Thanks for the link. I'll give that one a read. I love technical articles, about the artificial machines we ride and the biological machines we are.




I've often read that there are fitness and performance benefits from riding at a higher cadence than you're comfortable with, much more than from trying to mash in a higher gear than is comfortable. I wish I could get my wife to accept this. She is always one or two gears higher than I think she should choose, and pedaling at a low cadence. I think it's because she has a belief that high resistance will help her achieve her fitness goals. I've tried telling her that if she wants resistance, she should go to a gym and lift weights; bikes are for spinning. It's not sinking in, so I've dropped it.





You're not wrong. I mean, if I concentrate I could probably put out consistent, circular power of moderate intensity for several seconds or maybe a minute or two. I've actually never tried. Like it or not, we have to accept that our bodies are made a certain way, and it's a way that's most conducive to reciprocating or elliptical motion--not truly circular. We've seen various, generally unsuccessful attempts to capitalize on this, such as oval chain rings and those silly contraptions that are sort of like a bike mashed up with an elliptical exercise machine. I'm happy with my conventional, old-fashioned-ish outfit: two-triangle frame, two 622mm wheels with pneumatic tires, 170mm crank arms, upright seating position, etc. (When I get old I'll probably have to switch to some kind of recumbent, but that hasn't happened yet).


Now back to our regular discussion thread in progress?