Heart Rate Monitor or Cadence Sensor?

[Heltor Chasca]

I have had a few months now using my Wahoo Elemnt. I’m smitten at it's ability and reliability.

It pairs very well with a number of add ons (if you believe the marketing hype) In my quest to improve my physical and mental prowess for Audax, I’m after some advice please: What would be more beneficial to me for monitoring my progress in order to hone my techniques?

A heart rate monitor?

or

A cadence sensor?

Both are a similar price with Wahoo. Or should I ignore both as gimmicks and keep it simple stupid.

 

[Andrew_P]

Hard one really I like both, HR has more longevity, but Cadence gave me instant feedback that I was grinding too often but once re-trained in about two weeks I found I was always averaging the desired amount. Now whether I would fall back to grinding (for me) without it is another matter

 

[numbnuts]

On my turbo trainer I use both, HR as an indicator to my health (passed heart problems), cadence I try to keep this around 85.

 

[Andrew_P]

I have had a few months now using my Wahoo Elemnt. I’m smitten at it's ability and reliability.

It pairs very well with a number of add ons (if you believe the marketing hype) In my quest to improve my physical and mental prowess for Audax, I’m after some advice please: What would be more beneficial to me for monitoring my progress in order to hone my techniques?

A heart rate monitor?

or

A cadence sensor?

Both are a similar price with Wahoo. Or should I ignore both as gimmicks and keep it simple stupid.

I would see if there are any cheap second hand Speed Cadence ones and buy a new HR, if cash is the issue for the treat, if not the issue get both :-)

 

[burntoutbanger]

HR every time. Cadence is very simple to work out if (as I assume) your Wahoo Element can display ride time in seconds.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

I really like that now you can clip a cadence sensor to your shoe.

In relation to Audax or long distance rides, what does one do with cadence and heart rate data? I know it might seem like an obvious question, but couldn’t you just ‘get a feel’ for your natural or preferred performance?

 

[HLaB]

Id get a HRM its more useful for training IMO. You could always convert an old computer to a cadence monitor

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrL476g662I

 

[Nebulous]

I really like that now you can clip a cadence sensor to your shoe.

In relation to Audax or long distance rides, what does one do with cadence and heart rate data? I know it might seem like an obvious question, but couldn’t you just ‘get a feel’ for your natural or preferred performance?

I get the impression most people doing an audax ride by feel. Partly because most equipment hasn't been able to last long enough or has been at risk of giving up. Most recommended is a Garmin etrex to navigate, rather than the fancier bike computers.

 

[13 rider]

I have a wahoo and use both heart rate and cadence sensor bought as a bundle the 1 I use most is the heart rate . I have the LEDs set to heart rate range and can see in an instance what zone I'm in . If your trying to gauge effort I would think a HRM would be better . Quite frankly after the first few rides playing with the boot I rarely look at cadence while riding

 

[PaulSB]

I used to monitor my cadence constantly but don’t bother these days. I like to ride by feel, sometimes at a high cadence, at other times quite low.

I had a heart attack two years ago and began monitoring HR. I now find this very interesting to review after each ride to understand how hard I’ve been working. Saying that I’m only anxious to avoid long periods of exceeding my maximum HR and don’t ride according to my HR.

To be frank I wonder how many cyclists at my level sufficiently understand all the data we can collect for it to make any difference. For me short, hard and intense rides help improve my performance and I don’t think riding according to a set of statistics and zones would have the same impact.