Originally Posted by livedarklions

I suspect the converse is also true--that some people fall into the trap of believing that increasing cadence is the only way to increase speed, and are afraid/discouraged of trying higher gears. Lots of "you'll blow out your knees" stuff that doesn't appear to have any basis in fact going around. I encourage people to try a variety of gears and cadences because I think that people vary enormously in the optimum balance between leg strength vs. CV capacity.