Originally Posted by fordfasterr
I just wanted to tell some of the commuters about whats been going on with me as of late..
For one, I have started to use the drops more than ever on my road bike, and I've been forcing myself to use the big ring with the hopes of developing more power...
It has been 3 weeks since I started doing this, and I started on the 2nd biggest cog, worked my way down one cog every week, now I am down to the 4th cog and I feel stronger every day... So far I can spin the 4th (and this week 5th) cog very easily, specially from a standing start where I can get up and push it more aggressively...
WTF ?
I am expecting to burn out at some point, but so far I just keep getting stronger every week... My legs have felt a little soreness, but nothing like when I spin mad rpms for many miles...
So these 2 things seem to help me go faster ... 1. using the drops, and 2, switching to the big ring and pushing a bigger gear.
Anybody else have any idea why this is working for me?
Well, you're mixing your variables: handlebar position and cadence. Could be either or both.
Regarding hand position, I hate riding on the hoods because I don't feel I get as good of leverage when really hitting it. To be honest, when I first got my road bike, I had absolutely no idea that the hoods were intended to be used as a handhold. I started by riding only in the drops, and even now I very rarely use the hoods, only as a break if my hands are getting numb.
As for cadence: I know this is a huge decades-long involved flamewar, but if you *dropped* to about 80-100 RPM, then maybe you weren't in your most efficient cadence previously if you were averaging 120 RPM or something?