A question on high cadence training
 

I've seen recommendation to learn to spinning at 120 rpm for up to an hour. I understand the value of high cadence for acceleration but how does learning to spin 120 rpm helps when one normally rides at 90 rpm? Thanks.

An hour? I doubt I could keep it up for more than a minute. I could see doing intervals of it for an hour.

Neuromuscular conditioning. Trains the nerves to fire the muscles at the correct moment. Many training modalities are outside the envelope of normal riding. This is one of them. Seems to do some good for the leg muscles, too. I do this only on my rollers, only in the winter, and only for 45 minutes max. I do it as a recovery drill, keeping HR in zone 2, thus gearing low. I start at 15 minutes and gradually work up. It's fun to see that zone 2 cadence gradually come up from the training effect.

Thus I don't necessarily pedal at 120 or at least not to start with. After my fall lay-off, I might hit only 112 in zone 2 and gradually work up to 116-117. I don't think I've ever managed 120 in zone 2. Of course I could easily do that in zone 3, but that's a slightly different workout. It could replace some zone 3 interval work, though I doubt there's any greater utility in that.

For one, avg cadence may be 90 but there are times where your cadence might be 110 or 120. But in general, it's like most all training, you push to extremes to force adaptation. Doing high cadence drills makes maintaining high cadence smoother and easier. I do it more like intervals. An hour straight seems pretty extreme.

I will do an occasional 110-120rpm on the rollers for 30-45 minutes. It's just cardio and helps you smooth out your pedal stroke. I would not focus on that too much but nice to change things up and spin. Not much different than a spin class.

Actually it is, because spin bikes are fixies with a flywheel. Very different mechanics on a freewheel bike. Spin bikes are a fun cross-training thing, but I don't think they help one's pedaling any - quite the contrary.

^
I have a spin bike sitting next to my rollers. Some nights I do rollers, some night spin bike. I agree that the rollers/freewheel are more of an overall benefit, but to someone who is trying to up their cadence, a spin bike will certainly help to speed up their legs. Thinking about it, I guess the spinning weight pulling your legs along does keep you from bouncing and you are just going along for the ride so it won't help to smooth you out.

Thanks. Perhaps I should rephrase my question a little better. I don't ride at cadence much above 100 but I can definitely spin smoothly at 120. I understand about pushing the limit in training so that you can respond when needed but it's not clear to me if I don't ever ride at 120, how does the training benefit me? And why at 120? Why not higher?

Sure, pedal faster. Nothing magic about 120 other than a lot of people have trouble reaching it.

Anyway, next winter try it and see if it helps your road performance come spring. At least it's something that's vaguely entertaining to do on the rollers.

Looking at a higher cadence roller ride, it appears to be an all cardio drill that helps smoothness. I never got out of my small ring for this drill and watch the heart rate climb. I also do roller drills with max cadence spin-ups. So in my experience, these help to vary the workouts and I usually do these higher cadence rides when my legs are tired from strengthening drills , for recovery.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=317106

Wanted to add that after 30 minutes or so of high cadence in an easy gear, your legs feel juiced and ready to roll. I have incorporated spin-ups and easy gear sprints into my pre-event leg opener routine.

I'm trying it now to see what improvement will come. I also ride year round outside and can't stand to ride on the trainer. I tried it once and didn't last even 5 mins If there is snow on the ground, I'll just hop on my mountain bike and head toward the trails instead.

Well after a few weeks of practicing spinning like a mad (for me) at high cadence, I have some interesting updates. The short answer is that it doesn't help me riding at 90 rpm mostly because I now no longer rider around 90 rpm. Instead, I now ride at 100-105 rpm. Why? I found that legs feel great at that cadence after each ride regardless of distance. Also, I found that I can spin up to 113 rmp indefinitely, but at 120, it's difficult to maintain on bumpy roads, and I can't spin fast than 139 rmp, yet. Don't know if I ever will. In short, it has been a very useful exercise for me.

Good to hear. I ought to do more work on leg speed myself, but I'm lazy about it. You may have persuaded me to make the effort.

I'm impressed. Those are some very quick results.

Thanks. I ride more than 200 miles/week and most of that is from the long commute so I have plenty of time to pratice. It's strange to think that what felt normal (90 rpm) no longer feel so normal now.