Mick F wrote:My average cadence, measured over years with a speed/cadence unit for my Garmin705 shows 65rpm.
I'm happy. I can ride all day, I can ride the length and breadth of the country, and my average cadence is the same. Anything much over 80rpm and I'm unhappy, so I will change up a gear.
I don't think 65 is excessively low. If you watch TdF the range seems enormous. I think 90 is probably the higher end.
Me neither Especially as, unless Mick has turned fixie, his garmin will be averaging in all his freewheeling (or does he pedal steadily in very high gears down all those steep hills he tells us about? )
Fixed-wheel or single-speed might help, but you need to choose gearing, hills, routes and who you ride with carefully. If you get any of these wrong, you'll spend too long grinding rather than spinning.
Fitting a Cadence sensor will be an OBSERVATION tool. It will tell you what you are doing, but not how your performance is effected. Thus, don't buy a cadence sensor. You have a selection of gear ratios on the bike, so different cadences can be achieved for the same roadspeed.
What you require is instrumentation which indicates the LOAD on your body while riding at various cadences AT THE SAME aerodynamic force.
This is an ECG accurate HRM.
DON'T listen to anyone who says you should be spinning. Your optimum cadence is personal and is dependent upon the amount of slow and fast twitch muscle fibres you have. Its also dependent on how your muscles rested since the last ride.
Secondly, trying to 'spin' a low gear at high cadence will become uncomfortable when the road surface gets rough ( city cobbles ). Then it is time to train for pulling a high gear with bum off saddle.
What I would suggest is if you have a commute route which you ride regular, ride it in ALL gears to train ALL your muscle. Then you will grow to spin AND grind, and be a versatile cyclist. Don't worry about trying to be one type or the other. Be adaptable to whatever road condition presents itself.
I do a lot of training on an Ergometer which has the capacity to let me do 30 rpm at 750 Watts output ( steep climbing ) to 140 rpm at 420 Watts output ( track sprint ). And everything between.
The theory about high cadence is that it is more efficient because it takes greater advantage of elasticity in tendons and muscle. This is something that only really becomes noticeable over longer distances. If you adjust to a high cadence riding (my legs seem to prefer 105 rpm) you may need to adjust the gearing on your bike. If you want to train at high cadence use a cycle computer with HR and cadence. Decide the cadence range and hear rate range you want to ride at. Step 1 adjust the gears to get you nto your heart rate zone. Step 2 adjust the gearing to get your cadence into the zone whilt maintaining your HR in its zone.
FWIW I also do a lot of riding at cadences below 40 rpm. usually at speeds below 12 mph because I am accompanying other riders. When I do this I adjust the gears to make it hard work (I call it power riding). The increase in muscle mass in my legs over last winter was significant BUT my comfortable cadence came down to around 85-90 rpm as I don't ride at a high cadence all the time.
I've always found my cadence is about 60rpm, back when I was riding in my early 20's and now when I have a cadence meter I can confirm it. I'm not really concerened, figure I need to work on basic fitness before I worry about things like cadence.
To the OP I always(though didn't used to because I listend to what so called experts said/wrote/prophesied)listen to my body,if the(your) body is happy at whatever cadence,that's its rhythm.The emphasis is "happy rhythm" to find that happiness you need to find what it's not happy at so experiment . I've no idea of you physical wellbeing or capability,but you will.With that in mind you mention an knee ache and a tight achilles which could indicate either or riding or cleat positioning and or an injury not fully healed.Get both checked out first,and don't push yourself too hard.
PS,I always find "numbers" people interesting and wonder what happens when the batteries on their latest gismo go flat
Last edited by reohn2 on 6 Aug 2012, 10:10am, edited 1 time in total.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
Back in the world of weight lifting, you could do slow heavy weights to put on bulk or lighter fast weights for stamina and fitness with less muscle bulk and strength.
Are a cyclist's legs different?
Sure, you may have a natural tendency towards muscular bulk or lean fitness but I would make efforts to balance that out by applying a bit of exercise to develop the other facet rather than pushing the body to the one extreme.
In my case chasing a higher cadence did improve my speed and fitness. Unfortunately I have let it slip and now I grind more (with a noticeable weight gain and loss of fitness). If I was to make the effort to raise my cadence again I would be much better off but it is easier not to. That doesnt make it right not to.
Low tech solutions, 1. Find the gear your comfortable with drop 1 or 2 depending onthe steps in your rear sprockets, ride this you'll forget what you are doing and slip back to where you were but if you spend about a week if you ride daily of everytime you think about it adjusting down, you will soon get improvements. 2. Bainish your self from the biggest chain ring (If you normally use it) 3. try dong set distances in a gear where you are starting to spin out (Where you feel you are pedalling too fast)
Fixed or single speed with a ratio of around 63" - say 46/19 on a 27" wheel.
You should quite quickly be able to achieve 18 - 20mph on a flat road in this gear and it will be low enough to climb any sensible hill without doing yourself damage.
The sensible alternative if you do live in a very hilly area is an SA hub geared with 63" as the middle gear - leaving a lower gear for climbing/severe headwinds and high gear for the fast downhill bits.
If the OP wants to increase his cadence, lowering the gearing and limiting the number of gears is the best way to do it. 30mph should be easily achieveable with an 80" top gear.
I'm speaking as a reformed masher of big gears. Riding at higher cadences is easier once you get used to doing it.
Especially as, unless Mick has turned fixie, his garmin will be averaging in all his freewheeling (or does he pedal steadily in very high gears down all those steep hills he tells us about? 
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