Is it worth trying to improve my Cadence?

markhewitt1978

I've got some winter training on the turbo coming up, so I could use that to improve matters. I mostly want to keep up in club rides and do longer distances on sportives. Although climbing is my main issue.

imposter2.0

bernithebiker wrote:

Surely even a recreational cyclist might want to improve / be able to go a bit faster?

If you can ride a bit further in a day or take a climb a bit quicker, what's not to like?

I'm always keen to pick up tips to improve my cycling, but it doesn't mean I'm going to be winning local Cat 1 races any time soon……..

Increasing your cadence does not necessarily correlate to riding faster though. If you want to ride a bit faster, or ride up a climb quicker, then work on your fitness. Higher cadence is a product of fitness, not a route to it.

iPete

Been riding 4 years and only started to think about cadence recently and its been a bit of a revelation!

I'm quite competitive and really feeling the benefit of moving my cadence up from the 80s into the 90s. More speed, less fatigue, can't turn your nose up at that. I've now geared down my fixie to spin more and that's paying off too.

Bobbinogs

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I've got some winter training on the turbo coming up, so I could use that to improve matters. I mostly want to keep up in club rides and do longer distances on sportives. Although climbing is my main issue.

Don't see how cadence will necessarily help with climbing. It may do, it may not. If you look at the best climbers then some spin fast (e.g., Froome) but others (e.g., Pantani) don't.

Personally, spinning faster has helped me in long distance rides. Anything over 100 miles and I just keep a decent cadence (~95) and select the gear to match. However, I always find that my legs go first in a long ride, particularly when above 150 miles so keeping a high cadence and lower gear helps me...other club mates have more problems keeping the engine going so are happy to pick a higher gear (then again, I tend to go faster overall )

stueys

bernithebiker wrote:

Nearly all beginner cyclists that I see pedal too slowly, and IMO it is right up there as one of the biggest and best things to train to improve.

Of course everybody is different, but as Power = Force x speed (cadence in this case), high cadence can make up for a lack of brute strength.

Being able to pedal fast (i.e. >100) for sustained periods is a great weapon for your arsenal.

Spot on. Personally i would advise anyone to get a cadence meter and try focussing on lifting cadence for a few weeks. It may not be a natural fit for you in which case, go back to normal, no harm done. I think for most beginners it will help.

Personally when I first got a coach he got me to lift my cadence and it's helped me, both in terms of endurance and pace. I tend to sit at around 100-105 on the flat now (at my endurance pace) and climb at 85-95.

markhewitt1978

Bobbinogs wrote:

Don't see how cadence will necessarily help with climbing. It may do, it may not. If you look at the best climbers then some spin fast (e.g., Froome) but others (e.g., Pantani) don't.

Oh; I know; I meant that, they are really two seperate issues. I can improve my cadence for doing the distance but the real thing I need to improve is my climbing.

ugo.santalucia

bernithebiker wrote:

Surely even a recreational cyclist might want to improve / be able to go a bit faster?

If you can ride a bit further in a day or take a climb a bit quicker, what's not to like?

There are many ways to look at a hobby... you can get all techy and look for constant improvement, you can just enjoy it for what it is or you can set yourself some major challenges.
The latter approach is the most rewarding, the middle one is the most sensible while the first is the one likely to cause the most frustration and it's also the most expensive... often leading to alienation from partners, family and non cycling friends who (rightly so) don't understand the all imrpove/upgrade saga per se.

You might want to get faster if you want to compete, you might want to go further if you want to do a big cycling trip... otherwise the effort is meaningless

Moonbiker

will give me something to take my mind off the rain/snow/cold

Yeah i've found a higher cadence is useful in thoose conditions to keep warm. Spinning alot faster really warms you up

MichaelW

Riding at a higher cadence may help you go further and may help prevent knee injuries. If you really are grinding heavily uphill like so many newbies, then you should experiment with cadence. You don't need to be a racer or athlete to benefit.
Muscle type and quantity affects your optimum cadence. Cadence can be used to balance the works between the leg muscles and the heart/lungs.
You need cranks of suitable size for your legs. If you are short and riding long cranks, you won't be able to achieve high cadence. Bigger riders generally have lower cadence, similar to their stride pattern.

To practice, isolate cadence from traveling speed. Practice rapid pedaling at moderate speed. Gear down and ramp up your cadence getting gradually faster over a few minutes until you are pedaling stupid-fast. Pedal in circles rather than an up/down piston action. You should still be traveling at moderate speed. As you do this every day, your legs will get the message and become accustomed to rapid pedaling.
You don't actually ride at stupid-fast cadence, it is just a training method. Some kind of foot retension system is useful at high cadence, either toe clips or clipless pedals.

chris_bass

MichaelW wrote:

Riding at a higher cadence may help you go further and may help prevent knee injuries. If you really are grinding heavily uphill like so many newbies, then you should experiment with cadence. You don't need to be a racer or athlete to benefit.
Muscle type and quantity affects your optimum cadence. Cadence can be used to balance the works between the leg muscles and the heart/lungs.
You need cranks of suitable size for your legs. If you are short and riding long cranks, you won't be able to achieve high cadence. Bigger riders generally have lower cadence, similar to their stride pattern.

To practice, isolate cadence from traveling speed. Practice rapid pedaling at moderate speed. Gear down and ramp up your cadence getting gradually faster over a few minutes until you are pedaling stupid-fast. Pedal in circles rather than an up/down piston action. You should still be traveling at moderate speed. As you do this every day, your legs will get the message and become accustomed to rapid pedaling.
You don't actually ride at stupid-fast cadence, it is just a training method. Some kind of foot retension system is useful at high cadence, either toe clips or clipless pedals.

thanks for this, all good info and advice.

I'm never going to be the fastest cyclist in the world, have no interest in racing, but would like to improve for my own benefit really. I'm an analyst by trade and as such I like numbers and reading into them (often too much!) which is kind of why I asked the question.

I also have a turbo trainer which i have managed to resist so far this year, been battling the elements, but as the conditions will probably worsen into January and February might give me something to concentrate on when i finally dust it off!

edscoble

Ditch all your mass produced road bike and get a hipster bike on the turbo trainer instead.

Brakeless

ugo.santalucia wrote:

bernithebiker wrote:

Surely even a recreational cyclist might want to improve / be able to go a bit faster?

If you can ride a bit further in a day or take a climb a bit quicker, what's not to like?

There are many ways to look at a hobby... you can get all techy and look for constant improvement, you can just enjoy it for what it is or you can set yourself some major challenges.
The latter approach is the most rewarding, the middle one is the most sensible while the first is the one likely to cause the most frustration and it's also the most expensive... often leading to alienation from partners, family and non cycling friends who (rightly so) don't understand the all imrpove/upgrade saga per se.

You might want to get faster if you want to compete, you might want to go further if you want to do a big cycling trip... otherwise the effort is meaningless

What a load of rubbish! If someone gets a sense of achievement or satisfaction from going a little bit quicker on thier Saturday morning 10 miler or commute into work then great, getting faster will normally mean getting fitter which is never a bad thing and it's pretty arrogant of you to tell anyone it's meaningless. People don't need to have major challenges to enjoy thier cycling and if people enjoy getting 'techy' as you call it then good luck to them, thier choice, maybe you've had some alienation from partners' family etc but that doesn't mean other cyclists have or will.

edscoble

Man after my own heart, I would be jobless if everyone just ride and stop worrying about the marginal gain.

3b4bikes

You might like to try this on the turbo
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/insigh ... -Warm-Up-0

I've been doing the routine once to warm up then increase the resistance stting and repeat. It focuses on cadence and the variations stop you getting too bored.