Road Cycling - hip-rock at ultra high cadence

First let me say that my normal pedaling-technique consists of 90-100 cadence spinning...

I was on the trainer today following my PC Coach program, and it says to do 30 mins of 115-130cadence spinning...in zone 2! I noticed that when I got above say...115-118 cadence my hips would start to rock when i was using a gear small enough to attempt to even stay in zone two. My hips dont rock when i ride normally in the 90s (cadence). Anyone ever encountered this? Could it be that im not use to pedaling so fast? or...should i lower my seat? Like I said, i don't get any rocking when i ride normally...but when i start to get into ultra-high cadences... Also, I can only sustain 118+ cadence for 2-3 minutes max...how am i suppose to do 30! So what I did was divide it down into 2 minute intervals inbetween my zone1 spinning.

-omesh

Practice, practice practice. I've found that over time I've gotten smoother at high speeds. Also, clipless pedals help with the smoothness.

If your hips don't rock at lower cadences, then it's probably not a seat height issue.

I use speedplay X2s, and sidi energy2s. I have them dialed in correctly so my feet are in perfect position. I guess I just need to practice spinning above 115 cadence more often.

-Omesh

How tall are you and what is your crank length? A higher cadence might expose minute differences in crank length, something that you may be compensating for at a lower cadence. But I would say if you are not used to spinning at a high cadence though to continue to train (unless you start feeling pain because of the hip flexing) and see if it goes away.

Jay

Would rollers help? You might smooth out your pedal stroke if you started riding them, which might help with higher cadences.

First let me say that my normal pedaling-technique consists of 90-100 cadence spinning...

I was on the trainer today following my PC Coach program, and it says to do 30 mins of 115-130cadence spinning...in zone 2! I noticed that when I got above say...115-118 cadence my hips would start to rock when i was using a gear small enough to attempt to even stay in zone two. My hips dont rock when i ride normally in the 90s (cadence). Anyone ever encountered this? Could it be that im not use to pedaling so fast? or...should i lower my seat? Like I said, i don't get any rocking when i ride normally...but when i start to get into ultra-high cadences... Also, I can only sustain 118+ cadence for 2-3 minutes max...how am i suppose to do 30! So what I did was divide it down into 2 minute intervals inbetween my zone1 spinning.

-omesh

when im riding my fixed gear at high cadences and my hips begin to rock, i focus on keeping my legs smooth on the upstroke. your hips rock bc your front leg on the down stroke is going faster than your other leg, so the front leg is forcing your rear leg up faster, which in turn pushes your hip up....focus on bringing your rear leg up as fast as you front leg is going down. concentrate only on your legs going up smoothly. when you realize this is the problem (if it is) then your spin will smooth out considerably. now you can work on sustaining those super high cadences!!!

another tip i figured out is point your toes down a little to smooth it out, then level your feet to where you normally ride when you arent bouncing around as much.

i dont know how well these tips will work for you bc i have 165mm cranks on my fixxie. im guessing you probably have 175's....the difference is huge, i can really feel the difference when i go from my fixed gear to one of my other bikes with 175mm cranks.

the best tip out of all of these is to get a fixed gear. theres nothing better for teaching your legs the 'proper spin' than having a bike that tells your legs how to move in perfect circles. and they're fun!