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On Climbing
Interesting opinion piece on pedalling technique when climbing. More relevant to road riding than MTB because of the emphasis on out-of-the-saddle... but we all ride on the road at some stage, and I hear there's usually a bit of fire road in some of those 100km events 
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The article is an interesting read. I usually climb seated, so it was interesting to hear a description of how to climb efficiently out of the saddle.
Some of it fits with typical mtb technique, like balancing a riders weight over the bb. Other parts of the article seem to be contradicted by Contador's style of climbing. Contador seems to fling his bike from side to side as he climbs, which according to the article would mean he would suffer increased drag by not using the centre of the tyres. I had heard that the important part when climbing out of the saddle was for the body to be free of rocking motion, but the bike being lower weight didn't matter so much if it rocked, but the article contradicts this.
Any ideas from out of the saddle climbers?
Its a nice little article. Even if its completely wrong (which I dont think it is), it gets you thinking about your technique.
I dont like the 'pull up' business that is discussed. Its really a very inefficient way to pedal. Its a bit like swimming freestyle / crawl, where it is still taught to pull through the 'catch' phase of the stroke, and then 'push' down through your body past your hip in the 'press' phase. THe whole 'push' aspect of the stroke has been shown to be inefficient in anything other than pond calm water (i.e. a pool). Any open water swimming, with chop and surf, its much better to maintain a higher arm cadence, and get more 'pull' done.
So - to bring it back to pedalling, a seated, high cadence climbing technique is the most efficient way to climb. Trying to 'pull' with the back leg at anything over 85rpm is pretty much impossible, and not much use. It also stresses your hamstrings, and if you are not used to this, you'll cramp.
Rocking the bike (a la Contador - and any BMX rider out of the gates) brings the pedal up, colser towards the body, and allows greater use of the bicep to assit in pushing the bike away from the foot, and therefore helping drive the foot down. This is why bar-ends are used in climbing. It enables greater use of the bicep.
So - nice article. Lots to consider though. Keep the out of the saddle work for short power climbs, sprints out of corners, and for keeping a certain gear turning at a given cadence "getting back on top of the gear". I prefer to have my body slightly in front of the BB when out of the saddle and think about driving down, but also slightly back (hence being in front of the saddle) at the bottom of the stroke.
But - cadence is key. Dancing, choppy pedal strokes at a high cadence. Best of all, thats skill based, and not strength based. Skill acquisition is much more fun that pure fitness training.
Interesting. However, I find that getting out of the seat and walking up the hill gets me there quickest
I think a lot of it has to do with how you ride & train. Remember Lance Armstrong vs Jan Ulrich? Lance would keep high cadence and stand a lot on climbs. His nemesis would push a big gear and stay seated.
Back to our sport, can't recall seeing Shaun Lewis ever get out of his saddle yet he's won a few enduro's. His team mate Gordo on the other hand I think has a bum that's allergic to his saddle. Don't recall ever seeing him sit especially on any sort of incline.
I think the most important part of Hill Climbing is to not show that you are hurting