Question on cycling

I’m a newbie clydsdale and I’d love to know the “norm” here as its my strong point – I have only just started and I’m knocking out rides of short distances in the gym at 90 to 100 rpm on a low level and I was thinking that was low. Whats a realistic target range?

I was in your same situation, but for me it was an issue of my riding form. I was able to receive some help from a friend who made the following suggestions to me. I was mashing gears and not spinning. On the bottom of your spin cycle act as if you were scraping mud off your shoe, this helps me to make sure I'm concentrating on making a circle and not mashing the pedal. Too, make sure your not hopping in your seat, and also try to limit any side to side movement as well. Lastly, keep your knees in, keep them as close to the frame as possible.

I found when I did these three things I greatly improved my cadence. It also improved my endurance on the bike. Hopes this helps, as it did me.

About 12 years ago I was mountainbiking with a friend. I was amazed at how easily he cleared obstacles and rough terraine. Then he said us a lower gear and it was amazingly easier immediately. Then I joined a road racing club and I was young enough to yell at and would get in trouble for not spinning. I'm a spinner 100-120 rpms. 90rpms feels very slow to me. In road racing a pusher goes 80-100 rpms. Track racers, the fastest biggest strongest guys are spinning at 140 even 150rpms. Professional road racers who use really big gears are still spinning them at 100, 110 rpms and they are going really fast. Through the 80's, apparently I don't remeber I was a kid, there was a lot more big gear pushing going on but there was a lot of steroid use. Now with better drug testing and the use of human growth hormone and epo instead there has been a return to more of a spinning style like Copi had.
Don't worry about how fast you are going just worry about how fast you are pedalling for now. 90 to 110 rpms is the most efficient cadence for cycling. In his book triathlon training Dave Scott says 80-90 for triathlon istead of 90-110. I think high 80's low 90s is good enough for most triathletes and don't agree with Dave Scott who then goes the other way and says short strides and faster turn over for running. This should also be your run cadence. If I watch a world cup tri on televison or a bike race or a running race I always get my watch out I count and time and see what cadence they are using. Running high 80's low 90's, cycling in triathlon high 90s low 100s. Cycling races 90 to 120.
Start doing some high cadence intervals on the stationary bike or on your actual bike if you have cadence on your bike computer. Get the cadence up there even if it is just for a minute and soon you will spin faster all the time. Even if you race in a bigger gear at a slower cadence, spin a lower one in training to save you knees and tendons.

Edited by owie 2004-01-26 3:21 PM

I like to spin no slower then 90rpm. It is more times, but less energy. Go as fast as you can, without lossing control, keep it smooth. I like to think about pushing the pedals forward and backward, I have been doing the up and down so long, that I don't have to think about it anymore. If you are not spinning at 90, don't worry. You are still moving forward.

I go between 70-85, and it feels good.

Obviously when I can go 90rpms in the same gear with the same effort I'll go faster than I am now.

Going 90+rpms at a light gear puts me at about 21kmh. Going at 70-75 rpms at a larger gear puts me at 25kmh. This is for sustained rides, on a semi-rough grade of raod. This same effort on a really smooth paved highway puts me 31kph.

I try to keep the "effort" the same when encountering hills (whihc are numerous on my ride). I drop down to a lighter gear and spin up the hill, then a larger gear going down and get the speed up to 45-50kph.

I like the mixture of endurance and muscle strength. "Spinning your wheels", even at a low cadence does not to me yield a very fast speed. It may use less energy, but it certainly doesn't produce a fast speed. It does produce a faster speed than mashing (big gear, 60rpm) and uses less energy.

Obviously, when you can spin at a high cadence on a big gear, you'll go much faster. But, as others have pointed out that's something you build up to.

Just as noone starts out with a 1:00 100y swim, and a 6:30mile run, no one starts out cycling at 22mph.

Another thing, the really high cadence in a low gear seems really ineffective on a windy day ... which we have plenty here in Northern Illinois. The wind is not confined within the Windy City's limits.

Hogskin, just a quick thought, are you using toe clips of any kind. Just jamming on regular pedals will make spinning almost impossible. If you are using toe clips I found that tring to pedal by pulling up only forced me to increase my cadance. Pulling rather than pushing helps gain a better form and the weight of your foot gives a reasonable amount of push when training.

Joe

Whether you are a lard bucket or not, spinning at a higher cadence will greatly improve your cycling. I am no featherweight at 220 lbs and keep the cadence between 100 an 110 on the trainer with occasional spurts of 140 to work on mys endurance. On the road, I keep my cadence around 90 rmp's. I have been a cyclist for over 40 years but I did not always ride "smart"; when I was younger...so long ago...I just mashed the pedals. I wound up with bad knees and a bad back...not to mention bad breath! Use a lower gear and spin; when that gear becomes too easy, go up a gear. You will be amazed at how rapidly you will progress. There are many articles on this on the web; try to find one that seems to target you and try it out!