Mountain Bike Sitting Tips

Video Transcript

When we're climbing seated, we're able to really conserve a lot of energy. I'm going to show you some of the ways that I save energy when I'm climbing now. First thing, I'm in an easier gear than if I would be if I was standing, second thing, is I'm just really lightly grasping the handlebars. It's almost like I'm just on the handlebars just touching them, sometimes you don't even need to fully wrap your hands around -- you can save a lot of energy that way. I'm not using any upper body strength if I don't have to. Basically I'm letting the bike steer itself up the hill, which is a nice way to do it. But now I'm getting to a section that's a little bit more trying, and it's a little bit more necessary for me to pay attention to what I'm doing. So, as I head up this section, what you'll see is that I'll go from having this light, almost just resting my hands on the handlebars grip, to one that's creating more downward force so I can really get up and around this corner. So, getting lower, my hands grasp on the bars I'm really now, as you see me go past you, I'm really getting lower and driving, but as soon as I get up here, I can go back to just having my hands floating all around because I don't need the interaction of my hands when I'm not doing technical climbing, they can just be meat hooks -- they don't need to have any grasping force. The way the bikes are designed they track just fine going up the hill, so it's all about using as little energy as you have to. So, I'm seated, peddling nice smooth circles to maintain traction and when I get to the harder, steeper parts I'm still just keeping it smooth -- just applying more power, especially using a lot more upper body.

Community Members who...

• Favorited this Video
• Rated This Video

Thumbs up or Thumbs down? Be the first to rate this video!

Top Tags