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A simple question # 28
Is anyone on this forum a slave to cadence?
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No, but I don't know why you're asking that in this section.
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Sorry posted on wrong forum. Notice I have changed it.
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Originally Posted by rydabent
(Post 18782786)
Is anyone on this forum a slave to cadence?
I naturally ride about 90. 100-ish for harder efforts. Lower, 60-70 when out of the saddle climbing. It is what it is. I don't have a computer on my bike, so no number obsession. |
Ditto. If I had a number I might be.
Then again there's nothing like the feeling of a "fast" cadence at high speed. |
Originally Posted by Homebrew01
(Post 18782900)
I don't have a computer on my bike, so no number obsession.
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Sort of on this topic does anyone use a Garmin or other form of GPS on their bikes or does everyone pretty much just use their phones for that now? Outside of the cadence factor is their really any reason to own one? At $200 this appears to be the cheaper variety which seems a little crazy to me.
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I haven't found the need for Garmin or related devices.
I used a powermeter when training for racing during structured intervals and ftp tests, but otherwise, ride gadget-free. Length (and effort) of ride is more important than distance, so I glance at the kitchen clock before I leave, and again when I get back. |
I ride a trail now by my home that is approx 30 mile round trip (gravel). I have used apps on my phone for distance and time but just never saw the need for much more than that. It's not something I use all the time either. If I get home sweaty and depleted I rode hard enough.
Originally Posted by Homebrew01
(Post 18782973)
I haven't found the need for Garmin or related devices.
I used a powermeter when training for racing during structured intervals and ftp tests, but otherwise, ride gadget-free. Length (and effort) of ride is more important than distance, so I glance at the kitchen clock before I leave, and again when I get back. |
Definitely not a slave to cadence, myself. More a slave to distance and hills. I often see people climbing hills very slowly at a very high cadence, prolly riding in a granny gear in front and largest cog in the rear. This is not the way I like to ride.
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No. I pedal as fast as I need to to go go as fast or slow as I want on the terrain i'm riding.
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Originally Posted by Homebrew01
(Post 18782900)
What does that mean ? Can't ride without a cadence of some sort.
I naturally ride about 90. 100-ish for harder efforts. Lower, 60-70 when out of the saddle climbing. It is what it is. I don't have a computer on my bike, so no number obsession.
Originally Posted by TheIndiePlaylis
(Post 18782956)
Sort of on this topic does anyone use a Garmin or other form of GPS on their bikes or does everyone pretty much just use their phones for that now? Outside of the cadence factor is their really any reason to own one? At $200 this appears to be the cheaper variety which seems a little crazy to me.
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That is a great point. Using my phone for mapping my ride sucks the juice out of phone very quickly. And if I am in the middle of nowhere and need to call for help that phone battery better have some life!
Originally Posted by SpeshulEd
(Post 18783319)
This, but I do have a computer on my bike because I'm a numbers geek. I tracked my cadence in the beginning to learn what felt comfortable to me, what others used and how that felt, etc. Everyone says to ride around 90 and that seems to do the trick for me. Now I usually hover anywhere between 80-100 naturally, hills might be slightly lower, but I've been trying to sit and spin up those as of late as well.
It depends what you're trying to get out of your ride. My phone battery dies a lot faster than my garmin. So if I'm going out for 5 hours, I don't want to have to rely on my phone, especially if I break down and need it to call for help. I use my garmin on my road bike and my mountain bike when I'm doing serious riding and care about some of the numbers; watts, heart rate, time, ascent/descent. I leave my garmin at home and use strava when I'm going for a leisurely ride or running around town. |
Originally Posted by TheIndiePlaylis
(Post 18783326)
That is a great point. Using my phone for mapping my ride sucks the juice out of phone very quickly. And if I am in the middle of nowhere and need to call for help that phone battery better have some life!
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Originally Posted by TheIndiePlaylis
(Post 18782956)
Sort of on this topic does anyone use a Garmin or other form of GPS on their bikes or does everyone pretty much just use their phones for that now? Outside of the cadence factor is their really any reason to own one? At $200 this appears to be the cheaper variety which seems a little crazy to me.
This is what happened when I brought my phone on a run: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7390/...1c2ae9_o_d.jpg |
Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
(Post 18783454)
I have an Edge 800 (it's almost 6 years old!) and a Garmin Fenix 3 watch. The watch has GPS, it works with my power meter on the bike, it can detect my threshold pace when I run, tracks my stroke rate and pace when I swim and even gives me a map of where I swam, measures my resting heart rate every morning, and predicts storms for me when I hike.
This is what happened when I brought my phone on a run: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7390/...1c2ae9_o_d.jpg |
I'm kinda addicted to watching my cadence, yeah. I mean, I'm supposed to have it since I've got the sensors on the bikes, so when it doesn't appear on the head unit, I get irked a bit. Usually it's because the stupid silicone band holding the magnet on the crankarm has slid out of alignment, but sometimes it's because the sensor battery is low or some weird glitch.
I do like knowing my RPMs, too, though, because sometimes I find myself flying along at 100rpm and 165bpm at say 230w, but I know I can drop HR by 5-10bpm by gearing up and dropping RPMs to 89-90 while driving wattage up 20w without tiring my legs, so it's a nice reminder that I can use my legs more, and save those extra beats to help surge, sprint, or hump up a hill when needed. It's not a big deal, so I wouldn't say I'm addicted to cadence, but I definitely like having the value at hand. |
Originally Posted by chaadster
(Post 18783511)
I'm kinda addicted to watching my cadence, yeah. I mean, I'm supposed to have it since I've got the sensors on the bikes, so when it doesn't appear on the head unit, I get irked a bit. Usually it's because the stupid silicone band holding the magnet on the crankarm has slid out of alignment, but sometimes it's because the sensor battery is low or some weird glitch.
I do like knowing my RPMs, too, though, because sometimes I find myself flying along at 100rpm and 165bpm at say 230w, but I know I can drop HR by 5-10bpm by gearing up and dropping RPMs to 89-90 while driving wattage up 20w without tiring my legs, so it's a nice reminder that I can use my legs more, and save those extra beats to help surge, sprint, or hump up a hill when needed. It's not a big deal, so I wouldn't say I'm addicted to cadence, but I definitely like having the value at hand. |
Who isn't a slave to cadence? Motorcycle riders? Kids on mopeds?
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A simple question # 28
Originally Posted by rydabent
(Post 18782786)
Is anyone on this forum a slave to cadence?
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
(Post 18375635)
I’m a 40+ year cyclist and I ride mainly for fitness. My training tool is the Relative Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale, and I use cadence to chose gears to maintain my desired exertion.
My basic training is to ride at my RPE of 50% for six miles to warm up, then cruise at an RPE of 60%, and do intervals (on hills) at 70%. I try to change gears to maintain a cadence of about 85-90 rpm on flats and rolling hills, and about 60 to 80 rpm on harder hills, to maintain my RPE. Shift up to higher gears as the cadence rises, and shift down as the RPE increases. |
I pay attention mostly post-ride to what average cadence was. I'm still working off a tendency (bad, imo) that I had of spinning/coasting/spinning/coasting etc. Cadence monitoring is helping a bit to force me to keep spinning (ideally somewhere in my comfort range of 88-98), more of the time during the overall ride.
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I'd guesstimate I'm comfortable around 80-90. Hard to spin faster with platform pedals wearing soft sole hiking shoes. I don't like mashing -- hard on the knees. Occasionally I'll drop the cadence a bit to climb out of the saddle for short hills, mostly to stretch out a bit. Only time my bike ever sees the big chain ring is when I start to spin out downhill.
I noticed from a group ride this week, and watching folks along the local MUP, I'm usually spinning faster than almost everyone, including roadies. Most of the roadies I see seem to be well under 80 rpm, which surprised me. But I still can't keep up with them. Probably something about my 35+ lb upright bike vs their 20 lb or lighter whizzards. |
cadence rules my work on RF simulations... why would i use that on my bike? :grin:
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I believe in self-selected cadence. I pedal at whatever cadence is comfortable to the conditions. That might be as low as 50 or as high as 105. My average cadence, recorded over ~4k miles this year, is 76rpm. Pretty simple-- my typical standing cadence is 60, seated spinning is 90, and that 76 is almost smack dab in the middle.
Now my power numbers... I feel like I'm a slave to those. |
I think I was a slave to cadence, since I always installed close ratio freewheels/cassettes on my bikes and shifted for every little incline/decline or puff of wind. Then I started riding fixed gear and learned to power up hills at 50 rpm when need be, and down at 140. Free, I mean fixed, ;) at last!
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