Different Cadence for different gears

[ndwgolf]

I have noticed that when riding my mountain bike on the road my cadence on the flats is ~80 but as soon as I have to drop a few gears my cadence drops around to ~60 and I am comfortable with that if I drop another gear to get the cadence up to 80 again I feel like my legs are going to fast even though when on the flats at 80 cadence it feels okay, is that normal or should I seek professional help ......strange

Neil

[pwa]

I'm sure my cadence varies as yours does. There are people who will tell you it should be this or that, but I go with what feels right at the time. And being a bit adaptable with your cadence means you are less likely to miss having, say, a 20t sprocket or whatever. Your legs just change cadence slightly to make up for any gaps in the gears.

The only cadence I don't get on with is very low when climbing. It does my knees in.

[ndwgolf]

The only cadence I don't get on with is very low when climbing. It does my knees in.

I'm the same I feel my legs are going a hundred miles an hour and the bike is nearly falling over

Neil

[Cugel]

I have noticed that when riding my mountain bike on the road my cadence on the flats is ~80 but as soon as I have to drop a few gears my cadence drops around to ~60 and I am comfortable with that if I drop another gear to get the cadence up to 80 again I feel like my legs are going to fast even though when on the flats at 80 cadence it feels okay, is that normal or should I seek professional help ......strange

Neil

Cadence can be quite complicated. The rate you feel best pedalling at can vary with different factors: slope, road-surface, how tired you are, the feel of the bike itself.

It's also easy to form cadence-habits, which feel "right" but can actually be improved on. Like other physical actions, you can become more efficient at doing them with practice. What initially feels wrong can come to feel right when you get better at doing it.

Here's an example. At one time racing lads would train through winter on a fixed wheel bike - one gear, can't stop pedalling unless the bike stops. This achieved a number of improvements to their pedalling that were valuable on their normal geared bike come racing season.

* When going down or with a following wind, you go faster so a fixed wheel bike required you to pedal faster. This forces you to learn how to spin the pedals at high revs whilst still imparting push but also pedalling smoothly. A forceful and un-bouncy 120rpm can eventually be achieved. This was useful when racing, for both sprints and very fast sections where you might otherwise find your top gear wasn't high enough.

* When going up hill, you pedal slower. A fixed wheel bike thus forced you to learn how to keep pushing at low revs, which tends to strengthen your quadriceps immensely, as well as all the supporting tendons and ligaments. If you look at cyclists in pictures of the 50s and 60s, you will notice a lot of immense quads. They got them doing a series of one-legged squats on a fixed wheel bike.

* On a fixed wheel bike, you can't stop pedalling if you're in motion. This lends a certain resilience to your oxygen-processing systems as they must always be doing some degree of work. You still get rest when spinning but not pressing hard on the pedals. But it's "active rest". This seems to improve the resilience of your aerobic ability.

Of course there are dangers to fixed wheel riding - not least the opportunity to strain your joints and ligaments when heaving up a hill at 40rpm. But if learnt and practiced gradually, it provides you withy a much wider range of ability to impart pedal power across a wide range of cadence. You then discover that you can spin up hill and go just as fast if not faster than when you perform a slightly more comfortable slow cadence; and you save your knees on long ascents. You also find that you can power over bumpy roads whilst retaining your momentum and not changing gear, even though the rev rate varies quite a lot, momentarily. You have become a rouleur.

Cugel

[meic]

Not the gear so much as the load.
Though the load will alter your choice of gear.

My cadence will be lower when going uphill or into the wind than when going downhill or with a tailwind, even at the times that I still have another gear available.

When I used a cadence meter and did a ride where I strictly changed down at 80 and up at 100, I did my fastest ever time and arrived totally knackered and not having touched my bottle.

[Vorpal]

My cadence tends to slow on hills. You can train to maintain a more consistent cadence, if you want to. If it doesn't bother you, no need to change.