Hill Climbing and cadence

[I am Spartacus]

I shall open up the subject for weekend debate

Consider the vast difference in cadence above.
Note the time.
I was honest about the RPE to keep it balanced.
Going with quicker leg speed works for me... it appears

Top line - seated in smaller gear
Bottom line - pushing gear on big ring and having to get out of saddle a lot.

Totally unscientific I know, but always good to gather opinion.
On first run I stayed in that gear .. hence not able to respond to a sprint closer to the top...

 

[Garz]

From the small mean of data provided ( ) and the very short duration it shouldn't spark much of a debate. I would definitely class it as mass debate though!

In all seriousness though, if you want to make it a fairer comparison I think you would have to cycle both the duration you think is a good test bed for an 'average' ride. This would form the control aspect for the comparison.

Was this on a gym bike or on your own cycle computer?

You could do say an hours cycle on a varied course (same number of climbs etc) and see the stats from both angles afterwards. Five minute sprints hardly form a fraction of accuracy considering cycling usually is long(er) distance. Oh well shall await other opinions..

 

[jimboalee]

These are typical results.

Now if you'd swapped the Elapsed times around, that would have caused a stir.

 

[jimboalee]

Do you know the gradient?

Yes?

Now enrol yourself into the Wonderful Wild and Wooly Wattage Wisdom Witchcraft.

 

[Garz]

not the Wookiee Wannabe Wattage and Wily Wizardry?

 

[peanut]

I think it might be more fruitful to try this experiment over a shorter distance and a longer distance as well .

I reckon you might find that a lower cadence ,out of the saddle effort on a short steep hill would be more efficient than high cadence 'in the saddle'

Whereas on a longer hill a higher cadence in the saddle effort would be more efficient.


Hill climbing is all about maximum effort at your aerobic threshold just before going anerobic .

If you watch 30 riders on a hill climb there is hardly the same method used by any of them

 

[Will1985]

A magazine (? C+) did/reported a study on this a few months with a group of French amateur riders over multiple ascents (measuring power as well) and got similar results.

IIRC the conclusion was that cadence was more of a personal preference....pretty obvious really.

 

[peanut]

A magazine (? C+) did/reported a study on this a few months with a group of French amateur riders over multiple ascents (measuring power as well) and got similar results.

IIRC the conclusion was that cadence was more of a personal preference....pretty obvious really.

it was a proper scientific study .
i posted a link to it on CC about 2x months ago. very interesting study

 

[jimboalee]

The first thing I learned when I started cycling distances was:-

The more often the knees go up and down, the sooner I got saddle sore.

To these ends, I trained for low cadence torque for the majority of situations.

I apply this technique on every bike I own, including the Apollo County with it's bog standard Halfords rough-and-ready saddle.

I did a 100 km DIY Audax earlier this year on that bike with no 'sore arse' effect.

Peanut's Video about climbing suggests an alternation between sitting and standing. This, as the narrator says is to spread the task around the leg and hip muscles.
My slant on this is that it also gives the backside some air for cooling.

 

[jimboalee]

Can't work out your power?

Wander the Welltrodden Way to the Wilderness World of Witless Wasters.

 

[I am Spartacus]

It was a real hill.. not especially steep ... 5% maybe

I did say this was unscientific!

Here's another one....If i expended 15 kj on that climb 1 st run
and 20 kj on the 2nd

would my power in watts been higher on 2nd run?

 

[Garz]

Well I suppose you could just have expended more energy as you were riding incredibly inefficiently!

Sticking it in a harder to pedal gear and wobbling all over the place would burn more calories but would it get you up the hill quicker? Probably, however more tired wont do you much good long term.

 

[Bill Gates]

I have noticed when climbing with other riders that those in a bigger gear will tend to get away at the bottom but unless they change to a lower gear than the one they started with will be overtaken by those pedalling a lower gear the further up the climb they go.

So taking the best from both would seem to be the answer. Get the momentum going at the bottom and then change down and pedal to keep it going.

 

[I am Spartacus]

Well I suppose you could just have expended more energy as you were riding incredibly inefficiently!

Sticking it in a harder to pedal gear and wobbling all over the place would burn more calories but would it get you up the hill quicker? Probably, however more tired wont do you much good long term.

Can you clarify re efficiency please.

In your view.....Out of saddle work = inefficency?

I am genuinely interested in opinion here.

 

[I am Spartacus]

I have noticed when climbing with other riders that those in a bigger gear will tend to get away at the bottom but unless they change to a lower gear than the one they started with will be overtaken by those pedalling a lower gear the further up the climb they go.

So taking the best from both would seem to be the answer. Get the momentum going at the bottom and then change down and pedal to keep it going.

It was an experimentation in one style over the other.