Max Cadence as an indication of performance

mclarent
mclarent Posts: 784
edited December 2010 in Training, fitness and health
I've been doing some sprinting with very low resistance on the turbo as part of my training, was just wondering what good this would be in cycling?!

Taking last night as an example I did 1/5/10 second average cadences of 225/214/195. Those sound like reasonably high numbers to me, think I could go higher, but I have no idea on an absolute basis if the data is at all meaningful. So my question is, is maximum cadence any indication of performance in any cycling discipline? (Obv ignoring power to weight, tactics and technique!)
"And the Lord said unto Cain, 'where is Abel thy brother?' And he said, 'I know not: I dropped him on the climb up to the motorway bridge'."
- eccolafilosofiadelpedale

Comments

  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,715
    Nope. Not if you have gears on your bike, anyway.
  • Alex_Simmons/RST
    Alex_Simmons/RST Posts: 4,161
    Good for roller races.

    High end track sprinters typically can spin very high cadences unloaded, but it's what power you can produce over various durations that matters.

    High cadence & low load = low power

    This is the other end of the strength discussion(s).

    If you can apply reasonably high forces at ~170rpm, then that's something of interest. Typically peak power is produced in the 125-135rpm range.

    >200rpm for brief bursts with no load is not unusual at all for trained cyclists.

    it's good for a bit of fun, and a bit of a neural wake me up during warm ups.
    RST Sport : Coaching - Training Plans - Powermeters -- My blog -- AeroCoach Australia
  • mclarent
    mclarent Posts: 784
    Cheers Alex, thought that would be the case. As you said, was low power output, 370/350 watts average on the 5/10 second maximums. Will try testing the power @ >170rpm, but don't expect anything special ;)
    "And the Lord said unto Cain, 'where is Abel thy brother?' And he said, 'I know not: I dropped him on the climb up to the motorway bridge'."
    - eccolafilosofiadelpedale
  • mclarent
    mclarent Posts: 784
    HNY btw! :)
    "And the Lord said unto Cain, 'where is Abel thy brother?' And he said, 'I know not: I dropped him on the climb up to the motorway bridge'."
    - eccolafilosofiadelpedale

Categories