Originally Posted by
Peter_C
This topic (I suspect) is because of watching me the other day. At higher (to me) speeds, say like 14-15MPH I was mostly gasping at 80-85RPM. Chipcom suggested going up one gear, and lowering my RPM a bit. In my case it made it a bit more comfortable while maintaining a higher than normal (for me) speed.
And yes, at 90RPM I tend to bounce like a ping pong ball...
The bouncing may come from that sprung saddle
I just want you to work on the ability to keep pedaling, at whatever cadence and gear suits you. If you want to do 120rpm in your granny gear, I am cool with that...as long as you can maintain it for more than a couple of minutes...but I hope you'll do what I suggested - find a cadence that you can maintain for extended periods while keeping your heart rate around 80% of max. Coasting is a blast...I don't want to take the fun out of cycling...but cycling is even more fun when you can do it effortlessly. That century isn't going to be enjoyable for you if your heart rate is red-zoning every 5 minutes over the course of 10 hours. Ya know, flat centuries like the HHH have their downsides too...besides the wind, you don't get a lot of opportunity to coast without losing appreciable momentum, unlike a rolling route where each little incline is rewarded by a nice little decline.
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