Over the last few months I have been deliberately keeping my bike in a low gear for parts of my ride. I do this in order to increase my effort and improve my endurance, and have found that I am now able to ride longer and feel a little bit less tired afterwards. Needless to say, my average speed tends to suck whenever I try this! Does anyone else do this, and am I risking any injury (haven't noticed any additional stress or pain after my rides)?

I do it. Especially on smaller overpasses to get the extra work.

By low gear, you mean more difficult/lower cadence?

Just be careful with your form. There is a risk of grinding out your knees and damaging your meniscus. I think the general recommendation is to go for high cadence with good form, and the endurance and strength will come.

Yes, I am trying to use the more difficult gears (when and where practical to do so) for a portion of my ride. I also find that I don't like the "feel" of the bike when using the easier gears, feels like I have less control.

I have found that sometimes I will put out more effort and go faster if I shift to one gear higher and then try to get my cadence up to where it was in the lower gear. Once you get up to speed, its easier to maintain that speed than to get there. Then I do it again and again until I hit a gear where I cant get my cadence up enough.

on one of my bikes I do that, it feels like if I hit the hill in too low a gear, it is harder than if I get speed and try to gun it up the hill, of course, sometimes that fails, and I have to shift fast, and it can get ugly.

I think you mean high gears.

agree

If your average speed is going down you're putting out less power and that's why you feel fresher and able to ride longer. It likely has nothing to do with your gearing selection.

There are low cadence intervals which some use to build strength but if done properly won't leave you feeling less tired at the end of a ride.

High gear. You mean high gear.

Yeah, I do it, too.

well, a few things:
- if you don't feel that you have a lot of control at high cadence, that either means you need more practice or you're really using too easy a gear. you get better at it when you practice and concentrate on keeping constant pressure on the pedals despite the high cadence.

- i understand the impulse to use harder gears and "hammer" - you asked if there's a risk of injury. I learned the hard way that "hammering" all the time can cause injury. You're likely not *pulling* anywhere near as hard as you're *pushing*, which means you're using your quads a lot. contraction of the quads pulls the knee together, which puts more pressure on the meniscus, which can lead to knee injury.

so, that's what happened to me. hammering all the time led to knee injury. lately i've been concentrating on keeping a higher cadence, which has given me the control to apply force better over the entire pedal stroke.

not saying you shouldn't use hard gears - you gain muscle that way - i'm just saying don't overdo it. i regret it

I like to feel some pressure on my legs. I ride in the big ring most of the time.

Sounds like an ill fit to me. I judge my saddle height by riding at a very high cadence and feeling how comfortable it is. If you feel "bouncy" or like your hips are swaying, chances are you need some adjustment.

Exactly, I go for the grunt factor on shallow hills. Feels good!!

I just rode a fairly hilly Century with a guy who, shortly after he commented about how much faster than he I was at climbing, proudly announced that he had done the entire ride in the big ring.

When asked why, he replied that he liked the challenge.

Strangely, that cross chaining SOB did not understand my actual face-palm. I'll save my chain, cassette and knees for better things and go faster to boot, thank you very much.