Originally Posted by
LAriverRat
Reading this thread made me realize that I do not bounce in the saddle anymore since riding in the mountains and peddling like a fixed gear going under bridges(spinning at a very high rate). Before this I would bounce at times trying to go high cadence. Going uphill under load and doing hill repeats would help in this regard because the rider can feel what is going on with every stroke and apply smooooth force at the proper time. The OP should be able to go higher than 115 at times without bouncing. I saw video of guys doing 180 plus on a stationary bike, just insane.
There are a couple of reasons why one bounces in the saddle. One is lack of neuromuscular capability to coordinate muscles at higher speed and the other is a spin rate that is a resonate frequency for you. It seems that around 115 or so, I bounce a little and as the cadence increases I smooth out again. It is less noticeable riding fixed gear. The other way to improve cadence and neuromuscular efficiency is doing cadence ladders and max spin ups. Start at 100 and go up to 140 in steps of 10 holding for 1 minute and then come done. What I find is that the first time up it feels harder. Once I get to the top, on the way down, 100 seems extremely slow and 80 like I am not spinning at all. IMO, cadence is easily trained but one has to work on it.