Is it just a matter of practise makes perfect or are there specific drills I could work on?

Pedal faster. Or go singlespeed.

specific drills

yes. mostly pedalling faster.

http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/indoorCyclingWorkout.php?nav=search

try one foot at a time. that will reveal how good your stroke is (ahem).

Fixed.

Force yourself to ride in an easier gear.

Fixed and downhill. If you aren’t smooth by the bottom you will have fallen off! 😈

Change down and spin until you are bouncing in the saddle

Also download 180bpm music to spin to at 90rpm

Click on Archive and scrol to the bottom.
http://www.djsteveboy.com/podrunner.html

Yes, it’s drum and base etc but you don’t have to have it on loud, just oud enough to follow the beat.

There is a mini advert for the first minute (fast forward) but it’s 60 minutes of free music

I have had one training ride so far with the cadence sensor, my happy place seems to be 65, tried to ride at 90 but it felt really slow and I found I was getting out of breathe spinning, whereas I,d normally be quite happy pushing a bigger gear. It doesn’t feel faster, though I,m told cadence is the secret to fast race times.

Select and easier gear than you would normally use and try to maintain speed between set points eg 200 m apart. Over time reduce gears by more and increase distance by more…

Pedal faster.

Deal with the suffering.

Repeat.

Concentrate on turning circles and applying as even a pressure as you can throughout the stroke. Rollers or turbo trainer work well for this cos you can hear it. It should be a smooth whiiiiirrrrrrrrr noise, if it goes Whirr, Whirr, Whirr then it’s not smooth.

Riding fixed also helps – start off with about a 70 – 74″ gear and see how you get on.

If you don’t have rollers, turbo or fixed gear then shift down one gear from what you’d normally use and keep it smooth. Spinning as fast as you can downhill (while still applying steady power) is really good leg speed training.

Thanks for the link to the turbo plans, going to have a proper browse. I do gave a second hand turbo but much prefer riding outside if I can. Fixed means buying more bike stuff which may get me divorced!

Other than pedalling faster…

Mostly use the TT to work on this. I do a few quick intervals as part of a warm up that involve high cadence. For me this is at about 120+, after a 1×1 min, then 2×2 mins of this going back to between 90 to 100 feels comfortable.

Also ride with a computer that displays cadence (I only do this on the road bike as it’s pointless on an mtb) and keep checking it.

If you’re happy at 65rpm why do you feel that you want to change? I’m curious because I’m generally a big ring masher too, both on tarmac and off-road. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I used anything less than a 52t ring on the road bike, it must have been months ago. I’m more than happy to be educated as to why what I do isn’t considered ‘best practice’, but as things stand it appears to be working fine for me, despite regular comments that I should be spinning more – often as I pass them going up hill.

I keep thinking about cadence on my training rides.
‘They’ imply that a high cadence is the way to go for racing. However, whilst riding with a high cadence gives me good performance over the duration of a typical training run, most UK racing is fairly short and IME raced in a big gear. Like a bunch time trial.
So I wonder about it’s worth for Vets and 3/4th cat racing.
That said it’s good for longevity, so I’m happy to stay in 39 all winter.

Edit; If this is about MTB’ing, is it actually an issue. Cadence seems to come naturally off road?

oooh podrunner looks really handy

anyone happen to know the bpm i need – running between 7 and 7:30 a mile with a 32″ inside leg?
praps ill just start with the 180stuff and only aim for the end of the road to start with.

I find it easier to ride at a high cadence off road, just seems to come more naturally. I think it could be to do with the slightly different foot position on the pedals, or the fact that you seem to get better traction spinning away.

The Sanity Assisin – when you drive do you just floor the gas in top gear or do you find the engine performs better within a range of rpm.

obviously you are no engine but its the same theory.

Easy on the knees innit… If you have bad knees. Doesn’t it also help fatigue?

Legs always feel more tired if you’re pushing a very hard gear I find.

Liking podrunner too, downloading a couple of tracks now. Basically I am looking to improve my cadence for enduros, after about 2-3 hrs of racing I suffer inside knee pain and eventually cramp up. Pushing an easier gear faster is supposed to help endurance. Never tried to work on it so thought i,d give it a go. Also trying out specialised footbeds.

DT78 I’ve been working on cadence. I train with some guys that push big gears. At first I was falling back and would have to shift up into the 53. Lately I’ve been keeping up in the 39. And more recently I find myself passing on the inclines. Not the fastest by any means, but the oldest. And I can tell my breathing is less strained and my body isn’t bobbing.
Come race day it’ll be 53 all the way. Question is, what effect does a high cadence have when racing short distances?

Edit; If this is about MTB’ing, is it actually an issue. Cadence seems to come naturally off road?

On the MTB there are loads of factors that go into determining your cadence. I wouldn’t bother thinking about it off road.

Anyway mostly ride flats on the MTB and (probably due to bad technique!) find there’s a bit of a limit to just how quickly I can spin and keep feet in contact with the pedals.

Edit: Anyone gone compact on their road bike and upped their cadence?

Forgot to say that the road bike came to me second hand with a 52/34 compact up front and an 11-28 cassette. I also use flat pedals.
I don’t know whether it’s just me that’s affected this way, but when racing (virtually always on the mtb – I’ve done 1 sportive of 65 miles at eyeballs-out effort on the tarmac) I am susceptible to cramping up and this only ever happens when I’m not on the big ring. If I’m spinning away in the middle/granny ring and I start cramping then I can nearly always pedal through it if I get back on the big ring as soon as possible. Perhaps I’m overly aware of this and it’s making me reluctant to try riding at higher cadences? Luckily I’ve never suffered with bad knees either.

There are plenty of cadence drills out there, have a look on the internet, but mainly it is about spinning as fast as you can for periods to train your nerves/muscles to do it efficiently.

I’ve worked on it on the road bike and it does take time, but I reckon spinning a higher cadence is more efficient, provided you adapt properly. It won’t feel better straight away.

As for racing (I’m not talking enduros or sportives here), it is much easier to follow surges/attacks when spinning say 85+ rpm than mashing at 60rpm.

Get on the track 😀

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgyq8Zkp10Y[/video]

Bloody hell

Pray these guys don’t turn up at rollapalooza….
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbwngNoHm0&feature=related[/video]