Referenced crosss country skiing.

Most of my out-of-the-saddle time is spent climbing: either to take a break from pedaling in the saddle, or to get through a steep section. I've been doing it so long that I've had to think about what I do to put it into words, but here goes:

1. Straighten out the lower back, and lengthen the torso. That's number one, because the back needs a break. I can feel the tension release within a few pedal strokes.
2. Keep a light amount of weight on your hands by maintaining your hips close to the saddle nose.
3. Gently rock the bike from side to side. Don't rock your shoulders.
4. Pedal a low cadence by shifting up a gear or two. This will keep the aerobic effort roughly the same.
5. Don't bounce your hips up and down.

I can only second this. The main reason I started practicing out of saddle climbing was your number 1, to learn to give relief to the lower back, and the buttocks. Since doing that I have become so much better at it and it really is a great skill to have.

Well, we want to tilt the bike away from the downstroke foot so . . .Anyway, I don't see what XC has to do with anything. It's a completely different sport. Although in Classic XC the hand and foot on the same side do move in opposite directions.

Wait - if my right foot is on the downstroke and I pull UP on the handlebar with my left hand, won't I just tip the whole bike to the right? I'm pretty sure you want to swing the bike the opposite way - push down on right pedal while swinging the bike to the left, then reverse. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I've read several times, for what it's worth, that standing may feel better, but it's less efficient than being seated on a climb. (opinions?) I still do it, but I think it's more for a change of posture (relief) than any mechanical advantage. That said, I think Alberto Contador always set the best example.

I asked "Please give me some advice on the optimal standing posture on a road bike" to ChatGPT and got back about half of this verbatim. Don't you have something better to do ZukeR?

Here is what I got back .. actually better than what ZukeR got, I think ChatGPT likes me more :-)