I'm currently working on increasing my cadence in order to pick up my overall speed - along with a few other methods. Its certainly a dominant theme in the ffedback I've been given by some of the experienced and quick roadies that I've started riding with.

However, the question in this post is what cadence do you ride at? I'm curious about where people fall in the grinder - spinner spectrum. I'm on the grinder (80-90 rpm) end myself. Moreover, my average speed, come hell or high water, is 30km/h and I really want to get up closer to 40.

If you can respond, please add some details about your level of experience, preferred races, average speed, physiology and anything else you may think is relevant.

(Ps - couldn't really find what I wanted on a quick thread search - please point me in the right direction if I missed something).

Mahalo.

Pete

I avg around 100, just started riding again after a looooong break due to work/kids etc so not any recent experience. just over 72", nearly 40, this will be my first summer racing. avg mph wise not really sure, depends on terrain, winds, distance, group or solo. I did some longish (for me) solo rides last week with hills and gusty winds and had 30 kph avg as well. I've been watching the 2005 TDF and LA spinning on the hills; putting into practice has made me a believer. also ride 172.5mm cranks (vs his 175's), hope that helps!

Thanks man . Thats actually quite helpful. Your situation sounds similar to mine - except that you're spinning faster than me. I'm 6'2" , 220lbs and 42 BTW. Just to clarify, by "72"", you mean 6'0" tall right? And what kind of race distances are you targetting?

tx

that's a good question, don't have a specific race on the horizon yet. those last rides were 50 and 38 miles though so in there somewhere. need to figure out where most cat 5/s will be.

Obviously you want a high cadence, somewhere in between 90-95 rpm....because if you're doing a triathlon, you dont want your legs dead by the time you do your run.

I have been riding concentrating on my cadence, doing circles, and extending my leg all the way to get that "free" wattage from them. i did a mimic race last week and hammered my bike ride, and although i was first on the bike portion, when the run came, i came in forth....so all this week my cadence has been key....im losing speed, but i've been finishing my target runs with a bit more energy than my saturday mimic race.

update: I'm sitting at around 90 pretty comfortably now, can get up to 100 for 15-20 min bursts but 90 is more sustainable. As a foot note, I don't have a cadence sensor or watt meter on my bike, just on my indoor trainer so I'm making some assumptions each time i'm on the road but so far its been pretty simple to get a feel for what 90 feels like vs 100 rpm.

Also - JRonaTrek, I'm less concerned about killing my legs at the moment than I am about speed. Bike speed is way down compared to the quick guys in my age group. Comes with being heavy too I guess.