Standing vs. Sitting on Mountain Bikes

Video Transcript

So, there are two very different ways to approach a climb. You can plan to be seated, you can plan to stand, and there's a third way which is a mixture of seated and standing. In this little segment here I am going to show you the differences like in my body position between the two and what different ways of climbing allow me to accomplish differently. So, follow me. Well, obviously you start off seated because you need to get into your pedals and get stationary. Being all seated like this allows me to climb relatively slowly. I'm pulling down on the handle bars...really, you know, driving the back wheel into the ground. For a situation like this I can get out of the saddle. To get out of the saddle I keep my butt real low, get my weight forward, but move my butt back and it enables me to have a little bit more room to maneuver so I can pick up the bike to get up over obstacles and stuff like that. So, when we started, when you start off and you're choosing if you want to be seated, choosing if you want to stand, or if a mixture between the two, then what you have to take into account is traction. You can find more traction when you're seated because you're weight is distributed much more evenly...more weight on the back wheel. As long as you just get low and sort of practice that rolling motion with your arms, you'll keep that wheel driven in and you'll be able to climb even a real slippery slope. With the standing technique, you can get a little bit more power because...plus, in addition...to the force that you can generate with your legs you could put your body weight into each trick which helps a lot. But the power application is way more cyclic. It's not a smooth ...like an electric motor. It's more like two pistons. So, it's easier for the wheel to lose traction and break loose. So, to compensate for that you, A) have to think of that ice cream cone. You have to think of bringing the bottom of the cone that has all the melted ice cream sort of down, pushing it into that rear axle by lowering yourself and moving your weight really far back while you're pulling yourself down. In addition to that, you want to try to pedal as smooth as a circle as you can. Like really jerky. Almost up/down strokes are going to end up in disaster, especially on a hard climb. Instead, you want to think about really pulling your foot all the way through the pedal stroke. So, that's seated versus standing/climbing.

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