so..got my first roady..raring to go! cadence advice please

waynokio

I have always ridden mountain bikes, and my last one didn't see any mud for the last year of its life!!
so two weeks ago i took the plunge and converted to road and bought a 2010 specialized tarmac expert (saxo bank colours). I should have done this years ago. my first 2 outings have felt great and i'm hooked looking forward to the summer and ready to improve. i'm lucky enough to have a bunch of mates from the squash club with whom i can ride/pre season train with on sunday mornings and maybe later on enter some summer charity rides/RACES!!! :?

my question- is there an ideal average cadence figure i should be aiming for and why?

i'm 28, pretty fit...ish (3 times a week squash fanatic)
new bike figures so far-
1st outing- 20 miles, av speed-16.9 mph (fairly flat)
2nd outing- 15miles, av speed- 17.9 mph (fairly hilly)
is this any good?

the lads i'll ride with tend to do 25-35 miles this time of year "to ease into it!!" at an av15-16 mph

Peddle Up!

waynokio wrote:

the lads i'll ride with tend to do 25-35 miles this time of year "to ease into it!!" at an av15-16 mph

Ho ho! That's my excuse too!

danowat

waynokio wrote:

I

my question- is there an ideal average cadence figure i should be aiming for and why?

Nope, some people like to spin fast, others don't, its quite an individual thing, suck it and see

Bozman

Mid eighties generally but that changes on hills.
Find your own comfort zone and get a good rhythm going., ding dong!

waynokio

Peddle Up! wrote:

waynokio wrote:

the lads i'll ride with tend to do 25-35 miles this time of year "to ease into it!!" at an av15-16 mph

Ho ho! That's my excuse too!

what your excuse that 25-35 miles is just easing into it 'at this time of year'?

neeb

My advice is don't think about actual cadence numbers, pedal at the speed that feels most natural and fastest, but always aim to push the cadence a little higher. I have always resisted thinking about cadence but it has gradually become a little faster over several years. If you try to pedal at a speed that is faster than what feels natural you will just go slower however.

Monty Dog

I wouldn't worry about your pedalling speed, but more about keeping it smooth and you'll improve your cadence in time. For beginners, their perception of 'spinning-out' is very different to an experienced cyclist.

ShutUpLegs

waynokio wrote:

Peddle Up! wrote:

waynokio wrote:

the lads i'll ride with tend to do 25-35 miles this time of year "to ease into it!!" at an av15-16 mph

Ho ho! That's my excuse too!

what your excuse that 25-35 miles is just easing into it 'at this time of year'?

Because its bullshit

Garz

The question is a bit too broad, in the generic sense I answered no. However if you refer to it in a training sense and improving your experience you could argue yes.

rake

aim somewhere in the 80's rpm to start. it more important to get a constand pedal you can maintain rather than pedal and glide. your legs will tell you after a while. its nice to see the cadence but its just relays what your legs are doing rather than the gauge dectating the speed.

jejv

If cadence wasn't important, we'd all be on singlespeed.

Roadies wouldn't have cassettes with 6% steps, and tourists wouldn't complain about the 1/6 jumps on the 11-32 cassettes that touring bikes typically come with.

You (or I) would be better off with a Ribble winter bike with Tiagra, with a power meter and a coach, than on a Grand Fondo with Super Record and neither of those.

What your legs say can be deceptive. My legs say I'm going faster at 90 rpm than at 100rpm, but my speedo says different. My speedo says I make 15-20% more (sustained) power at 100rpm, but it feels like less effort - it's less tiring, even making more power. I should say that I ain't quick, but the point stands.

Is there a coach or a sports scientist in the house ?

I don't know the best cadence for you, but it's something worth experimenting with from time to time - up to 120rpm, at least, probably with particular interest in 90-100rpm. Maybe do some short TTs on a quiet road somewhere.

Google the literature: "optimal cadence" "freely chosen cadence" - stuff like that.

careful

If cadence wasn't important, we'd all be on singlespeed.

The op was "is knowing your cadence important". I have answered "no" to important, but it can be useful when training, especially turbo training. It is more important to be able to spin at high cadence to improve pedalling efficiency, and to mash at a low one to build up leg power. You can do this without reference to any numbers

Lillywhite

Many will tell you that optimum cadence is in the range 85-95 rpm. However, knowing the exact cadence isn't important to me since I try to spin and try to avoid grinding away on a gear that's too big for me.

Garz

Lillywhite wrote:

Many will tell you that optimum cadence is in the range 85-95 rpm. However, knowing the exact cadence isn't important to me since I try to spin and try to avoid grinding away on a gear that's too big for me.

That sounds about right. For me when I get near to 110 it starts to feel uncomfortable and seems like energy is getting wasted. Hovering near to 100 feels good but goes out of the window on inclines, don't know how people manage to keep their cadence in this region.

waynokio

spot on, thanks for the advise/debate food for thought

rake

it probably depends on your build somewhat. lighter people will spin faster with their muscles requiring less oxygen. more muscular will probably spin a little slower as stronger legs dont fatigue quite as quickly being less stressed.

racingcondor

Useful - Yes
Important - Not so much

Ride for a few months just for the enjoyment and when you find yourself regularly riding 60 miles plus and thinking about racing then get a computer with cadence.

If you want to work on your cadence you can do it without a computer easily enough, just stay in the small chain ring and ride at 20+ mph. A 39 / 17 gear at 20 mph is a cadence of 110.

http://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm