Cadence - how fast?

[Misty]

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to this recumbent lark and am at the "how do I make it go faster / how do I make it go uphill" stage.

My background is in carbon racing bikes & I know I've dropped into the habit of riding my upright at a higher gear, grinding rather than spinning - on the upright, I always make it to the top (well OK, I make it on anything up to a 25% & frankly that's good enough!), however slow, but on the recumbent I'm struggling on much gentler slopes and horror of horrors, have had to WALK up some hills that would previously have been a breeze
(My last attempt at a 14% involved steering into the verge at very slow speed and toppling over into a slightly uncomfortable nettle patch - thankfully without any witnesses!!!)

I suspect that I'm replicating the poor upright "grind" habit and need to decrease gear / increase spin on the reumbent to overcome the steering / stability issues I've been experiencing lately, but I'd appreciate some guidance on what a decent cadence range would be on the recumbent.
I have a garmin edge with a cadence meter which I think will fit on the recumbent & with some help from you guys, hopefully I'll be able to monitor where I'm going wrong.... the beeping of a slow cadence alarm would appear to be infinitely less embarassing than picking myself up off the tarmac!

I need to get this cracked because I live in the middle of the "Howardian hills" in Yorkshire ... if you can't climb round here, you don't get far!

Many thanks for your thoughts! Suzi

 

[PaulM]

Suzi,

The solution to climbing is low gears and then spinning fast enough to maintain 4 or 5 mph. You don't say what you ride but I am assuming it is a recumbent bike of some kind. It gets difficult to balance a recumbent bike much below 5mph, so the solution is to keep your speed up with the assistance of appropriate gearing. Currently my bottom gear is around 26" but I could probably do with 22". However it's then difficult to spin fast enough to maintain the 5mph needed to balance.

Paul

 

[byegad]

If I'm just ticking over, say on the flat with a tail wind I'll change up to get around 60/minute.

For into the wind I'm doing high 70s and to climb low 80s.

The temptation is to use a high gear and low cadence for power. It works but your knees won't thank you in the long run. When I changed to recumbents my cadence went from 72 to 84 over the first 500 to 1000 miles. Remember on a 'bent you can press far more than your weight as the seat back allows you to effectively 'bench press' on every stroke.

To do this I consciously practised at every opportunity. Whenever I was on a flat road I'd change down one gear and work at keeping the speed the same. At the foot of every hill I dropped another gear and upped my cadence again. As I climbed I worked at keeping my cadence up even at the expense of dropping more gears. This doesn't always work, for a start you run out of gears pretty soon but over time it upped my 'natural' cadence.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I'm on a recumbent trike, so I dont have your low speed balance problems.
My bottom 4 gears are around 12.5"-15"-17"-20".
This gives me a speed uphill of around 3-4-5-6 mph for each gear.
Are your bottom gears low enough to let you spin uphill.

I found that if I start a ride by taking it easy and spinning the legs in a low-ish gear, then I tend to spin the whole ride.
If I start by trying to go fast and grinding in a high-ish gear, then I'll tend to grind the whole ride.

Don't leave the change down a gear untill to late.
I'm getting to be a good judge of just what gear will get me up what hill, so I now tend to change down a bit earlier ( before the grind stage) so I can keep spinning.
Also as I've got fitter, I can spin up hills in a slightly higher gear.

Luck ...........

 

[BenM]

Hi

Having commuted a princely 840(ish) miles on my commute since march I have noticed that my speed uphill is getting close to that which I remember when riding the same hill on the DF.

Low speed balance is something you learn or get used to the nettle stings. I make it a matter of principle not to fall in the same patch of nettles twice having said that I haven't fallen off because of low speed recently - but I have wobbled seriously because of failing to clip out then panicking and consequently falling off.

Cadences - I agree with the poster above who mentions that if I start off spinning I tend to spin for the whole trip. I do try to maintain speed in lower gears and yes you do get used to the higher cadence..

The other thing to remember is that you need a while to develop your recumbent legs - mine are still getting there but I can really notice a difference when riding now compared to riding back in March when I got the 'bent.

B.

 

[Riding in Circles]

It takes 500-1000 miles to get your recumbent legs and to smooth out your cadence, hills mean spinning so the answer is to get the miles in, you are using your quads and calves equally on a bent where as on an upwrong you predominantly use your calves, you cannot switch to a bent and suddenly expect everything to be the same, miles are king.

 

[ACW]

on a recent trip to Arran i found i could climb at 4 mph (12% gradient )all i had to do was gear down till the cadence was comfortable, could have gone faster, but the trick is to get used to riding slow so if you have to climb some really steep hills you can slow down to take the load off. try leaning forward when riding slow, just enough to get your shoulders off the seat, it will help with the balance.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I've just done the Friday Night Ride to the Smoke.
8 upwrongs, 4 recumbents, including my Trice Q, and a Brompton.
13 riders, 27 wheels ......
Fantastic ride, it was probably the fastest ride that I've been on as I had a rolling average of around 12.5 mph.

Its the first time I riden with a bunch of other recumbent.
One thing I did notice, that ticking along in the 15-20 mph range, the recumbent riders where all keeping a slightly higher cadence than the upwrongs.
It was not much higher, probably only an extra 5-10 rpm, but it was there.

Luck ...........

 

[Misty]

Thanks for the responses!

Looking at the position of my pedals and spokes there's no way my cadence meter could ever be adapted to the Mistral, so I'll have to guess at my spin ....... when I'm cycling the upright up a particualrly challenging hill I have a mental "metronome" keeping the cadence up .... looks like I'll have to learn to count quicker on the recumbent!



Doesn't help that since getting the bike I've either been working silly hours, juggling teenagers or dodging the rain .... getting 'bent legs may take some time!!!!

 

[byegad]

If your computer has a trip time readout counting your revs for 12 seconds and multiplying by 5 or any other simple calculation.

 

[ACW]

Checked my cadence last night and the highest i got was 85 on a hill, normal speed on a flat road, 65 to 75.
should i be peddling faster as i dont think i pedal any slower on my mountain bike or the upwrong racer.
dont think i will ever get used to the high cadance speed

 

[Tigerbiten]

I've got 3 different cadence speeds depending on what speed I'm going on the trike.

My ultra slow sub 40 rpm hill climbing one. I this cadence there is a lot of presure on both my feet and my sholders as I basicaly winch my way up steep hill. Normally used on hills of over 12% and at sub 3 mph.
My slow 60 rpm hill climbing speed. It the fastest I can spin the legs without overheating when climbing in the 3-8 mph range. the weight on my feet and sholders is light. This was my normal cadence over a year ago when I first started to ride the trike.
Over 8-10 mph I get enough air flowing over the fairing to keep me cooler, so I can use my now normal 90 rpm cadence.
I spinout at around 110 rpm, which is ~32 mph in a 100" gear.

There are two way of training yourself to have a higher cadence, that I have found.
The first is if your used to going along a road at a your normal speed in a set gear, try to get used to going along it at your normal speed but in one gear lower.
The other is to try and get used to a light pressure between your foot and the pedal. Once the pressure starts to increase as you put more power through the pedals as your speed drops, change down a gear to keep the light feel.
You will find that you will be changing gear more often with this approch but its a lot better on your knees.
Because my knees are just about knackered, I had to use a combination of both to train myself to have a naturally higher cadence on the trike.
That way I can go further with any pain from the knees.

Luck ...........

 

[ACW]

Can anyone recomend a speedometer with a candance sensor on it? i have been looking at getting a new one anyway so it seems like a good idea to get one.
Thanks

 

[ACW]

sorry cadence sensor not candance. DOH

 

[3tyretrackterry]

i was given a tip when i was looking into buying a trike about becoming a better spinner/increasing cadence. It was never stand up on the pedals of my DF commuter. i practisd this for over a year before i got my trike and would like to think i ride better for it