Recumbent - Cadence question

I recently started riding an EZ3 trike, having been a road bike enthusiast for years. I switched to the trike because about 18 months ago I was hit from behind while riding my road bike and recieved a spinal cord inury. My recovery has been amazing, but I'm not ready to ride a road bike yet, mostly due to balance issues. A PT suggested a recumbent trike and here I am.

On my road bike, my usual cadence was 80-90 rpms. it took me a bit of practice to get there, but once I did, it was consistent. On the trike, the best I've managed so far is a consistent 40 rpms. On the upright bike, I found that I had a better/smoother cadence when I focused on pulling back at the bottom of the stroke (like scraping mud off the bottom of your shoes.) Is there anything like this on the recumbent? I am aware that recumbent riding uses a different set of muscles -- I have plenty of power, but above 40, my cadence becomes choppy. Thanks in advance for your help.

I had this problem though I was only off 10 rpms. moving the seat forward took care of it.

It'll take a bit to develop the muscle groups you use for a "bent". Instead of the scraping motion, with clipless I find I can spin better when I'm "pulling" the pedal towards me with one foot and push'n with the other....basically the same technique.

As the previous poster said, check your pedal position. With the pedal at it's furthest distance from your leg, put your heel on it and your leg should be straight. When you then put your foot pad on the pedal you should have a slight bend in the leg.

Me thinks it's mostly a matter of getting miles on your trike legs and making minor adjustments as you go. I spin more on my bent than I did on the upright.

On my road bike, my usual cadence was 80-90 rpms. it took me a bit of practice to get there, but once I did, it was consistent. On the trike, the best I've managed so far is a consistent 40 rpms. On the upright bike, I found that I had a better/smoother cadence when I focused on pulling back at the bottom of the stroke (like scraping mud off the bottom of your shoes.) Is there anything like this on the recumbent? I am aware that recumbent riding uses a different set of muscles -- I have plenty of power, but above 40, my cadence becomes choppy. Thanks in advance for your help.

I use the same scrapping motion that you describe but it is pulling down instead of back. So, I believe that you are on the right track.

I had the same "choppy" motion when I started riding a trike (a Greenspeed) and I came from another recumbent. I had to really concentrate on a smooth cadence and I had to get in the "right" gear. If I was in a gear too low the choppy feeling was really bad. I wondered if I would ever get over it. Then, one day, I just noticed that the choppiness was gone. I think that I had to mentally reprogram myself and I suppose get used to the bottom bracket being up instead of down. I have read where other trikers went through this same adjustment period.

I only get a choppy or erratic stroke now when I am pedalling fairly fast downhill. The answer is to gear up for me.

Just be patient and experiment.

Regards,

Gary

I am finding that I have that difficulty and am afraid of the consequences as I work/train for my summer tour. On an upright trainer during the winter I had a good spin cadence in the 85 - 100 rpms. Then I migrated to a recumbent trainer; cadence dropped to comfortable cadence of 60 - 75. But then I get oin the road and my cadence has dropped to 45- 65 in order to keep a reasonable speed. I am carefully reviewing the impact of dropping to a lower gears to change the cadence.

So which is the important factor; as long as I am maintaining a good pace for a endurance run of 30 - 40 miles? Is consistent speed or that proposed cadence of 90 - 100 rpm?

BigAlMN wrote:

I am finding that I have that difficulty and am afraid of the consequences as I work/train for my summer tour. On an upright trainer during the winter I had a good spin cadence in the 85 - 100 rpms. Then I migrated to a recumbent trainer; cadence dropped to comfortable cadence of 60 - 75. But then I get oin the road and my cadence has dropped to 45- 65 in order to keep a reasonable speed. I am carefully reviewing the impact of dropping to a lower gears to change the cadence.

So which is the important factor; as long as I am maintaining a good pace for a endurance run of 30 - 40 miles? Is consistent speed or that proposed cadence of 90 - 100 rpm?

Al, the more important number is the cadence. A cadence of 60-75 might be OK if you're dogging it and soft-pedaling, but not for trying to maintain a speed. Aim for that 85-100 rpm that you had on the trainer, even if it means using lower gears and going slower.

So why is cadence of 85- 100 the important factor? To build a heart rate that will allow me to manage better cadence/endurance later in the 'bent muscle' development process? or is there some other value added factors?

So why is cadence of 85- 100 the important factor? To build a heart rate that will allow me to manage better cadence/endurance later in the 'bent muscle' development process? or is there some other value added factors?
By keeping the rpms up, you automatically limit the stress on your knees. Mashing big gears at low rpm can grind your knees to paste. With a bent, you can really develop a lot of power by pushing against the seatback, but you'll be setting youself up for an overuse injury. Whatever number was good for you on an upright will most likely be a good number for you on the bent - after all, you've still got the same knees as before. You've just got to learn the technique to do it in the different position.