Lance Armstrong climbing-cadence, seated/standing

[ebrunner]

Watching the last few Tours, I've noticed that Lance Armstrong stands a lot when he's climbing, and not just when he's attacking, but also when he's riding with others (who are often seated). When they say that his cadence is 90-95 rpm on a climb, is that when he's seated, or does he maintain that cadence when he's standing? In other words, is the most efficient standing cadence equal to the most efficient seated cadence, or is it a bit lower?

Also, how bad is it to stand a lot when climbing? I mean, Lance seems to get away with it quite nicely.

 

[T-Bolt Pilot]

Typically your Cadence goes down when standing...on big hills alternating in and out of the saddle can help get blood flowing into other parts of your legs. However, if you can stay in the sadle and maintain a cadence fo 80 or higher (on a climb and 100 on flats) you will be doing well.

Incorporate interval training with your normal training...builds power and increases your threshold. Also distance is not as important as intenisty--hence maint. your cadence levels is important. Going 50 miles at a stady/average 90 rpm's is much better than doing 70 miles and your cadence is all over the place, 60, 70, 80, etc...

Take care,

 

[Duckwah]

getting out of the saddle during a climb costs extra energy so its not a good idea to do all your climbing that way but its good for extra power and some variety when your muscles start to get tired.

Your pedaling cadence will go down when you get out of the saddle but your can turn a bigger gear so your speed is fairly similar

 

[ebrunner]

What if you keep your cadence above 80 while climbing? Is it still worse than sitting because your legs have to support all of your weight? Doesn't some of the burden of your weight fall on your arms?

Also, how does one go about improving their abilty to spin, or their climbing cadence? For example, to climb in a 39 x 23 at 90 rpm, do you (1) train over the climb in a 39 x 21 at a lower cadence to build the power so the 23 feels easy and you can spin it; (2) do the climb in the 25 at 90 rpm so your legs get the idea of spinning, and then you eventually are able to do the same thing in the 23; or (3) keep climbing in the 23, even if you can only do 80 rpm, and try to increase you cadence over time?