Originally Posted by
RChung
"One other way to look at it?" Dude, that's the only way to look at it. Don't look at cadence in isolation: the context we're talking about is the context of cadence, pedal force (or crank torque) and/or power. Since inexperienced cyclists don't know what either their pedal force and power are, they don't have any way to evaluate their cadence. That's why chasing cadence without knowing at least one of the other two is a red herring.
I dont agree that its a "red herring". You do have an "internal power meter". After all your legs are connected to your brain and you can tell how (relatively speaking) much force you are applying to your feet, how tired you feel, how hard you are breathing etc.
You dont
need to spend $1000's on power meters, head units and all of that stuff imho. If it helps you great but you can make improvements and measure your performance over time simply by using a cyclocomputer with cadance. An HRM would be the next step after that if you have $50 to spend. I bought a very nice Nike women's specific model for my wife for that price at Nashbar over the winter. It was 50% off.
Over the last year I have added Catyeye Astrale 8s to our bikes. I use my cadence as a shift up/down indicator. Over a 22 mile hilly route I have been +/- .2 mph avg day to day and I have been able to track my overall gain in performance.
btw I think that this is the best deal going for a cyclocomputer with cadence: $19.99 + shipping at Nashbar
