badKarma2

I am new to racing and want to acclimate myself to a 90+ rpm cadence from here on out...I have been doing this in my daily training workouts (on the trainer and on rides)...since this cadence is much higher than my previous 60-70 rpm mashing style pedaling, I find myself not being able to handle low gearing for any considerable length of time...however, in the front chain ring, I can handle the 53 gear but super high gearing in the rear (ie. 53/26, 53/23, 53/21) at 90+ rpm's no problem for a good lenght of time...when in the front 39 gear I can handle a little more of a lower range in the rear...my question is, should I just be concentrating on getting use to the new high cadence at high easy to spin gears with a lower overall speed outcome? Or should I gear down struggling to keep the RPMs up but with a higher overall speed product on the bike? Thanks

Doggus

'bout this time every year my coach has me do the following:

- 45-90minutes progression over a few weeks.
- low tempo range.
- alternating cadence from 60/110+ 5m/5m progressing to 2m/4m (over a few weeks). 5m at 60rpm is not a break, you're just grinding along. There are no breaks in this one.
- about once per week or once per two weeks depending on what else we're working on.

Not being a coach, but just from observations, it's more about steady time than power. Feels easy like you can do it all day in the beginning but high cadence really starts to wear on you nearing the end. Usually end up with a weird swelling of the lower calves/tendon. For the time involved it ends up being a low TSS but the next day usually feels like I got a beating for 4 hours. I always notice the veins in my legs start to get more noticeable around the time he has me do these so I'm assuming there is an increase in capillary action down there as a result.

But what do I know.

botto 

rollers.

badKarma2

ok, so basically I should just spin around in the high gears at 90rpm + for now and just keep testing lower gears as I get stronger? of course that coupled with intervals and LSD rides...

Smallguy

as with anything cycling related make changes slowly... don;t just one day go form 60 rpms to 100+ rpms... you will likely be training your body to use bad form

practice pedaling drills to get smoother

rollers rock like botto suggested

one legged pedaling drills teach you to pedal through the stroke 30 seconds left leg 30 seconds ight leg worknig your way up to 10 mins total.... don't do this outside though

30 seconds on 30 seconds off.... start at a high cadence for you and bring it up 5-10 best every 10 seconds after 30 seconds rest.... do this for 5- 10 minutes

slowly bring up your cadence and practice pedaling correctly and you will be able to pedal at 90 naturally eventually

I have a large collection of spinnervals... 35.0 and 8.0 are both of pedaling and recovery. Coach Troy (coach in spinervals) generally says most peoples cadence sweet spot is between 80 and 90 rpms

MDcatV

2nd thing is increasing your power, which is the objective of training.

1st thing is good for recovery or to keep your mind from going when you're doing trainer workouts.

i think folks worry about cadence needlessly. it's a red herring. wattage at a given cadence, now that's important.

Grumpy McTrumpy

I use music and breathe in rhythm to it. 180-220bpm is good. of course i can play it in my head for hours if needed.

+1 on rollers (i am on them now pedaling 90+ at L2)

rkwaki

Just had this conversation to day with a friend. When I ride my spin bike at home (for 1-2 hours) my cadence is 100+ (checked it three times yesterday and it was 110 right on the money). On the road it is slightly lower around 90-100. When I time trial it is at 95. It is all about your comfort level. Would I road ride at 75-80 as I see some guys do? Never - too hard on joints and stuff.

Just work your way up.