Too right. The secret to a high cadence is a smooth, circular action. This is why so many roadies can't get above 110 (or imagine that 110 is a high cadence), they've fallen for the 'pull the pedal' routine.

thewilson is right in suggesting that the pull across the bottom helps. It does and it does wonders for smoothing out a square pedalling style and is always the first thing I turn to if I suspect my action. It's only the first step though. From there you need to develop that fluid circle and fortunately, once you're trained your muscles to do it, it comes back very easily because on a fixed gear, you can't help but practice.

I guess I probably have an advantage in that I live in a hilly area. This rules out a high gear in that I have to get UP the hills but leaves me getting lots of practice at high cadences coming down the things.

To spin a high cadence:
- make sure your weight is on the saddle. You should feel yourself sitting heavily on the saddle and once you do this properly, you'll suddenly realise how much you've been supporting your body with your legs.
- lean forward in an aggressive riding posture, arms well bent. I'm not sure if this is psychological or physical but leaning forward always smooths out my action and lets me spin faster. I should probably note that I have the bars at saddle height and so aren't too aggressive to start with.
- you need to visualise your feet racing the pedals ... and winning. Not chasing them, as soon as you get behind, you start to bounce, your feet need to be a millisecond in front of the pedals. In the early days, I used to chant the mantra, 'race the pedals, race the pedals' but I'm a lot more comfortable with cadence now and don't bother. The aggressive pedaling still applies though.

Get it right and it feels like you're part of a turbine. It feels wonderful and is worth doing just for that - just another cycling drug. There's a certain satisfaction to getting to the bottom of a hill and having your Heart Rate Monitor in hysterics (yes, I'm a nerd and wear one). The looks from other road users are worth it to.

I do believe that most people have their bikes geared too high. While it's nice to just plug along, particularly if you're not trying too hard, I prefer 66gi. I used to use 70gi but found, as my body aged and tired, I often felt like I was in slightly too high a gear - this is one where a younger, lighter rider will use a higher gear than me. But I like 66gi (48x19 for what it's worth). This gives me a cadence of 90 at about 29km/hr (18 mph) which is a speed I often find myself in when travelling through back streets or along shared paths and allows plenty of cadence to drop the speed a bit where needed. At at a cadence of 110, I'm doing 35 km/hr (22mph) which is a speed I can sit on all day on the flats, the 'high' cadence not really being an issue for me. From there I'll run all the way up a whisker inside 60km/hr (37mph) which is a cadence of OMFGWAID? Never actually broken the magic 60 but I have recorded 59.something on a few occasions and I should point out I need a 10% downhill to do so, I'm not that much of an animal.

Although this sounds super diagnosed and worked out, that nerdish stuff has all come after the fact. I started with 70gi because that's a commonly recommended starting point. I rode that for a few years, then strangely found that I felt overgeared (on a geared bike, you'd click down a gear) so added a tooth to the rear cog and have been happy ever since. The analysis is just because I like fiddling with numbers and trying to work out what I'm doing, it provides an understanding that satisfies me. I still believe that seat of the pants is the best way because your body will understanding what it is suffering long before the brain will.


OMFGWAID - Oh My Flippin' Gawd What Am I Doing? - or words to that general effect