Since I got my bike this summer I've been keeping my cadence mostly in the 90's. I have good leg strength, pretty good thigh muscle, so in past days I have been experimenting with spending parts of the ride in a higher gear with lower cadence, mid-high 80's.

Would I be correct in assuming that this approach will further develop leg strength?

Would I also be correct to assume that it'd be best NOT to do this on a century ride in order not to exhaust my legs too early?

I got a heart rate monitor two weeks ago, so I've been trying to feel out where my sweet spot is, ie what cadence and heart rate seems to produce the highest, sustainable speed.

Does any of this seem valid? I completed my first century last week, with another planned next week, and I want to try to apply some of the pacing lessons I learned in the first one to improve my time.

joe

You can build leg strength and good low-end power with low cadence intervals (tempo):

Tempo workouts - high gear, low cadence (around 70-75 rpm)...keep HR a tad higher than what it would be during a normal training ride. start with 10 minute intervals, then bump it up every other week (20 min...40 min...). works best on a long stretch of road with minimal interruption.

Good luck!

Paul

Originally posted by fngrpepr
Would I be correct in assuming that this approach will further develop leg strength?

I bought a single-speed mountain bike this year. I thought I had some decent power before, but this bike has forced me into a lower cadence, and has noticeably increased my power level.

I would assume so, but remeber that strength does not equal endurance (see har far Arnold S can bike compared to Lance Armstrong ;) )

Originally posted by fngrpepr
Does any of this seem valid?
I think so. As you've probably already noticed, you can drive your heart rate up with muscle tension work (pushing a big gear), or higher cadence. When muscles get tired, they take hours/days to recover. Spinning taxes the cardiovascular system, which mostly recovers in minutes (until theres no more glycogen to fuel the efforts).

To pace yourself for centuries, figure out your lactic threshold heart rate (Koffee's posted a good technique in this forum), and keep your efforts near, but preferably a little below, that threshold. For climbs, etc., you'll have to go over it, but you'll have to figure out how high you can go, and for how long, without putting yourself at risk of serious bonkage. Also, be mindful of how your legs feel. If you start to feel lactic burn, drop to a lower gear and compensate w/rpms. If you don't have a lower gear, back off the pace as necessary.