On Aug 2, 6:51 pm, Dan Connelly
wrote:
wrote:
I have noticed that more climber climb seated with their hands on
brake hood vs climbing on the tops of the bars. I am not sure if this
is matter of style vs any actual gain performance. Personally I prefer
the tops since they allow me to relax more when climbing. One possible
advantage is that the body is lower so a little less wind resistance.

Wind resistance is approximately (speed / 40 kph)^3, assuming you can ride @ 40 kph w/o rolling resistance at the same power on the flats. So if you're climbing @ 16 kph, this corresponds to (2/5)^3 = 8 / 125 = 6.4% of your total power. If being on the hoods saves 5% of this, it's 0.3% of your total power, or 0.8 watts, if you climb at 250 watts.

Obviously, wind resistance is a lesser impact the slower you're going, so on steeper climbs, the tops have a lesser penalty. The Euro-pros tend to climb at a fairly brisk clip, expending a greater fraction of their power on wind resistance than you or I would on the same climb.

Dan

Plus, the Euro pros spend more time training and racing in the drops,
so climbing on the brakehoods may be a more efficient, powerful
position that sitting slightly more upright on the tops. Most of us
don't spend enough time in the drops for the lower position on the
hoods to be that much more efficient than the tops, but the pros do.
I can assure you if they could climb faster on the tops than on the
hoods, they would.