High and Low Bike Cadence Observations

How long was the ride?  What kind of terrain?  Pace?  My first inclination is to think it was less of an aerobic capacity issue and more of a "fuel" issue.

Rolling terrain, mostly dirt trails (I train mostly on my mountain bike), with a long hill at the end. The hill is not steep but goes on for close to 2 miles. Total ride was 14.5 miles. Pace was under 12 mph, which is slow, but it was windy and I'm heavy, so overall it was a tough ride.

It is very unlikely that leg strength is going to be your limiter when it comes to cycling. If you do the calculations, you are looking at each leg having to push between 25 and 40lbs (depending on the power required) for the majority of the ride. Since this is not a huge amount of force, the key is building your endurance to the point that you can apply this amount of force many times. In order to improve this, the best bet is to ride lots - as you ride your neuro-muscular pathways will be improved and your therefore your ability to push a certain gear for a given period of time will improve.

Here's an discussing this that might be worth a read.

Shane

Another factor is pedal technique.  Do you do enough high cadence pedaling to trust that you have a nice round pedal stroke?

High cadence riding is efficient when you have good pedal technique, but isn't as efficient if you are pushing through the downstroke and not lifting with your opposite foot to get it out of the way in time or if you have wasted energy in bouncing. Fortunately, it can also help you improve your pedaling technique, so keep practicing and you will find that it can be very efficient.

Edited by dredwards 2007-04-03 8:02 PM