JayhawKen

Has anyone else found that they do better climbing at a difference cadence than they use for cruising on level ground?

I have found that if I'm cruising along on fairly flat terrain, a cadence around 102 to 105 feels very efficient. Seems like I could hold that pace forever.

But for any kind of climbing, a cadence around 80 seems much more efficient. I'm a terrible climber, but I definitely feel much stronger at that lower cadence. Previously I tried to maintain a cadence closer to the mid 90's but always seemed to blow up on steeper hills.

Is that common? Or do most people find that about the same cadence works best for them just about anywhere?

I just started riding middle of last summer, and only have about 2,200 miles under my wheels so far. So I'm still kind of figuring out what works best for me.

roadfix

My climbing cadence is always lower, and that's usually not by choice....

babydee

My climbing cadence can be lower due to the intensity of the climb, but I like to keep it at about the same if I can.

bdcheung

Climbing cadence is always higher.

smoke

climbing cadence is lower. i'll cruise at 85 rpm but climb at 70-75 rpm. i'm comfy climbing with a cadence in the 60s, but i'm a little faster doing it in the low to mid 70s

bdcheung

I cruise in the 80s and climb anywhere from 90-110

cris2fur

I don't have a cadence comp....but on flats and grades less than 3% I maintain something around in the 70-80 range. when climbing, I drop down a few gears and "spin" more. so its around 100.

GatorFL

I think there's a lot of disagreement about cadence because people aren't specifying whether they're seated or standing. I think it's pretty typical that a seated climb requires more spinning and will have a higher cadence than a standing climb, which will have a very low cadence.

GP

Break out your geared bike.

spdrcr5

flat cadence is whatever someone is comfortable spinning at as well as your gearing. I am getting more and more comfortable on the flats with a 90-105 cadence.

Climbing all depends on how steep the climb gets. Any sort of rolling hills I can maintain a cadence above 80, once the hill gets steeper the cadence obviously goes down. On 10-12+% grades whatever it takes to get over is what my cadence becomes and the longer the climb the lower the cadence gets. lol

fly:yes/land:no

well the steepness may be the issue here, not the cadence. are you going the same speed at the higher cadence, or are you running out of gear and having to go faster than you normally would to keep up that cadence? that would make a huge difference.

i like to climb at around 90 and flats are around 95. i am very cadence specific though. got a fixed gear to try to solve this problem. still, there are times that i accelerate to a higher speed on a steep climb where i run out of gear just to get a more comfortable cadence. there are times where i can climb at 10 miles an hour more comfortabley than at 8.

johnny99

When I'm standing, my cadence will drop 10-20% and I'll use 1 or 2 gears bigger than when I'm sitting on a climb. When I'm sitting, I use about the same cadence for climbing and flats. Of course, all that changes when you don't have any lower gears.

Lithuania

I dont have a very high cadence in the first place but it definitely goes down on climbs. My legs get a lot more tired when I try to spin my way up in stead of grinding up in a bigger gear.

NoRacer

When I hit this stretch of a climb, yesterday, my cadence slowed considerably:

bdcheung

what kind of PM doesn't measure cadence?

NoRacer

The kind that captures the following, but not all of them are imported into CyclingPeaks (yet):

- wind speed, average, and max
- bike speed, average, and max
- temperature, average, and max
- inclination, average, and max
- baro elevation
- cadence, average, and max
- time/date
- mileage
- wattage, average, and max
- kj
- calories

vic32amg

i spin on flats abouy 110. dunno just the way I was taught to ride. however on climbs it usually drops to about 95-100 0-6% grade and 6%+ I will usually get to about 70-80 out of the saddle. i find myself more efficient out of the saddle on steeper climbs under 2 miles. if its more than 2 miles I will do my best to stay in the saddle and spin.

Ritterview

Landis averaged a cadence of 89 on Stage 17.

https://procyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4223

Landis's data from his Powertap is available on line is it not? We could see what a top pro does on the flats vs. hills.

terrymorse 

My cadence ranges:

On the flat: 95-105
Climbing seated: 70-80
Climbing standing: 60-65

I think that's pretty typical. And in general, the harder I'm working, the higher my cadence.

Endox

My ideal flats cadence is a bit over 100 also, I prefer to climb at a similar cadence if possible but I can't up the steeper hills simply because my lowest gear is 39-23. Going to swap to a compact crankset when I can afford it, a wider cassette isn't really needed around here but the compact makes more sense anyway for anyone who prefers a high cadence unless they average >25MPH on the flats.

superslomo

If it isn't too steep I try to keep it about the same uphill that I do flat, which is in the mid-nineties.

MIN 

I am identical. I believe this is consistant with what most coaches prescribe.