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