Help with cadence and gears malachy

[jamman]

Hi,
still pretty new to all this proper cycling business on my new road bike.

I'm having problems with knowing what gear I should be in

It feels like I'm either having to pedal against too much to keep a good leg speed or there isn't enough resistance to make my leg speed useful

On a reasonable flat how should my legs be feeling?

Should I be pedalling fast with fairly low resistance
Pedalling moderately on moderate resistance
Pedalling harder at a higher resistance

 

[byegad]

Fast with fairly low resistance.

 

[Bicycle]

I agree with the above comment.

At first it might feel as if you are thrashing away and getting nowhere.

But persist...

Everyone is different, but if I'm doing anything between 20 and 70 miles, I like to lollop along at about 95 rpm.

It changes with hills and headwinds, but if you aim to be about there, it won't hurt.

If you're doing way lower than that (as I used to) then build up in increments.

Go on a ride and try to do 75 with occasional bits at 80...

Then 80 with bits of 85 and so on.

My (standard) road bike is geared to do around 86 rpm at 30 mph, which I find comfortable. There's less resistance downhill, so I'll stay in top for that.

Experiment and enjoy the results.

 

[PpPete]

+1
For many people a cadence of 85 - 100 is optimal on the flat, but it may take a bit of getting used to. I used to have a "natural" cadence of around 70, until I went out with a quickish group a few times and found that it was easier to keep up if I dropped a gear or two and got the cadence up into the nineties.

Hills are a different matter - resistance is going to go up a bit whatever gear you are in, and if you are standing to go up the hills. a cadence of 65 -70 is probably better. Other people prefer to stay sitting and keep the gears low enough to maintain almost the same cadence as on the flat.

 

[SquareDaff]

I just altered my natural cadence recently. Used to keep it at about 65 in a high gear but found my fitness was actually deteriorating and I was getting slower. Switched to high cadence - around 90 with an average of 85 ish and pick whatever gear I need to maintain that. In the short term ignore the speed. After a couple of weeks I found my average speed on the commuting route had gone up 2mph.

My next target is to push up to 100 with the aim of getting an average around 90-94.

Coincidentally - if let me cadance drop below 70 now it feels REALLY slow!!

 

[brockers]

Always worth seeing how fast the people who do it for a living pedal. This bloke's quite good apparently. He's probably doing 95-100 (rpm not mph). Some people seem to labour under the illusion (albeit subconsciously) that if they turn a big gear slowly all the time, they'll develop enormous thigh muscles and (go faster as a result), which won't happen unless you've got naturally muscley legs

The french have the word 'souplesse' (meaning suppleness) which they use to describe the way you should pedal most of the time.

 

[david k]

revs in your legs i like to think of it. im new and working on cycling revs fast as opposed to speed. i was on a ride last week when someone was going slightly faster than me, he was doing one turn to my 2 or 3! after 3 miles he slowed, i carried on, within another mile i couldnt even see him behind me, so it works!

 

[Leaway2]

Whats the best way to measure cadence?

 

[accountantpete]

Whats the best way to measure cadence?

You can get bike computers with a cadence facility but the cheapest way is simply to count how many time your right foot goes down in a minute when riding normally. You soon get to know instinctively what cadence you are riding at to within 3-5 rpm.