Originally Posted by
crhilton
"one one thousand"
"one mississippi"
"one locomotive"
You should get close to 3 turns for every two seconds. It takes no time at all to pick up the rhythm of a good cadence. It's not so exacting that you need a computer, it's more about personal comfort.
That works.
Some other guidelines that don't take more than a few seconds:
One complete revolution per sec = 60 rpm (duh
). Good for slow cruising at light load.
Three revs per two seconds = 90 rpm, a reasonably peppy cadence. You can also see it as the first second going "left-right-left" and the next "right-left-right". Or, when thinking "one mississippi", your feet will pass the top of the stroke on the syllables "one miss...sip..."
Two revs per sec = 120 rpm, a fast cadence. You'll do a whole "left-right-left-right" in only one second. Hit each foot on each syllable of "one one thousand".
If you're a musician, especially if you were ever in marching band, this will all be old hat.