Originally Posted by
ofajen
Except when you are pushing so hard that you have to pull up hard on the bars. At that point the upper body has to work hard, too.
It’s probably a bit of a single speed thing. Climbing the steepest grades, I stand up and use the grips on the swept touring bars. Peak pedal force is just about straight down, arms are extended down and I’m pulling straight up. It works really well.
Otto
I grew up riding mostly single and 3 speeds. I think I carried over a lot of the techniques when I changed to multi-gear bikes.
But no one has ever accused me of having a "slight" upper body.