Road Cycling - I can't find the 'zone'!

I've been trying to become less of a masher and more of a spinner, but I'm having trouble getting with my cadence. When I put it in a lower gear to spin, the bike winds up going so fast that I can't keep up with the cadence. So I wind up shifting into a higher gear until the cadence is in control. The next thing I know, I'm back in a larger gear and not spinning anymore. What am I missing?

Unless you are riding totally FLAT terrain, you will be constantly shifting OR changing your cadence. It's a fact of life, and even a small grade up or down can have a huge impact on cadence. If cadence is your pirmary objective, no matter how much you are shifting you may need to shift more.

Aim for 80 rpms. If you can manage that, try for 85-90 rpm. Also, try to sit deeper in the saddle, and keep your pedal strokes smooth. Rollers work well for that, too.

Aim for 80 rpms I agree. It took me a few weeks at 80 to "graduate" to 90. I had to train my muscles for that speed. Wasn't so much hard as I just needed to develop the muscle memory to know what high cadence felt like...

try shifting one gear at a time, and this will make gradual changes in your cadence. also, get a candece computer. this will help a lot...

what is the gearing on your rear cassette? is your smallest a 21 or 23?

when you find the gear you are comfortable in, shift up one, or even two everytime. sooner or later you'll be spinning those gears fine, and not spinning out. Once you do that you can move down a gear to your old gear (or close to) and be able to spin that better....

if that makes sense

best thing to do to train your legs for spinning is to do one-legged pedaling drills. while doing this i discovered that my left leg does a very smooth circle, while my right leg goes through two jerky dead spots. it probably explains why my left calf is much bigger than my right :rolleyes: