How do the pros making standing on the bike look so easy and graceful?
It’s all in where they are they are positioning and supporting their body weight. The key is getting the body weight off of your legs which are doing the work in pedaling.
You see, this is why so many riders fatigue after a short time riding out of the saddle. They are holding their weight up with their legs which is like doing a wall sit hold and jumping from it and back into it every few seconds. It feels inefficient because it is!
So how do you become efficient and powerful at the same time riding out of the saddle?
I’m going to give you three cutting edge tips that will change the game for you.
1. Shift two gears harder before getting out of the saddle. This will give you more chain tension to push against making it easier for you to get into your optimal standing position.
2. Bring your chest over your handlebars, with your chin just in front of your front hub when you look down. This takes your weight off of your legs and places it onto your triceps. Now the triceps have the only job of managing your weight, freeing up your legs to focus on the pedaling.
3. Bring your elbow in on the side of the down stroke leg at the start of each downstroke. By doing this, you are locking your core and optimally transferring the majority of your body weight into your downstroke. This allows you to increase your overall force in each pedal stroke (more watts) using less leg muscles. The result? More speed with less effort!!!!
Give these tips a shot and see if you can improve your overall cycling performance through more efficient (and powerful) standing.
This type of technique is an example of how in depth our coaching is at CINCH.