ayceejay
Guru
- Location
- Rural Quebec
We did to death the choices regarding cadence training on another thread but I would like to talk about the psychological benefits of pedaling easy if faster.
I remember well cycling to school on a wet and windy day with the wretched cape hollowed out and pressed into my chest and me wheezing to fight against the elements and tirning the pedals like it was a treadmill. It didn't put me off cycling and when I left school my mother lent me the money to buy a racer, I promptly joined the Chippenham Wheelers.
On my first ride I got knackered very quickly and an experienced club member stopped to help. He said that it looked like I was concentrated on the end of the road and was determined to get there with as few pedal strokes as possible. I thought the point of a racer with gears was to do just that.
Anyway to cut a long story short he taught me to concentrate on turning the pedals and as long as they were going round I was getting somewhere, just pedal easy. It took some getting used to but I still do it, when I am facing a head wind I just pedal easy, add a few choice swear words and I am good to go.
I remember well cycling to school on a wet and windy day with the wretched cape hollowed out and pressed into my chest and me wheezing to fight against the elements and tirning the pedals like it was a treadmill. It didn't put me off cycling and when I left school my mother lent me the money to buy a racer, I promptly joined the Chippenham Wheelers.
On my first ride I got knackered very quickly and an experienced club member stopped to help. He said that it looked like I was concentrated on the end of the road and was determined to get there with as few pedal strokes as possible. I thought the point of a racer with gears was to do just that.
Anyway to cut a long story short he taught me to concentrate on turning the pedals and as long as they were going round I was getting somewhere, just pedal easy. It took some getting used to but I still do it, when I am facing a head wind I just pedal easy, add a few choice swear words and I am good to go.
