90RPM?! Ya kiddin me aint ya?!!

[Firm Button]

Chuff, this cycling larks hard werk for a chubbie noob like me! I kept spinning up and up and up and thought 70RPM was fast! I recon I used to hover around the 50-60 rpm on me old MTB 20 years back.......
I've got some stuff to learn!

Phew!

Steve

 

[ManiaMuse]

This is how you do it...

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbwngNoHm0&feature=related

 

[fossyant]

90 yes and more !

 

[BSRU]

My normal cadence is 100 to 110, anything lower than 80 seems extremely slow.

 

[Melonfish]

This is how you do it...

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

i just wish that at about 36 seconds someone applied a brake to the roller, he'd have gone like a flippin rocket!

 

[Nebulous]

You'll get there.

I've been an occasional leisure cyclist over the years and tended only to use two gears - the highest one on the middle ring, and the highest one on the big ring.

Last year I took cycling up seriously and have done a lot of work on a gym bike. I read somewhere that 80 was a good cadence, but that you tended to slow down a bit as a you got older, so I settled on 76. I spent hours and hours grinding away at 76 rpm.

Move on about 8 months and I usually do my warm-up at 88, but as I put up the resistance I get faster. When I'm really pushing I'm generally above 100.

I've no idea if I'm as high as that on my road bike, but I very rarely use the top gear now.

One strange side effect is that I used to really stride out when I was walking, but I seem to take much smaller steps now although walking faster. My cycling seems to have adapted my legs to a different rhythym.

 

[GrasB]

i just wish that at about 36 seconds someone applied a brake to the roller, he'd have gone like a flippin rocket!

actually he wouldn't as there's so little momentum in the wheel probably travel forwards a meter or so then fall over

 

[cycleruk]

My normal cadence is 100 to 110, anything lower than 80 seems extremely slow.

holy molly that's fast! whenever i am out riding, i like to try and keep a high cadence but people keep saying "try going in a higher gear", yet some say "keep a high cadence" the question is who is right and why

?

 

[HLaB]

holy molly that's fast! whenever i am out riding, i like to try and keep a high cadence but people keep saying "try going in a higher gear", yet some say "keep a high cadence" the question is who is right and why

?

Do what you are comfortable with and that's right. If your cadence is too low however and you are pushing a high gear you are probably straining your knees. Whereas, pedalling for no reason, in to low a gear can be a waste of your energy and you need to find the right balance for you.

 

[cycleruk]

Do what you are comfortable with and that's right. If your cadence is too low however and you are pushing a high gear you are probably straining your knees. Whereas, pedalling for no reason, in to low a gear can be a waste of your energy and you need to find the right balance for you.

thanks for your reply

 

[fossyant]

holy molly that's fast! whenever i am out riding, i like to try and keep a high cadence but people keep saying "try going in a higher gear", yet some say "keep a high cadence" the question is who is right and why

?

It's what fits you.

I ride fixed to work, so it's hard work catching road bikes as I find I run out of power/revs at over 110 - i.e. that's my optimal on fixed. On my road bikes it's about 90. Having ridden fixed for two years, my optimal has got better on the road bike - i.e. higher revs.

80-100 is usually the best to aim for (excludes up a steep climb)

 

[BSRU]

holy molly that's fast! whenever i am out riding, i like to try and keep a high cadence but people keep saying "try going in a higher gear", yet some say "keep a high cadence" the question is who is right and why

?

As far as I can remember higher cadence improves the heart and lungs, when I wear my heart monitor I can see my normal cadence means I am cycling at 80 to 90% of my maximum heart rate, which is apparently very good.

As people have written, do what is comfortable for you.

 

[fossyant]

Cycling is all Heart and Lungs. The legs don't give out first - it's the CV system. Cycling is VERY CV Specific (OK and a bit of legs).

My 'much' younger brother is a very good 10k runner - less than 39 min. He's 14 years younger than me, but on the bike, he realises the sports are 'very specific' - I couldn't run his time though.

 

[fossyant]

As far as I can remember higher cadence improves the heart and lungs, when I wear my heart monitor I can see my normal cadence means I am cycling at 80 to 90% of my maximum heart rate, which is apparently very good.

As people have written, do what is comfortable for you.

When I TT'ed, I used to ride as everyone does, as fast as you could. I had a basic HR monitor, but I knew if I was easily hitting a high HR at a good pace, I'd do a good time. If struggling to get the HR up to 'my' level, then I'd not get there and get the time I wanted. Know your own body.

 

[teletext45]

i always had this impression that high speed= low gear but after getting a bike computer with cadence that has changed i can hit same kind of speeds on my middle chain ring at a much higher cadence.
My average is 90-100 feels really comfortable

andy