Originally Posted by
Sy Reene
The heart rate is a valid indicator.. the trick is coming up with methodology to do this though. Doing the same climb on different days could yield different HR results even using the same cadence. Doing repeats of the same climb on the same day obviously could yield diffferences as one tires. Maybe doing 4-6 repeats, changing cadence every other run and then averaging results?
IME it's much quicker than that. On any particular day, any particular climb, one notices very quickly whether one can go faster in one gear than another. Maybe only a minute or two at most.
The main thing is length of climb. On short climbs, I'm much faster at 95-100 cadence because power = force * cadence (more or less). I'd blow up if I kept that up. On long climbs, I'm much faster at 78. Higher cadence slows me down. But I'm an average guy. Talented people will climb at higher cadences. That's one of the ways you know you're talented.