jonathanf2

My road bike is actually setup for lower cadence climbing. I'm 5'7", but using 175mm crank arms with a 50:34t crankset and 11-32t rear cassette. I've been experimenting with different climbing techniques, but lately I've been wanting to stay in my big chainring while climbing, lowering the cadence and then climbing out of saddle to maximize my leg muscles built up from powerlifting on the sprints. One thing I notice is that I fatigue faster if I go hard early, but if I preserve energy I can make up the distance later on when other riders start feeling the burn. Oh yeah, I always imagine the top/summit/finish is about several yards/meters ahead. I never slow down until I go pass so I don't slow my pace while still on the climb.

Also I do train in high cadence low gear riding. I swap back-n-forth between my road and gravel bikes. My gravel bike is setup with short 165mm cranks and Shimano GRX 2x gearing. With this setup my cadence is 10-20rpm over my road bike with lower overall gearing.

PeteHski

Low cadence at high torque (big gear) helps to keep your heart rate down if that's your limitation. But once you get down below 60 rpm most people can usually generate more power in a lower gear by bringing the cadence back up slightly. As an example, when sprinting most people generate their maximum power north of 100 rpm, even though their maximum torque is generated at a much lower rpm. As an extreme, think of a standing start in your biggest gear. Maximum torque is applied right at the very beginning, but maximum power comes once you have spun up the gear, even though it feels subjectively easier (until your lungs catch up!).

Carbonfiberboy 

Every well-conditioned rider's climb rate limitation in any gear is HR. The issue then is one of duration. What is fastest on a short climb will not be the same thing that's fastest on a long climb, long climb meaning 1000' of vertical or so. On short climbs, hammering OOS will always be faster. This is true for short rides but on long rides doing that will make you slower overall as your legs can't take too much of that. On long climbs and long rides, one tries to balance leg effort and HR. If legs are tiring, gear down. If legs are fine but HR is too high, gear up. Power is interesting in that one can see what the result of HR and leg effort is. One doesn't actually need a HRM as breathing is a good analogue of HR. However I've found HR is an excellent method of pacing on long rides and climbs. Power doesn't matter much for that. What one wants to know is the physiological cost of power.

anga

Two possibilities to consider.

1. Assume you workout Mon to Sat, with Sun off.
Do legs on Sat. Take Sun off.

2. Workout Mon Tue with Wed off. Again, Th, Fri, Sat with Sun off.
Powerlifting on Tue and Sat.

In either case, you get a day's rest after weights.

jonathanf2

Ever since I've been monitoring my heart rate it gives a nice visual to what I'm feeling especially when climbing. Also when trail climbing in low gear (but no out of saddle), I find I can maintain a higher BPM longer at lower gear. With my road bike I have to really watch BPM to reduce fatigue, but when doing so I have far more explosive sprint climbs (out of saddle) when needed.

Anyways, I've opted to place squat day before I take a day off. Legs tend to take the longest recovery for me.