Originally Posted by
chasm54
Your response to jyl indicates that you are mistaken about this. If it is your legs, rather than your cardiovascular system, that are limiting your speed then you have noticed it causing you a problem. Higher cadences, as he has pointed out, spare the legs at the expense of a higher HR. So you probably would see some benefit from training yourself to pedal a bit faster in a lower gear.
Cadence
You are correct. My comment above was somewhat cavalier. The problem is I haven't worked on cadence enough and I usually get awkward over 102-104 on level ground, although I can sometimes reach 110-112 if I concentrate.
I
have observed the direct relationship between RPM and HR - I simply cannot do high cadence on recovery rides since I equate "recovery" with Zone 1-2 HR.
The point I was trying to make is I personally do not find any problem when shifting causes my cadence to change by 10% (e.g., drop from 100 to 91) as opposed to a 5% drop (from 100 to 95). My average cadence on rides (checking my records for the last 20 assorted rides) varies from 81 to 91. I know some of you really like to keep your RPM as constant as you can (a consistent 83-87 range, or 95-100, or whatever), presumably because it works for you, it helps you stay in your "cooking" zone or it improves your mindset. But I've experimented (I
have ridden with much tighter ratios) and I don't find it helps me in any way.
That said, I am perpetually experimenting and changing. (And asking questions.) Maybe in a year I will be extolling the virtues of 11-23 gear clusters.