Originally Posted by
waynesulak
While we are able to pedal comfortably between 90- & 100 cadence we put out the most sustained power in the 95-100 range. This means the ability to keep cadence "just so" gets us the last bit of power not available at 92 cadence and still have low gears when needed.
I think the idea is that there is an ideal cadence which is most efficient, that produces the most power, or is more sustainable over a long ride. The purpose of the drivetrain is keep the team as close to that cadence as they can.
This graph has cadence (rpm) on the X-axis,and power on the right Y. This is for
short, high-intensity events, but the idea is the same.
Here is a graph of cadence vs. power for one rider in a hill climb (
from an interesting discussion of cadence vs. power vs. torque). On the face of it, for this rider, the cadence between 95-100 generated the most power. Keeping to that range will be easier with a tighter cassette ratio.
