Can I climb standing up with flat pedals?

QUESTION: I am 67 and recently had half my lung removed due to cancer. I am looking at the Trek Domane+ AL electric road bike and was considering flats [pedals], but I have not seen any road bikes with them, although I don’t place too much emphasis on looks. What about climbing/standing up with flats, is it problematic?

RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: (This question appeared in the reader comments below my recent response to the question, “Am I really handicapped by flat pedals?”) You are correct that not many road bike riders seem to use flat pedals, but that trend is driven by the pedals that are used in the bike racing world, where every equipment choice favors power and speed, even if the gain is only marginal. But in answer to your question, yes, you can stand up to climb while using flat pedals, and yes, it can be problematic, but the potential problems are more related to standing while pedaling rather than to the type of pedals you are using. 

One issue is how often you should stand up to climb regardless of what sort of pedals you are using. Rising out of the saddle to pedal requires extra effort and you can only do so a few times during a given ride before you pay a price in energy depletion.

Another problematic part is the stress standing to pedal can put on both your body and your bike, especially if your equipment is not sound.

On these topics, the late Sheldon Brown, who was a veritable encyclopedia of cycling knowledge and advice, had this to say to road riders (he excluded bike racers and off-road riders from this guidance due to specific demands of their disciplines): 

Pedaling that hard is very stressful to the joints and to the bicycle, and usually involves a level of effort that cannot be sustained aerobically (that is, you will get out of breath). Unless you have unusually good form, it also tends to involve a fair amount of thrashing from side to side, which is a waste of energy. The added stress flexes many parts of the bicycle, and the energy required to do this flexing is not usually recovered when the parts straighten back out.

These extreme stresses also greatly increase the risk of breaking things. If a pedal, crank, chain, handlebar or handlebar stem should break under this abnormal stress (a very real possibility) you are almost certain to suffer injury in the resulting crash. Even a simple missed shift or the skipping of a worn chain can toss you to the ground when you throw all of your weight onto a single pedal.

Standing pedaling doesn’t make you any faster, except in the very short run. On longer rides, it can seriously slow you down on the average, because if you waste a lot of energy this way early in the ride, you’re likely to finish the ride much slower than you started it. 

Brown goes on to say that, if your form is good and your bike is mechanically sound, there’s no harm in standing occasionally 1) for a short burst of acceleration when starting or when you don’t have time to shift down, or 2) because it feels good to stand and blast away now and then, or 3) to relieve saddle discomfort. (See Brown’s full comments here.)

Regarding standing on flat pedals (which are the kind I use these days) I find it helpful to plant my feet in a midfoot position on the pedals for the few occasions when I choose to stand. 

For more about standing on flats, it’s useful to listen to advice from the mountain bike community, where flats are often employed for enhanced maneuverability, easier foot positioning, and the ability to quickly bail out or adjust one’s foot position, especially on technical terrain or when learning new skills. This video from the Global Mountain Bike Network gives a good overview. 

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Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.