Are you an Ulrich or an Contador?

Dazza2280

Being quite new to cycling, (it was watchin last years tour that got me into it) i watched AC and figured, yeah, spin the pedals, low gear high cadence, thats the way to do it, and have been trying that with varying degrees of success. However, went out last night, came down a hill in the big gear (50 x 12) and decided to try and stay in it for as long as possible, even uphill, but i was amazed at the speed i was getting on the flat, with relatively slow cadence. As such, i think i'm now converted to spinning that big gear from now on :shock:

tarquin_foxglove

I'm a hybrid of them (esp' up hill) low gear & low cadence.

bobtbuilder

Ullrich. Much as I try the high cadence method, I just prefer to pound a big gear.

APIII

I'd say Im an Ullrich in that I love eating and grimace horribly everytime the road goes up.

iain_j

I'm a combination of both - i slowly churn a low gear

STEFANOS4784

Where's the vote for this guy 8)

redvision

definitely ullrich....over winter due to a lack of training and after remembering how nice junk food is, i managed to gain a stone!

Ben6899

redvision wrote:

definitely ullrich....over winter due to a lack of training and after remembering how nice junk food is, i managed to gain a stone!

As in 14lbs? Not an extra bollock?

Blimey, that's a lot of Christmas spread!

redvision

what can i say?...the christmas pudding was good!

plus, figure this way i will come back and finish 2nd in the tour!

Dazza2280

redvision wrote:

plus, figure this way i will come back and finish 2nd in the tour!

Thats what disappointed me about finding out last night, i'll never win the Tour

redvision

you sound depressed - may i recommend xmas pudding!

stokepa31

my pb on my training loop was set the day after a large deep pan meat feast! Big Pizza and big gears...its the future

redvision

i like the sound of that!

carl_p

Can't stand Contador, so definitely Ullrich.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/06012009/ ... lrich.html

My favourite is Fabian Cancellara though - his performance in last year's World Champs TT was simply awesome.

Valy

Dazza2280 wrote:

Being quite new to cycling, (it was watchin last years tour that got me into it) i watched AC and figured, yeah, spin the pedals, low gear high cadence, thats the way to do it, and have been trying that with varying degrees of success. However, went out last night, came down a hill in the big gear (50 x 12) and decided to try and stay in it for as long as possible, even uphill, but i was amazed at the speed i was getting on the flat, with relatively slow cadence. As such, i think i'm now converted to spinning that big gear from now on :shock:

Yes, yes - but what was the speeeeed?!!??! (on the flat)

fastercyclist

At first I started off with a cadence of 65 this then drifted towards 75-80 after a month with the road bike. That's my "natural" cadence, if I don't try and train myself to cycle higher I will end up in that area.

I've tried since January cycling in smaller gears faster. All I've found is that I get the same average speeds but I've lost all my explosiveness. Back to grinding now. It's more fun pretending to be Ullrich then Contador anyway

Dazza2280

Valy wrote:

Dazza2280 wrote:

Being quite new to cycling, (it was watchin last years tour that got me into it) i watched AC and figured, yeah, spin the pedals, low gear high cadence, thats the way to do it, and have been trying that with varying degrees of success. However, went out last night, came down a hill in the big gear (50 x 12) and decided to try and stay in it for as long as possible, even uphill, but i was amazed at the speed i was getting on the flat, with relatively slow cadence. As such, i think i'm now converted to spinning that big gear from now on :shock:

Yes, yes - but what was the speeeeed?!!??! (on the flat)

Was sitting at around 18 - 19mph, just turning the pedals over, no real effort!! :shock:

nolf

Thats pretty much the same as saying, would you rather devour mens souls, and crush their spirit with your mighty quads, or prance around like a fairy complaining at your team mates.

waa waa waa.

+1 Jan.

pottssteve

In my head I'm a dancer, in my legs I'm der Kaiser!!! Sit and grind.....

Valy

Dazza2280 wrote:

Valy wrote:

Dazza2280 wrote:

Being quite new to cycling, (it was watchin last years tour that got me into it) i watched AC and figured, yeah, spin the pedals, low gear high cadence, thats the way to do it, and have been trying that with varying degrees of success. However, went out last night, came down a hill in the big gear (50 x 12) and decided to try and stay in it for as long as possible, even uphill, but i was amazed at the speed i was getting on the flat, with relatively slow cadence. As such, i think i'm now converted to spinning that big gear from now on :shock:

Yes, yes - but what was the speeeeed?!!??! (on the flat)

Was sitting at around 18 - 19mph, just turning the pedals over, no real effort!! :shock:

WEll, could not that just be down to the momentum from the decent?

RonB

I'm forever trying to keep my cadence up around the 80-90 mark but I find this very difficult on steep hills. It's not about running out of gears, more that I have this dread of the front wheel coming off the ground. Things seem that unbalanced.

Maybe this would not happen in reality, it's just the thought of it just gets into my head when I least need the distraction. So it's out of the saddle for me and down to 60-ish when that happens.

Valy

What is the whole issue with having higher or lower cadence? Is it a certain training technique? I mean, it only makes sense to have a cadence whihc feel the most comfortable/lets you go the fastest.

redddraggon

Jan is a hero

Homer J

nolf wrote:

Thats pretty much the same as saying, would you rather devour mens souls, and crush their spirit with your mighty quads, or prance around like a fairy complaining at your team mates.

waa waa waa.

+1 Jan.