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Old July 28th 08, 08:16 AM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Tuschinski
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Posts: 66
Default Climbing: riding on the tops vs riding on the brake hoods

On 26 jul, 20:52, hizark21 wrote:
Climbing: riding on the tops vs riding on the brake hoods

I have noticed that most climber since the mid 90's tend to climb
seated with their hands on hoods.Personally I prefer climbing on the
tops since this a more relaxed position. Climbing seated on the hoods
put's more strain on my wrists. *The one advantage of the hoods is
that you can brake faster. In the end I suppose it's a matter of
climbing style.


I am flabbergasted by all answers in this thread. The real reason:

Air resistance is still a very big component (especially with current
climb speeds)! It is why wheel-sucking works so well on climbs. And it
is also why you better can use aero wheel than ultra light climbing
wheels if you want to win. Of course; pros use ultra-light aero wheels
^^

A reason against the aero wheels is more in the descent, where
handling of high carbon wheels can be spotty: Braking is compromised,
esp when wet and ascents often have unexpected crosswinds wich might
affected steering of a higher rimmed wheel. Also, the rougher ride
might be tiring if you ride over 5-6 hours. Although I would assume
pros can handle that last issue^^

For mere mortals hoods and tops is less of an issue due to our low
riding speed.

- Before anyone asks: This is why "A la danseuse" died: it's not
aerodynamic and with the bigger rear sprockets/higher wattage pros can
now reach 90+ rpm when sitting in the saddle. In the 70ies-80ies the
climbing rpm was a lower, wich forced them to "dance" a lot to power
the big gears. Indurain was afaik the first influential rider really
changing climbing by using higher RPM's and an aero climbing style,
though it was probably an evolutionary change, spurred by ergo-
research.
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