Where’s Gatsby, it’s a slow day at work today….

Did someone use my name in vain? 😉

I’m a fast spinner – it’s something that people I ride with often comment on… On the road bike, I’m most comfortable between 90-100rpm (on the flat) although this tends to creep up during rides to up to 120rpm. I presume I must become more supple as the ride progresses…

I obviously slow down my cadence a lot when climbing, not least because I don’t use a compact.

On the mountain bike, I’ve taken to pushing a bigger gear on rough stuff – if you spin fast, the bike feels like it’s dropping into every single hole, a slower cadence and bigger gear seems to make you skip over the tops of undulations a bit more. I learnt this from advice from Cancellara on riding the cobbles.

Having said that, techy climbing on a mountain bike, you’re either at the right cadence or you’re not. Balancing act, innit.

adsh – Member
…This is born out by the fact that I’m slower on my single speed despite putting in HR Zone 6 effort – whoever says spinning gives more aerobic stress hasn’t single speeded up a steep long hill. I feel sick thinking about it even now.

On a singlespeed on a long steep hill, my legs are fine, I just run out of oxygen. It must be something to do with those contour lines, because it will happen again 50 metres further up the hill, and again, etc. Damn the Ordnance Survey and its oxygen sucking contour lines! 🙂

You should use an AA road map then, they don’t have contour lines.

thegreatape – Member
You should use an AA road map then, they don’t have contour lines.

Good point. Do you think if I used white-out on the contour lines on the OS maps that would help? 🙂

thegreatape – Member
You should use an AA road map then, they don’t have contour lines.

Outed!! you must be Mark from north Leeds – some great days out in the Dales and plenty of en route surprises – that AA map was a scary piece of kit for navigating

Round my way hills tend to be steep, but short. If I can I try to use my momentum and mash a big gear up them. I’ve also been using this technique to do some lactic threshold training.

I’m all for keeping my momentum, I do my best to keep the speed up so i dont have to sit and twiddle in my easiest gear, i do all i can, standing, sitting, it dont matter, so i use whatever gear i need with whatever combination of spinning/pushing i need to maintain this.

I just find once you’re sitting twiddling, i’m actually spending quite a lot of energy and only extending that amount of time i’m expending energy, hence i end up getting more tired.

Over time, using this tactic of just blasting them out has meant that on may day to day riding, even some rides in much bigger hills, the climbs are simply feeling a lot smaller.

I have no clue if it is more/less efficient, i don’t know if it is my fitness, but when i go out riding with sit and twiddlers, each stroke piratically taking them from static to moving, i’m normally a lot fresher than them at the top.

Spinning definitely easier on the knees but if you are after speed then grind away.