Climbing :: High Cadence Out The Saddle

[Elliott W]

Hey
Been watching the tour and Vuelta this year and im amazed how contador and many others achieve such a high cadence out the saddle without "spinning out". I'm a newb to cycling and have been watching Durian rider (youtuber) and it seems like high cadences are the answer rather than grinding a big gear like i already do. However i have successfully climbed some pretty steep hills in some good times but i want to really compete (on strava) and post some good top 10 times on climbs like saltbox hill, gangers hill, polesteeple hill and more.

So my question is "How do you achieve a high cadence out the saddle without spinning out and are there anly drills i can do?. Being 15 i cant by equipment that might help"

Elliott Williams on Strava if your wondering

 

[Elliott W]

bump

 

[Booyaa]

Push harder on a big gear?

 

[themosquitoking]

I always thought the theory was you used a lower cadence in a higher gear when out of the saddle.

 

[Dusty Bin]

Durian Rider's secret is not high cadence - it's bananas. In more ways than one.

To answer the question though - high cadence is not really compatible with climbing out of the saddle, as mosquitoking has correctly pointed out..

Looking at your strava times, my guess is that you are simply not fit enough, so no amount of 'cadence drills' are going to help in reality. Just concentrate on riding more, further and faster - although not necessarily all at the same time.

 

[Elliott W]

Durian Rider's secret is not high cadence - it's bananas. In more ways than one.

To answer the question though - high cadence is not really compatible with climbing out of the saddle, as mosquitoking has correctly pointed out..

Looking at your strava times, my guess is that you are simply not fit enough, so no amount of 'cadence drills' are going to help in reality. Just concentrate on riding more, further and faster - although not necessarily all at the same time.

fair enough, my last strava times were just leisurely rides btw.

 

[GrasB]

What cadence you use is defined by many things. In terms of high cadence out of the saddle climbing. Yes while the actual cadence is high you have to put this in context of how much power the rider is laying down. For a given wattage I may have 'comfortable' cadence of 90 rpm on the flat in the saddle, that may drop to 80rpm when in the saddle on a 10% gradient & 75rpm when out of the saddle up a 10% gradient. Now say I double that wattage I may end up with 125rpm, 115rpm & 110rpm respectively.

As you get stronger & more powerful what actually happens is that the pressure your applying to pedals increases a bit but also your rpm increases a bit. This means you tend to find for a given power (or more indirectly speed) your cadence drops, but your preferred cadence actually rises & you're going a faster.

Oh, up a 1km 5.2% ave gradient I often average 120-125rpm out of the saddle all the way or 135-140rpm in the saddle... that hurts... a lot!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Try sprinting a short hill in a high gear, when you find a gear you can do that in, next time do it in a gear lower and push no matter how much it hurts and keep going.

 

[helston90]

Get used to spinning whilst in the saddle- it's a strange feeling to start with, on the brink of needing to change gear but you can make quite good progress if you keep the tempo up through the climb- it can just take a bit to get used to.