Cadence, Speed and hill climbing.

[willhub]

Hi.

Well not many people who know me think of me as a spinner, but over the past months I seem to have gone through a transition. Started doing some threshold training on the turbo, and doing a few spin classes, and my cadence has shot up.

Normally, my cadence was around 85-89 average over a ride, it's now between 94 and 100, I did a training ride last week, 40 miles hard, averaged 97.

I don't know if that's good or not, there is a Strava segment just coming out of a village near me, and when I go for that, my cadence is around 107, and I'm thinking to myself, that seems too fast, so I adjust gear to find I'm doing between 94-97, and I'm finding my legs can't take it anymore, I start to slow down and the legs are just in agony.

The other problem is, going up hills, it's slowed me down on hills, I'm off up a 10-20% hill in 38-25 and thinking "I want to pedal faster", but can't as I've ran out of gears, and the such low cadence kills me.

I don't know what to do.

Should I stick at it? Maybe even try raise my cadence even higher
Should I try to lower my optimal cadence to around 95?
Should I practice and practice at hills so I am able to cope at higher speed/ pedalling faster

I just can't decide if me changing to spinning was a good move, all I know is I really don't feel comfortable at anything under 95 now, just feels like super grinding to me.

 

[black'n'yellow]

and I'm finding my legs can't take it anymore, I start to slow down and the legs are just in agony.

this has nothing to do with the right/wrong cadence - and everything to do with the fact that you do not have the required fitness to maintain whatever effort you are trying to maintain.

 

[endoman]

I've just started a new coached training plan. One of my aims is hill climbing season in October, never done it before and just want to have fun. One of my sessions is a cadence session, I did it today, reached 195 rpm, and held 160 for a minute. Hard work! I rode some hills yesterday at high cadence for me, 100 plus, set new Strava bests. My overall has gone up in 2 weeks from 85 to 95. Not tried it on anything above 10% yet though. I have another 6 weeks to go with the plan, will be interesting to see how it pans out.

I'd keep at it, look at the cadence of contador and Froome in the Vuelta, spinning at 100 plus on the climbs.

 

[black'n'yellow]

I'd keep at it, look at the cadence of contador and Froome in the Vuelta, spinning at 100 plus on the climbs.

because they have the fitness to maintain their power output in a particular gear - if it was all down to cadence, then we would all be able to ride up there with them - which we obviously can't. You are putting the cart some distance before the horse...

 

[amaferanga]

Cadence is a read herring. You want to find the cadence that allows you to produce the most power.

 

[jdtate101]

Spinning too fast can be counter productive, as sometimes it will not allow you sufficient time on each stroke to get the power down. Typical climbing cadence is 80-100rpm, but some bigger set riders find 60-70 better. It's very much a personal choice. For example I did a climb in california where going uphill on a 6% climb at 70rpm was very hard work, but just upping to 85 in a lower gear made it much easier to deal with.

Another factor is if you are spinning very fast transitioning to standing maybe much harder to do as you will naturally have to slow down, or jump up the gears to also slow your stroke. Nothing in the world saps energy as fast as spinning too quickly out of the saddle.

 

[montage]

Train at a variaty of cadences, and maybe look at a new cassette. Fixies and single speeds are perfect for this

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I'm no expert so found the commentary on how Contador lost 1st place on Saturday to Valverde and Rodriquez informative. http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=323840 Watch Contador from about 35 minutes in and then listen to the commentary at 42 mins in about the change from spinning + lactic acid to a higher grindier gear.

 

[black'n'yellow]

Watch Contador from about 35 minutes in and then listen to the commentary at 42 mins in about the change from spinning + lactic acid to a higher grindier gear.

Not sure if you've misunderstood that, or if I've misunderstood what you said. Contador changed down into a lower gear/higher cadence and then found he couldn't maintain his power or momentum. He was caught and passed by two fellas pushing a higher gear at a higher road speed...

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Not sure if you've misunderstood that, or if I've misunderstood what you said. Contador changed down into a lower gear/higher cadence and then found he couldn't maintain his power or momentum. He was caught and passed by two fellas pushing a higher gear at a higher road speed...

I got the impression AC was spinning but when he belatedly saw the threat, he changed up but couldn't get back up to speed. As I said, though, I'm absolutely no expert on hills!

 

[marzjennings]

I don't know what to do.

I just can't decide if me changing to spinning was a good move, all I know is I really don't feel comfortable at anything under 95 now, just feels like super grinding to me.

Spinning is good, but so is also begin able to pedal at a low cadence to muscle through some climbs and sprints.

I'd guess you may need to focus on your leg strength for a while.

 

[black'n'yellow]

I'd guess you may need to focus on your leg strength for a while.

fitness - not leg strength. It's important not to confuse the two.

 

[marzjennings]

fitness - not leg strength. It's important not to confuse the two.

No, leg strength, getting some muscle on the bones. I assumed if the OP can knock out a hard 40 miles and average 97rpm his 'fitness' level isn't too bad, but that if pushing a lower cadence is difficult then he needs to work on just strength. Agreed that any additional muscle mass needs to be conditioned to perform over the long haul, but sometimes it's just a leg strength thing,

 

[black'n'yellow]

I'm beginning to lose count of the number of time I've said this, but if the OP can climb stairs or get up out of a chair unaided, then he already has all the leg strength he needs to cycle - as do you or I. The trick is converting that existing strength into a repeated aerobic effort - which comes through training.

Muscles don't tire because they are not strong enough - they tire because they are not used to performing at whatever effort you are requiring them to perform at, or for the length of time you are requiring them to perform for.

 

[jim55]

so what woud u say is the best approach to climbing ,im more of a grinder and i really struggle to get spinning as high as some people have mentioned here ,when i spin (relative term )i really feel that im getting nowhere ,id say my fitness is pretty rubbish,but im pretty strong in the legs (maybe this is the prob )i squat a bit but seem to run out of puff on the bike .
iv tried to go out and increase my cadence and not use the longer gears ,that lasts for a mile or so when i realise that im getting nowhere about 10 mph and revert to getting out the saddle and horsing (relativly)a bigger gear ,
whats the best approach ,not only on hills but even on the flat ?get the cadence up?