Big or Small ring?

[Nigelnaturist]

Are you stretching your legs after riding to help them recover and having rest days? Presumably not if you are commuting but your legs take days to recover?

Also if riding big ring and big cogs, you could be shortening the life of your drive chain

This would almost be inevitable if I rode a 50/34 setup, or at least towards either end of the cassette.

 

[vickster]

Indeed, another reason to not grind up hills on the big ring knees aside

 

[si_c]

There is no such thing as a right way to pedal your bike just ride which ever way makes you comfortable. On the flat I tend to pedal around 80-90rpm comfortably, and try to maintain that rather than aim for a specific gear, although I will tend to err towards a higher gear and lower cadence as that is what I find more comfortable. When riding up hills I prefer a higher cadence and lower gear.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each pedalling style, so find what works for you and stick with it. You won't use less energy one way or the other, it takes the same amount of energy to pedal at 100rpm at 20mph or 80rpm at 20mph, the work done is the same, but you can tire your muscles easier if you push a higher gear because of how that energy is applied.

Overall the current consensus is that a lower gear will stress your muscles and joints less, so if you suffer from knee pain for example it is better to use a lower gear.

 

[steveindenmark]

Slick, we are all different.

Im a fast spinner. I can ride all day and night like that and keep my heart rate very low. I ride with other people who can ride in big gears but not all day and all night.

There is a lot of tortoise and hare in this cycling lark. I am happy being a tortoise.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I outsource cadence to my legs. They know best. Every now and then they send up a request for a gear change. Normally I comply. Sometimes I respond by standing up for a bit. Sometimes, just for a laugh, I come over all Jensie and tell them to shut up, but they don't have much of a sense of humour.

 

[ColinJ]

Legs hurt, lungs and heart ok ... change to a lower gear.

Out of breath, legs ok ... try a higher gear.

Legs hurt, out of breath ... slow down.

Legs hurt, out of breath, going too slow to balance ... long term: get fitter; short term: get off and walk!

 

[Slick]

I must admit to being guilty of not warming up much, but I feel we tend to warm up naturally by building up the speed and effort slowly. I was also told not to stretch tired legs as you could damage an already stressed muscle. Probably another urban myth.

Lots to ponder, so thanks all for your input.

 

[boydj]

As Colin said above, a higher cadence puts more emphasis on heart/lung fitness, while a lower cadence in a bigger gear will tire the leg muscles more quickly. The consensus seems to be that the higher cadence is more efficient in the long run.

 

[S-Express]

As Colin said above, a higher cadence puts more emphasis on heart/lung fitness, while a lower cadence in a bigger gear will tire the leg muscles more quickly. The consensus seems to be that the higher cadence is more efficient in the long run.

Aerobic effort is not dictated by cadence though. It's possible to turn a low cadence and still place a high demand on your heart/lungs. The most 'efficient' cadence will vary depending on objectives, or whatever type of terrain you happen to be riding at the time, so it doesn't follow that a higher cadence will be more efficient in the 'long run' - whatever the 'long run' means.

 

[gbb]

You need a bit of time to see the difference upping your cadence can make.
As a former masher (low cadence, high effort, high speed), my knees hurt occasionally, occasionally quite badly. I was fit, I could hammer myself, but it did hammer the knees .
Decided to spin more, at first it seemed counter productive, felt horrible, too slow, but within a month I guess, I found I could almost maintain the speeds I used to do...with a lower, more forgiving gear ratio.
On a 50/40 chain set, I could fairly motor along on the 40 and rarely felt the need to get onto the 50t ring

What gears does OP have one his bike I wonder ?

 

[GuyBoden]

I learned to spin on a gym bike. Keep the cadence around 90 for an hour, then it becomes second nature.

46, 36, 26 front triple chain rings, is the choice at my age, so I can ride against the wind and get up any hills I can't avoid, my knees just can't grind anymore.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I learned to spin on a gym bike. Keep the cadence around 90 for an hour, then it becomes second nature.

46, 36, 26 front triple chain rings, is the choice at my age, so I can ride against the wind and get up any hills I can't avoid, my knees just can't grind anymore.

I am currently finding the 38x12 in some situations a bit on the short side, though usually at that gear length I would normally be on the 50th (50/38/26 12-27 25.5-110") I just sometimes find it a little more convenient staying on the 38th front ring, I am considering a 24/36/48 11-23 setup to give 27.7-115.6" but also a better range on the middle ring from currently 37.3-83.9" to 41.5-86.7" I am not using the the 38x27 to do much climbing around here currently, I for one have no issues using which ever gear combination works at any given time.

 

[Slick]

You need a bit of time to see the difference upping your cadence can make.
As a former masher (low cadence, high effort, high speed), my knees hurt occasionally, occasionally quite badly. I was fit, I could hammer myself, but it did hammer the knees .
Decided to spin more, at first it seemed counter productive, felt horrible, too slow, but within a month I guess, I found I could almost maintain the speeds I used to do...with a lower, more forgiving gear ratio.
On a 50/40 chain set, I could fairly motor along on the 40 and rarely felt the need to get onto the 50t ring

What gears does OP have one his bike I wonder ?

The horrible truth is, I haven't got a clue. As soon as I see numbers as posted above, my eyes glaze over.

I did the exact same route this morning with the same guy that mentioned it to me, only this time I spun a lot more in the small ring. As you say, it felt counter productive but at the end of the run I had enough left over to do an additional climbing route so there must be something in it.

Of course, I've still got the same problem, as after doing the extra climb my legs are still like jelly. Can't win.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Slick it gets easier, what @GuyBoden and i are saying is there are many options to gearing and its not difficult to understand really, however experience will give you an idea what you will want, it took me a couple of years to settle on my current set up its not perfect biggish jumps from 21-24-27 which i don't like but need the lower gearing for weight I carry and a few of the inclines I go up, they are not really difficult just peak at over 10% but at the end of a ride or home from shopping.

 

[Slick]

Thanks, I do understand it, I just like to keep it simple stupid. My bike is fairly basic with only 2 front rings, it's geared very different from my mates Trek as we were both on the small ring but I had to spin faster to keep up.

I do get it now, thanks to all for their input. I feel I probably need to experiment a bit more and obviously improve my general fitness.