I've got the pro version as well and I'd be interested to know how it works! If you choose to believe it I'm averaging in the 130rpm over 30 odd miles. Sure that can't be right! Would love to know what's more important power or cadence. I'm a lowly amateur 10 and can't generate much more than 160 watts yet I seem to beat more powerful riders probably due to spinning the pedals faster, just don't get it?!
Power, power, power ...
Cadence is interesting, as you will be more efficient at certain cadences than others, depending on your physiology, but power is all that matters in the end, it's just how you produce it, and how long you can maintain it.
The pro calculates cadence the same as the power tap hub, it looks at peaks in torque and assumes two peaks per revolution of the pedals. As each foot passes the top dead centre and starts pushing down it will increase torque until a peak, and then reduce as it approaches bottom dead centre, then the other foot takes over. Counting torque peaks and dividing by two would give cadence.
The powertap is pretty good at this, so long as you are pedalling at a decent rate and not changing gear, and I understand that the Bkool Pro is also pretty good, once you have the latest (withdrawn) firmware applied. On previous firmware it is supposed to be rubbish. No way are you averaging 130 rpm over 30 miles, you'd be lucky to hit 130 rpm at all, perhaps downhill briefly!
It is thought to be better to pedal at a high cadence as this is less draining of the muscles, and more likely to use aerobic respiration (with oxygen) than anaerobic respiration. You can maintain a certain level of aerobic respiration for a very long time, so long as you can get oxygen to your muscles to sustain that rate. Anaerobic respiration, on the other hand, you can only maintain for a certain amount of time before you run out and have to stop. So a higher cadence is better for endurance.
Also, since power is torque times rpm the higher the rpm the higher the power, so long as the torque does not reduce. The highest power will be produced when the product of torque and rpm are at the highest, this is unlikely to be at a low rpm.
I have seen recommendations for pedal cadence of at least 80-90 rpm, perhaps dropping below this on a very steep climb where it is hard to maintain. However, it takes a little training to get use to using a higher cadence.
Cheers,
Geoff
. Right now I'm not sure if its just league rides or all rides. Perhaps find out tomorrow.
