Spinning

[ayceejay]

I think it is fair enough that people like to ride what they like how they like but there was a question asked and it seems right to address that question more openly. The good thing about cycling is that the only prerequisite is a set of human powered wheels but some want to race some tour etc. and all are equally valid. If someone asks how to go faster or what difference a change in cadence will make or how many miles to ride each day on a tour these questions too are valid and "just ride yer bike" may not be that helpful as an answer.

 

[Doobiesis]

I think it is fair enough that people like to ride what they like how they like but there was a question asked and it seems right to address that question more openly. The good thing about cycling is that the only prerequisite is a set of human powered wheels but some want to race some tour etc. and all are equally valid. If someone asks how to go faster or what difference a change in cadence will make or how many miles to ride each day on a tour these questions too are valid and "just ride yer bike" may not be that helpful as an answer.

I could agree more. I need to concentrate on my cadence as I'm training for the London 100. It wouldn't be possible to just ride your bike and hope for the best in a ride like that. I don't wanna be swept up!

 

[mjr]

It's possible @Doobiesis but one might get swept if you're not as fast as you think... but closed roads is usually with a small speed boost anyway so if you're anything close, you'll probably make it. What's the minimum speed this year? 12mph?

 

[Hacienda71]

I got a cadence sensor when I bought my Garmin. It is still in the box some years later. I should sell it really............

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I got a cadence sensor when I bought my Garmin. It is still in the box some years later. I should sell it really............

Is it a GSC10 if it is and you do, I will be interested, my cad still works, but my sp is fooked,
You rotate the pedals at whatever is comfortable to you, to get higher cad right its more about working on techique it needs to be smooth, which is where clip-in and clips help as its the foot on the up stroke that helps to balance the action and its that that needs to be learnt. I can rotate from a low number don't know my lowest probably 40-50 I think any lower and I will fall off, up to generally 110max I think, though on a flat windless road, its likely to be 90-100 usually the higher side of that now I have the gearing how I want, my average gear is 61" and the bike is geared so I have a pretty straight chain line for that somewhere between my 38x16-17 gear at 95rpm on my 38x16 I am doing 17.8mph with ease on a 74.8" gear, or 50x18 (73.6") at 80rpm I know from experience I prefer the first option

 

[Dayvo]

I spin in accordance to the music in the class. I go at my own tempo but make sure I get a good workout without overdoing it.

On a spinning bike I really do feel like I'm dancin' on the pedals. Hills are a different matter though.

 

[agentnomad]

Here are a few notes, ideas to think about.
Spinning at around 90 to 110 is now the norm in pro racing for those that ride this style
Advantages of spinning as I know/understand are, less strain on your joints (you will need these in old age so look after then), it is easier to react to a change in pace (mainly group riding) as you can increase the cadence or change to the next gear and maintain the cadence. For climbing longer hills you stay seated and the limiting part of your body will normally be your lungs as you are seated you are not using energy to hold 60%+ of your body weight through your legs that energy is used to pedal and move the bike forward. You recover quicker for your lungs limiting the performance as opposed to lactic acid in your legs.

Advantages of grinding
You can get over a short step hill quickly (out of the saddle effort), but your legs could be full of lactic acid, done as part of training it can build strength, track sprinters do standing starts to full speed on oversized gears for strength training, same effort can be done up a hill in an oversized gear (you will grind to a stop if doing it right), you need a proper warm up to do the above or you risk having damaged joints latter in life.

My Max cadence on the track riding a 53x15 gear is 133rpm (and around 60kph data logging is at home so approx.)
I ride a fair bit of track and gearing is a tricky one to get right to the point of swopping gearing for different events and who else is riding. If there is a sprinter riding in an endurance event they will try and sit in the wheels and hope the pace just builds up slowly and with a smooth ramp so they can wind the gear up, now if it speeds up quite violently then slows down a few times this really hurts the sprinters on big gears so they are possibly out of contention at the finish but trying to spin your way round a rider on a bigger gear is a challenge but he young kids do it to me far to often.
You could try each extreem out for yourself to experiance the differences and adopt the best one for you.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I don't intentionally try to spin at all but I do concentrate on not grinding up hills. I did try to power (haha) my way up hills at one stage but it hurt my knees.

I

 

[Citius]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jh-5TYAtJI


For those that don't want to watch it all, the interesting stuff starts about 4mins in. For those that can't be bothered to watch any of it, the test shows that there is absolutely minimal difference between high cadence, low cadence and self-selected cadence. What difference there is suggests that a low cadence might be better.

 

[MichaelW2]

Cadence is a means of transferring the workload between your legs and your heart/lungs. The power and work required to cycle at any speed are not affected by cadence.
Endurance cyclists prefer to load their cardio system so use high cadence pedalling.
To achieve high cadence, you need cranks of suitable length. If you have short legs and long cranks, the circumference is simply too far to pedal quickly.
Small riders and endurance athletes sometimes find high cadence pedalling easier than big riders or power athletes.

Most newbie riders pedal too slowly. You can train yourself to pedal more rapidly if you divorce cadence from cycling speed.
Pick a v low gear and gradually ramp up the cadence until you are pedalling stupid fast, but not travelling so quickly. Maintain for a minute or so.
After a few weeks, you will find yourself favouring lower gears and faster cadence.

 

[Citius]

To achieve high cadence, you need cranks of suitable length. If you have short legs and long cranks, the circumference is simply too far to pedal quickly.

I think you are over-estimating the effect of crank length on cadence.

 

[MichaelW2]

I think you are over-estimating the effect of crank length on cadence.

No, small children riding adult cranks have to move their legs through a very high range of motion.It is like running on the spot, if you raise your knees up as high as possible, you can't run as fast as with a lower knee raise.
Small differences of length (2.mm) that are within the correct size range have marginal differences, I am talking about cranks that are too big.

 

[Citius]

No, small children riding adult cranks have to move their legs through a very high range of motion.It is like running on the spot, if you raise your knees up as high as possible, you can't run as fast as with a lower knee raise.
Small differences of length (2.mm) that are within the correct size range have marginal differences, I am talking about cranks that are too big.

Well obviously, putting a 5-year old on 180mm cranks is not a good idea, but that's not really what either of us are talking about.

 

[si_c]

I prefer to mash my way through a bigger gear I find that I enjoy the riding more, it feels a lot more frantic if I raise the cadence. I have been working on raising the cadence somewhat though as I realise it does have benefits. Splashed out on a cadence sensor a couple of weeks ago, and raised it from around 60 average to 70-80 range usually now. Although I only look at it at the end of a ride rather than watching it throughout.

The biggest advantage I've found is at traffic lights, moving off in front of traffic I'm start on a much lower gear than before and have found that I'm getting away much quicker and getting to speed much faster as well. All anecdotal, but raising cadence where appropriate seems to be working for me.

 

[MichaelW2]

Well obviously, putting a 5-year old on 180mm cranks is not a good idea, but that's not really what either of us are talking about.

Actually it is. many small adult riders (<5'2") are riding medium length 170mm cranks. You simply cannot pedal at a rapid cadence like this.