cohophysh

So this may be a chicken/egg type question

I present you with two scenarios, which one is better

1) ride long distances at slower cadence and work on building up cadence over that same distance; or

2) ride shorter distance at faster cadence and work on building distance at the faster cadence???

TrojanHorse

Speed <> Cadence

I would say a mix of both speed days and distance days are beneficial, and in general, higher cadence is better for your knees than lower.... somebody ssaid if your legs are killing you, speed up the cadence (downshift), if your heart is killing you, upshift.

I'm not sure what that means if you're on a hill in the granny gear and your arteries are throbbing and if you go any slower you'll tip over sideways, so take that for what it's worth.

CliftonGK1

Build your distance.
Work on your speed.
Let your cadence fall where it does. Fast or slow, if you're comfortable with it then you shouldn't worry. I see guys out doing hilly 400k rides on singlespeeds.

Bikealou

Not sure I understand the question. When I was a young adult, I bought my first new bike. I was young and strong and full of ***. I thought since I had strong legs - played football, etc. - that stomping high gears was the most efficient way for me to ride. Fast forward several; hmm make that many decades, I got back into cycling. I was in my late forties and had been living a sedentary life raising kids and working behind a desk.

I quickly learned that stomping high gears (low cadence) was hard on my knees. I got involved in doing charity rides - 500+ miles in a week. In training and doing these rides I figured out that for me, a reasonable cadence was in the range of 85 to 95 RPM. I had to learn how to pedal in circles to avoid over stressing my knees. Think in terms of scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe as your foot comes through the bottom of a pedal stroke rather than pushing down on the pedals. For me, as I concentrated on smoothing out my pedal stroke, my cadence naturally rose to higher rates.

As TrojanHorse says, find the balance between pedal effort and heart rate/ breathing rate to zone in your pedal cadence. And I agree that a combination of slow, low intensity days and hard, high intensity days is the key to becoming a better bike rider.

c_m_shooter

Ride lots

jayvo86

Neither really...you should be more concerned with time. Don't go out and say "I'm going to ride 20 miles or maintain a average of 15mph." Go out and plan on riding a certain time. You should always plan on using a high cadence (I.E. 90 rpm) when you go out and ride. Think like a car when it comes to rpm. Faster the rpm the better the power curve.

superdex

better for what?

cohophysh

training in general

redvespablur

yes!

ziggydcat

Both are great! Usually I add a few extra miles to my early week rides and then as the week progresses I switch up some shorter/faster rides. I also throw in a ride "just for the fun of riding" ride in as well. I take my son with me and on his BMX bike we cant maintain much over 10-12 mph so I keep it in a gear that keeps my cadence up and just look at the scenery and enjoy my kid.

superdex

So you might want to be more specific than this. Training for an event? Racing? Losing weight? Just being able to ride faster?

Cadence is not related to distance or time training; conventional wisdom says you should be aiming for >75 rpm to maximize effeciency. If you're not there yet, you can concentrate on cadence drills to improve.

As far as time vs distance; if you only have an hour, go ride for an hour. As you get fitter you'll go farther in that hour. I prefer to ride based on distance, but that's because I do a couple centuries a year, and distance training is part of it. So if I have a 75mi ride scheduled, I make sure I've planned and cleared a commensurate block of time with the wife. During the week I have shorter time blocks, so the intensity is higher to accommodate.

If you have time restrictions, then you'll need to add structure to those rides to maximize the time you have. Intervals of varying flavors, etc. If you're really short on time, Carmichael's Time Crunched Cyclist has some pretty good info. Basically, you trade time for intensity (the shorter the time, the higher the intensity).

Do you have specific goals?