Darth Lefty 

I don't recall ever having a problem with it. My 5yo kid can't yet on his single but has done it on the back of the tandem - rather the opposite of most people, probably.

Zuzus pedals

Some people say you should yell "Standing!" when you're about to lift up out of the saddle just in case somebody's right behind you. You will almost always lose some momentum briefly, which can be a problem for the guy who's right on your wheel.

zjrog

These are in my future, based on my injury related bike fit last week...

I was never very comfortable standing on climbs, could drop people still seated. But that was 30 years ago. Today, I am very uncomfortable standing on the bike, due to a knee issue and the opposite ankle needing fusion I have to stand from time to time on my tainer, as my butt needs relief. But I always slow. I'm in an AFO (ankle foot orthosis) brace, and I can stand a little better than without it, on the bike. But the Catalyst pedals will be very soon... I do have to move to a midfoot placement for the ankle.

Flip Flop Rider

not bragging or judging, but if I could not stand when riding I would quit

no way I could sit for even an hour

puma1552

Is rocking the bike side to side when standing considered good form or poor form? I feel like the pros rock the living fawk out of the bike side to side in a sprint.

subgrade

Poor form or good form, there is no way around it - you won't be able to maintain a straight line and put maximum torque through the pedals without leaning the bike the opposite way to counteract the torque you're putting down. Just physics.

livedarklions

I don't know if it's good form or not, but I started doing this crazy maneuver where I stand with one hand on the hood and the other on the drop and rock the living crap out of the bike. I've never actually tried to figure out if there's any real benefit to it because it feels so goofy I just enjoy the hell out of it.

woodcraft

Milton Keynes

I can stand up on a bike while riding, no problem. But I, too have difficulty standing up on the pedals while on a steep climb. I might be able to raise my butt off the saddle a little bit but as far as a full stand I find it hard to do for some reason.

TheDudeIsHere

Why would that be? Because you could not sit for an hour? Is there something wrong with your fit?

Our rides average 2.5 hours. No standing, only at water fill points.

wolfchild

Standing up frequently is a necessity for me. I could never climb hills on my fixed gear or singlespeed bikes without standing up.

Moishe

It’s all here mates, everything you need to know how to ride out of the saddle:

Rajflyboy

I second this 👍

Flip Flop Rider

gotta keep the blood flowing man! Always stand on climbs, sometimes on downhills coasts too. Just like being a kid again

OldTryGuy

NO REAL HILLS here in SW FL so standing while in 53/12 for 2 to 3 mile segments into the wind helps make up for the lack of elevation rise.

freeranger

A group I ride with has one ride which has many hills. Haven't seen anyone having a problem standing. I grew up in W.Va., so being able to stand on the bike was necessary. Also rode motorcycles, on and off-road and still bicycle on and off-road. Never thought about standing as anything special, guess I just thought it was something everyone could do.

chadtrent

Maybe it's from my history of playing hockey and riding BMX growing up, but I stand a lot. When doing long climbs I will stand a little, sit a little. I have tried sitting the whole way and when I mix in a little standing here and there I not only get there faster but I feel like I have more left in the tank when I get to the top. I guess because standing uses different muscles than sitting. I can't stand the whole way though.

noimagination

My wife has this trouble. IMO, it's because she learned to ride as an adult.

When you're young, you experiment a lot. If you're riding a bike (my siblings and I practically lived on our bikes from ages 5 to about 11 or 12), then you experiment on a bike. Stand, skid, jump, ride no-hands, bash into stuff, and so on and so forth. You try stuff and figure it out, and have a hell of a time doing it.

Adults, on the other hand, get used to knowing what they're doing. When they try something new, they are not as open to experimenting, failing, practicing, failing some more, etc. Whether it is riding a bike, or skiing, or any other activity, most adults get to a point where they are reasonably competent at doing the basics, and that's it. Most adults don't find it fun to try stupid stuff to see what works.

As far as standing while riding: your balance is constantly shifting. The balance between pressure on your right foot, left foot, right hand, left hand, fore and aft balance, is always in flux. Your head is constantly moving around, which, if you're not used to it, can throw off your balance. You have to get used to feeling unstable and to controlling your body in three (four? time?) dimensions. It takes practice. If you're not willing to put in hours of practice, and look utterly stupid while doing so, you're not going to learn.

u235

LOL. I remember a time as a teenager riding into a snow pile in a parking lot. We would go as fast as we could into the pile, the bike would sink in and instantly stop, we would push off and fly over the handlebars over the pile and eventually "land" and slide on some body part in the snow on a steep hill behind the pile. Rinse lather repeat. It was a blast until my friend eventually broke though the pile kind of still on the bike and went down the hill at an angle and into a block wall. It was still funny to me but not him. I have no idea what bike handling skills that taught us but it was fun. I grew up in suburbs of Pittsburgh with a BMX bike, riding without standing was not an option. My street was brick and sections were over 30 degrees.

noimagination

Only tangentially related, but this reminds me of an incident:

I was up at a ski house near Killington. We had typical New England weather: it rained over night and then froze. The skiing sucked. There were, what, 5 or so bored twenty something guys hanging around the house.
We decide to go to Suicide Six to go tobogganing. I don't remember why, but on the way we decided not to do it (we probably didn't want to pay for the lift tickets). We passed a day care (it was the weekend, so it was closed) with a nice stair-stepped hill (hill, flat, hill, flat, rail fence, road). We were barely able to walk up the hill, it was so icy. This should have warned us, but no (there may have been some fermented barley and hops involved). The guy in front chips some footholds in the ice so he can hold the sled while we loaded, the five of us pile onto the toboggan (5 full size guys = packed sled), and away we go.
Now, the hills were fairly steep and fairly long, the ice was very slippery (as we had established walking up), and the toboggan was loaded with about 5 x 170 lb = 850 lb (low, very low, estimate). So, needless to say, we got going at a fairly good clip. Meanwhile, the fence (and, then, the road) was coming up VERY fast with no way to slow or turn. We all bailed out of the sled (which wasn't easy, as packed-in as we were), going at a high rate of speed, onto glare ice. We were all bruised and scraped up, and laughing our a**es off. We were HOWLING. I couldn't breath for a good 10 min.
We only did it once (I know that I, at least, was afraid to die), but it was memorable.

jadocs

Have you tried leaning forward, or is it a balance issue when on an incline?

livedarklions

Funny, it never occurred to me that someone who can pedal a bike could find standing problematic, but I think that's because I learned it at such a young age that it feels as natural as walking to me. Come to think of it, it's actually closer to a walking motion than is riding on the saddle. so I suspect it's more of a matter of learning to trust your own sense of balance in a different position than it is comparative difficulty of balance in the saddle vs. standing.

aclinjury

There was video of Nibali doing pushups. He could barely do 20. So ability to do pushups correlates very little with ability to out of the saddle.

aclinjury

nice meat grinder! I'd wear jeans or shin guards!

Notso_fastLane

I can't stand on my recumbent.