Originally Posted by
lyle.coop
I took the slowest sections (climbs) of my last ride from Strava and calculated my cadence. My cadences range from 26 - 54. That's super slow. To the point where I could be hurting my knees from grinding. And I'm pretty sure I'm in the granny (51) for most of the slower sections.
I'm fairly lean - 5'9" 150lbs. I run 3 miles at an 8:00 pace. I think my legs are just not strong enough. Can I get them stronger - sure. But its not going to happen overnight. I'm also 51 years old so I'm battling father time. The last thing I want to do is hurt my knees from grinding up hill.
You make a good point about moving too slow - to the point where I'm going to tip over. The first two sections below (same trail section) I'm moving at 1.4 - 1.9 mph. That's slow. But I'm not tipping over. Would a smaller front ring help? I think so b/c I'd be able to spin at a higher (and safer) cadence which could translate to either the same speed or potentially even faster.
See cadences below:
Wow! How steep are these 1/2 mile climbs?
While dropping down to a 28 will help you with cadence - it probably wont do very much for speed. For more speed, you will need more power. You may get some power from higher cadence, but that will come at the cost of higher aerobic output.
28x51 at 60 rpm should be 2.8 mph. At your weight, assuming a 15% grade - you need to push about 170-175w to turn that 60rpm. 10% grade at that same power and you would get 84rpm.
I dunno if you know what your power numbers are - but the above is a rough guide of what you need.
Edit:
MTBing is flipping hard. Gearing or not! As a roadie moving into MTBing a bit - I find every ride on my MTB to be a full on FTP and VO2 max interval session wrapped up into one ride.