Originally Posted by
lphilpot
Disclaimer: In my minimal experience so far...
Find a cadence
(pedal RPM) that works for you - Not so fast that you're having difficulty with it, but not so slow that it's causing you to heavily 'mash' on each stroke. It should be relatively easy to pedal, but it will probably be a bit faster than you might at first have anticipated. For me
(in my current out-of-shapeness), 80 to 90 works pretty well. 80-sh on the flats, but a bit more
(downshifted) going uphill.
An appropriate cadence will also save your knees over the long run.
Once you get a feel for that cadence, shift to maintain it and don't worry too much about what speed it is. That way you'll tend to somewhat level out the effort you have to make over varying terrain. Your speed will vary with the terrain, but not your cadence.
I found my cadence last week and I was shifting to maintain and it was nice. I'm not really worried about speed but I'm not finding my direction to shift on even the slightest decline. That's what's been confusing me since I switched from a 7 speed to a 21 speed. Today, I'm not finding my cadence even on inclines which means to me, I don't have my head wrapped around shifting this week at all. Dang, those 21 years in MI really did turn me into a "flat-lander".
I have noticed as I'm building muscle memory, I am riding in a different gear. Maybe I'm starting out too high to begin with but when I was fitted for this bike, the LBS owner said I was right where I would be riding most of the time and that was on flat land.