Are there alot of you out there that use one?

Alot of training articles I read indicate that your rpm should be 90-100 or so in order to improve speed. Question is, do many of you use one and, if so, which brand/model.

Thanks.

I use a Cateye Astrale 8. Cateye products are good , but I don't need one of their top of the line cyclocomputers.

Blonde Warrior

I use a Polar heart rate monitor - about $600US - that has all of the necessary functions on it.

They include heart rate, cadence, speed, mileage and full averages. This data can be load onto a Polar training program on your laptop etc.

The unit I have is a little more expensive as I wanted this unit. You may decide on a cheaper unit such as the POlar 200 cad. Check out their site.

Being able to record this data gives you a very accurate measure of improvement etc. I also find the Polar unit is very helpful in giving on the spot information.

Again, look up their site or search heart rate monitior as there are a number of cheaper units under $100US

Re cadence. There are a number of different views on cadence and they vary according to whom you ride with. I generally train at 90 - 95 as this is my 'sweet' comfortable rate. Watching my heart rate I can play around a little to make improvements.

Hope this is of some help. Just type in a 'search' to gather more information.

Additionally you will find information in these two book;

# The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Cyclists - Sally Edwards and Sally Reed Distributed in the USA by Publishers group West. Covers Cadence, faster, slower with pages on same OR

# Seven weeks to the Perfect Ride - the Lance Armstrong and Chris Camichael Performance Program. I purcased this book in Phoenix Az. and noticed it was everywhere in sports and departmental stores.

I added the cadence sensor to my Polar 720i (total around $400 US (ish)) so I could do cadence-based workouts.

I do a set of fast-pedal intervals where I try to spin all the way up to 120RPM without bouncing.

My average cadence is up to 100+ now, and I've found it useful to have a wider cadence range.

Yes, Yes and Yes...you need cadence. After you have been riding for awhile you will get a natural feel for what your best cadence is. But in the meantime get a computer that has cadence. Conventional wisdom suggests that you should start out with 90-100 as a target. But don't neglect workouts at different pedal speeds. For example you may want to do some "spinning", easy gears at 110, perhaps higher later on as your technique improves. Keep your eyes and ears open about any new information on the most efficient pedal speed. As you have read, 90-100 has been considered to be a good target, but new studies seem to suggest a cadence of around 80 may be more beneficial.

Thanks for the advice everybody. Looks like I'll be shopping for a new computer WITH a cadence meter.

Thanks again!