Increasing Cadence

[marzjennings]

I'm going to try 180 rpm on my slicked up MTB tonight.

36" gear at 19.5 mph. Api Sapis, I expect.

I usually ride that speed on 78" at 83 rpm.

What would happen to my HR if I tried 180 rpm on the 78" gear?

42 mph.....

You're guess is as good as mine, because HR is not related to any other metric.

What you are getting confused with is 'HR and exertion follow a trend'.

HR increases as exertion increases. If you try to put numbers and equations on it, you will have to recalculate the curve fit coefficients after you have improved your fitness just a little.
Maybe on a weekly basis.

Then YOU will have a frig factor for YOU, for that moment in time. Your frig factor will change after your next training session.

I'm not attempting to mathematically connect HR and cadence, but I do think the correlation between increasing cadence and increasing HR is indicative of a cause.

To your example above I would 'guess' that for a given speed of 19.5mph your HR will be higher pedaling at 180rpm at 36" than at 83rpm at 78". You really don't think this is a logical relationship?

And to your question; it'll be higher, with a 90% probabilty.

 

[zacklaws]

The best way I have found of finding your best cadence is to ride hard on long rides, too high a gear and you will feel it in the knees and legs and start to tire, keep dropping down a gear and try to keep the speed up by pedalling faster and eventually I find a gear which is almost effortless and just a little slower than a high gear, but once I have found it I can just keep going. Towards the end of long fast rides when your tiring, it becomes easier to find a natural and fast cadence you are comfortable with.

My statistics for my cadence distribution this past 28 days according to WKO is:-

0 - 25rpm 18.7%
25 - 50rpm 6.4%
50 - 75rpm 44.9%
75 - 100rpm 28.8%
100 - 125rpm 1.2%
125 - 150rpm 0.0% (11secs)

For the whole year 18% of my cadence has been between 0 - 5rpm and only 7% between 5 - 50rpm which shows how much freewheeling you do. It is only when I get to 50+ there is a substantial increase in the amount of time above that cadence.

 

[jimboalee]

The best way I have found of finding your best cadence is to ride hard on long rides, too high a gear and you will feel it in the knees and legs and start to tire, keep dropping down a gear and try to keep the speed up by pedalling faster and eventually I find a gear which is almost effortless and just a little slower than a high gear, but once I have found it I can just keep going. Towards the end of long fast rides when your tiring, it becomes easier to find a natural and fast cadence you are comfortable with.

My statistics for my cadence distribution this past 28 days according to WKO is:-

0 - 25rpm 18.7%
25 - 50rpm 6.4%
50 - 75rpm 44.9%
75 - 100rpm 28.8%
100 - 125rpm 1.2%
125 - 150rpm 0.0% (11secs)

For the whole year 18% of my cadence has been between 0 - 5rpm and only 7% between 5 - 50rpm which shows how much freewheeling you do. It is only when I get to 50+ there is a substantial increase in the amount of time above that cadence.

Those are interesting stats.

Can you increase the number of breakpoints in the 50 - 100 rpm range?
That would make a better looking histogram.

What does the 'bell shaped curve' ( Normal distribution curve ) look like.
Where is the Mean? Where is the Median and where is the Mode?

How many rpm is 3 Standard Deviations?

What is the Mean if you ignore all rpms below 50?


I don't have capability to capture cadence data, but if I did.......

 

[crossy]

I went out for a ride tonight 28 miles on an old Dawes Gallaxy. I've got a computer fitted to that but I've put a strip of tape on it so I can't see the speed just the distance theres no cadence on it. I rode as I felt like and it was a lot easier and enjoyable. So I think I've learnt that I'm only going to use the cadence and HR as a fitness aid to make longer distance riding easier. The other bike with the cadence computer is a Rohloff geared bike.

 

[zacklaws]

Yes I can break it down into 1rpm segments, as for the rest of what you ask for then, roughly I am lost in WKO, perhaps if I could get the info into MS excel then I could do it.

I have added 3 Pics, one cadence 0 - 150rpm, 30 - 150rpm as percentages and 30 -150 rpm amount of time at that cadence.

After a ride, one figure that I always discount is my average cadence, as can be seen, a large proportion of a ride can be freewheeling, diluting the true average, perhaps if I set the Edge to cutoff at 50rpm, then it may be a more accurate figure.

 

[jimboalee]

Looks like 74 rpm is your favourite pedaling speed.

What's puzzling tho' is considering 74 is your fave, there are data points at 110 + ??

I usually stop pedaling when it reaches 95.

What's also interesting is that the distribution curve is almost symetrical.
You pedal at a low cadence as much as you pedal fast.
This is the sign of a versatile rider.

 

[zacklaws]

What's also interesting is that the distribution curve is almost symetrical.
You pedal at a low cadence as much as you pedal fast.
This is the sign of a versatile rider.

Perhaps its something to do with riding a lot amongst the hills, pedal slow up one side and pedal fast down the other, maybe it all balances out. Perhaps doing a few rides on the flat may show a different picture.

As for the cadence around 110+, timewise its only for a few seconds, I should be able to locate those positions on the chart and look it up on google earth to see exactly what I was doing (probably trying to outrun a dog ) when I have the time.

One thing I have not done is in sportracks and I mean too is look for the steepest hills etc check my speed and cadence for certain points and I should be able to work it back to see what gear I could have been in inches. Possibly a combination of a couple

Another thing I have noticed is, I have nothing recorded between 0 and 10rpm? Perhaps its unnatural to pedal that slow and makes it difficult to balance?

 

[GrasB]

I can't break it down as well as zacklaws as I only get 15 bands but here is my rpm distribution by bike. I wouldn't expect mine to be symmetrical as I tend to be riding in excess of 100rpm. Though interestingly I seem to freewheel far less than zacklaws, maybe it's because I do ride fixed a fair amount.

The reason I split by bike is that the Hybrid is mainly used for solo rides where I ride to my own whims, the road bike is used more for group rides & also I do more 'climbing' despite it's higher gearing.