Strength for BIking

How did you build those muscles to run? Did you run?
How are you going to build those muscles to bike? You bike?

Yup.  You need to ride your bike more.

BTW, "high RPMs, low resistance" is not necessarily inefficient.

the way a bike/engine (human engine) works, if you apply the same torque, but at a higher RPM, you get more power.

you are lacking specific cycling fitness and power and for that your have to
1) ride lots (easy, shor, hard, long) and
2) focus on increasing your power threshold.

For #2 you should focus on short intervals @ VO2 max (3-5 x 3-5min @ z5), intervals @ threshold (4-6 x 4-10 min @ z4). You can add hill repeats @ z4-z5

So what's your point?  We don't have any idea what torque, power or RPMs the OP is talking about.  Just their impression that the RPMs are "high" and the resistance "low".  They may actually be quite appropriate for the individual.  Or, of course, they might not.  My point is that they are probably just experiencing the fact that their riding endurance needs more work.

One thing that I have not seen mentioned is to make sure your bike is fitted properly.  I googled it and made several adjustments to my bike and knocked 20 min off a 21 mile ride.  Something as simple as having a seat that is too low can make a dramatic difference when it comes to that burning feeling in your thights, as you have described.

something else, just a bit of random information that pertains to this sort of post (not picking on the OP in any way, just thought i would share).

I'll see if i can find the artical, but i read somewhere about track or TT cycling, when a reader was asking about strength to bike fast, the artical was explaining that at 95 rpms it only takes 45 or so pounds to hold 500 watts. (i might have the numbers a bit off, but it was very close to this).

it does not take a great deal of power to hold the speeds we are noramlly going to race, but it does require the specific muscle adaptations and endurance to do.

The point is that one can usually produce more power at a higher cadence, even though it's not much resistance 

This is a great topic for us newbs.  (OP and myself included)
I'm slowly learning how to do this a bit better but it seems to all go out the window on the steep hills.  I keep telling my legs to kick it up a notch but they don't listen.

i'm not sure how much i agree with this either.

I can produce *slightly* more power, at a VERY high cadence for me (over 105 or so), but if i want to hold it more than a few min, i can put out MUCH more power over a long period of time at a steady 90 or so.

I agree with that.

Did anyone notify Fred of his new standing?! And the best is that Rick can't respond until next month, so this thread shall return with a vengence! LOL!

Now I think you're reading too much in to what I said.. I didn't say hold the highest cadence you could possibly maintain and voila, you'll always have more power.  I wasn't even talking about average power, 1 hour, 30 minute, but power in general.  physiology is going to hold us back after a certain rpm. 

Edited by Bioteknik 2009-07-22 2:09 PM

Oh, heaven forbid!
Here, this will make Rick nuts. To the OP, just use a HR monitor and everything will be fine...

I guess I didn't understand why you were replying to me with this.


Anyway, back to the OP, ignore all this other stuff and just go ride. 

I meant to put something saying I was agreeing with the efficiency part of your post, but hit submit before I did and forgot about it. 

Engines and power are what I do (work for a vw/audi/porsche software company) so while this won't exactly relate to cycling without some more conversion it should still hopefully make sense

*This is also all ignoring the torque multiplication that occurs through gearing, wheel size, and even crank length.*

the equation for hp is (torqueXrpm)/5250=hp

So if someone is able to apply 50 ft/lbs of torque at 95 rpm it would come out to .9hp

If someone was able to apply 45 ft/lbs at 105 rpm it would be .9hp


compare this to different engines that operate better in certain rpm ranges to make more sense:

A diesel for example may make peak torque at 1800 rpm and a small gasoline engine may make peak hp at 7000 rpm.

at 1800 rpms the diesel is making more hp than the small gas engine at the same rpm, at 7K rpm (the diesel blew up but thats besides the point.. well not really more later) the gas engine is making more hp than the diesel engine.

Peoples bodies are just like these engines. An example was stated in another thread I read last night or this morning that Lance has an optimal rpm of something like 100 rpm while someone else had a 90, forget who was listed and the exacts.

In this case lance is more like the gasoline engine and the other ride is more like the diesel. Both may be able to end up with the same power they just need to operate in their optimal powerband.

Again to compare to people, some don't have the torque needed at high load (low rpm) to make the power they need to spin to get the same power to the ground. Others do have that torque at high low and can get the power down but may not be able to spin. One is only more efficient than the other if you have the right kind of motor.

I am actually like the latter (diesel), I can't spin I haven't checked my cadence I just have been riding for more than half my life and know I can't. As my rpms go up my power drops just like a diesel engine. Part is due to my knees which have issues and spinning high rpms makes it feel like they are going to fly apart (like a diesel engine would at high rpms). The other is I just make more torque at low rpms its how i am built. When I was 13-14 years old or so and racing bmx I was running a 48/16 gear setup while most others I raced against and friends were running 42 or 44 tooth chain rings and sometimes even a 17 tooth rear sprocket. I could barely ride their bikes around the local trails nor could they ride mine.

I know a little off topic but since the power thing came up and rpms I figured I would comment, apologize a head of time if its too far off.

Hence why all torque and hp curves ALWAYS cross at 5250 RPM on a dyno graph.  I wish racing cars was not so expensive. 

While my mind was drifting during a ride on Saturday, I started thinking about how similar our bodies were to automobiles.  When a car heading into a hill is in too high of a gear and at a low RPM, it does not make much power and the engine load increases. This typically leads to detonation and retardation of the spark timing until the transmission gears down and increases RPMs.  

Our bodies act so similar under increased load via the lactic acid and signals to drop gears.

Now, just because the hp numbers are the highest at 6000 RPMs, you don't want to do all your driving there.  It's simply not EFFICIENT.  Likewise... we don't want max RPMs at all time either.

This has been "Bike Riding for Gearheads" come back next week when we talk about how to remove bird poop from your car and bike.

Edited by Pector55 2009-07-22 3:34 PM

I second that, my Rpms are 80-95 all the time.