Originally Posted by
carleton
The #1 mistake that new riders make is riding a gear that is too large and carrying a cadence that is too low.
Some of you guys still don't get it. When roadies would use a fixed gear in the winter for training, they installed a low gear and worked on cadence and pedal stroke. Not churning some huge gear around town.
Learning how to spin takes time. You have to start at a reasonable gear, get comfortable with that, and then upgrade to a gear which gives you LESS gear-inches.
People associate going faster with pushing harder on the pedals. This is incorrect.
Decrease your gear-inches: You won't be any slower. It seems backwards but it's true.
T