Hmm, just checked a ride from a while back (my cadence meter seems to be on the blink at the moment – zero or 95) and for the big climbs it’s an average of 62. There’ll be a mixture of in and out of the saddle. However on something like the steep bit of Park Rash I am down in the low 40s – this will be using either 34/28 or 34/25 gearing.

I don’t think I could maintain 60/70rpm out of the saddle, will have to try once I’ve got the CM sorted.

Just checked on a hill that I’m not far off the KOM – it’s 1.5Km at 9% and my cadence is 66rpm and I do all but about 100 metres in the saddle.

Well both use 50/36, here in the South Downs it’s about right I reckon, they reckon too.

My mate John used to use 53/39 then went through a year of training on 50/36, first his times were way lower and he was starting to get cheesed off, but he gave it another month to see the season out and his times improved then surpassed his 53/39’s.

I’ve read loads on it too, some of the research makes a lot of sense, some of it is just conjecture.

I too have been upping my cadence, I’m using 53/39 & 11/28 for all the riding I do, (South Downs/Yorkshire/Essex/Nth London/Sth London etc.)
I too have an Edge 810 with the sensors on and when I first had it I just used to rideout as per normal, tracked my ave cadence at 76rpm, I made a conscious effort to up that having read about it all, now ave 83. It took about 8 months to acclimatise to spinning up a bit and strangely I feel better for it.
My main screen is the cadence and heart rate combined.. it’s my default screen, whats that say about what I’m doing then 😆

As for out of the saddle climbing, I’ve stopped doing that. I’m sitting for about 95% of the climbs I do these days then pop out for a leg stretch. If you’d have asked me 3 years ago I’d have said I climbed out of the saddle about 20% of a climb, be it big or small.

I do have to consciously tell myself to “spin up” sometimes as I can feel me dropping back into the 70’s on occasion, but hey..

Whats good for some is rubbish for others.

TBH ive always just ridden what comes on my bikes, being such an outside means no company really caters for me so ive just got on with it.

*cough* little people have it EASY for shorter cranks. It might be worth your while trying something shorter than 170mm – they are out there:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Short_Crank_Database_2862.html

Easier for you to go shorter than me to go longer. My leg length should cope with a 200mm crank arm, but my BB height can’t 😥

Easier for you to go shorter than me to go longer. My leg length should cope with a 200mm crank arm, but my BB height can’t

You certainly don’t have a problem spinning up to 195 odd at a competition level 🙂

Average over a ride has never concerned me, FWIW average cadence last year was 78, so far this year 78 again.

FWIW when I first started with a road bike a few years back coming from only mountain biking I used to do about 60-70rpm.
I started to do longer rides – 80+ miles and found that my legs began to suffer towards the end, especially if there was climbing involved.
I then made a concerted effort this year to up my cadence, getting a compact chainset and consciously aiming for 90rpm.
On most rides I now average 85-90 rpm, TTs and races are closer to 90. On really long hilly rides (e.g. 100 miles with 10,000ft of climbing) my cadence will drop to 75-80, dropping off towards then end of the ride as I get tired and rely on leg strength over cardio fitness.
I no longer get tired legs since upping cadence.
On the MTB cadence is still 60-70 though.

I’m going to try some targeted training over the winter to increase cadence and cardio fitness whilst maintaining leg strength with the aim of getting more punchy.

It is rather low. Power is force x velocity, so you can spin with a low force or mash with a higher force. The lower force is generally less tiring – hence the emphasis on higher cadence.

Try fixing a cadence at about 85 and ride singlespeed to improve. Fixed is even better.

Last time i hooked up a cadence sensor it was averaging around the 100 mark for most rides/races

Intervals on the watt bike i’ll normally hit 120-140 with the ‘on’ intervals as i’d rather not reach down to change the resistance

higher always feels better for me.

I’ve been mountain biking since the mid 80s but started on the road 2 years ago. At first 80rpm seemed crazy fast to me – 70 was good. I now spin at around 93-97 when I can and usually average well over 80 for a ride – even with big hills that require lower numbers. Would suggest to anyone who feels that 90 is too fast that they just stick at it for a bit and it’ll become natural.