Finally got a bike computer with cadence sensor on it and was surprised to find my average is at 90 rpm. I seem to be spinning along at 100 rpm most of the time. All of which seems high.

Do I need to start hitting the big gears more often to keep the rpm down nearer 60 to 80?

I’m a ‘spinner’ on a road bike – 90-110 seems to be about my average doesn’t seem to be a problem and I find it a lot easier than fighting a bigger gear.

Nope, sounds like you’ve got a spin that would be the envy of many (well, assuming you’re not flapping all over the place while doing 100). Souplesse the roadies call it.

90 on the road. Off road a cadence computer is useless

100+

Rik, it is on the road so 90 sounds OK, but I’m training for offroad so sounds like I might be spending the winter getting very good at spinning on the road then hit my first offroad hill of the spring and die!

The short answer is “whatever feels comfortable”.

The long answer about best cadence is to put the bike on a turbo and ride it at a certain heart rate (not flat out but a reasonably hard pace) at various different cadences. Try and stick to the same HR then look at the cadence/speed correlation. Best cadence is one that give the highest speed at that HR. In theory.

The general number that crops up in these sorts of studies is 90rpm although it’s difficult to tell if that’s been recommended cos it’s what most people seem to pedal at or if it’s most efficient. It’s become a sort of cycling folklore rule.

It’s crazy looking at the cadences these guys reach on those rollapaluza bikes

254rpm !

Check this guy out for cadence

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbwngNoHm0[/video]

Just what gears were invented to avoid 😉

I have a theory that the lighter build you are, the higher cadence is appropriate. Because in theory faster is better, but the heavier your legs are the more energy is wasted simply moving their mass up and down. So there’s a point where the advantage of faster cadence is outweighed by the energy wasted in moving your legs.

Pure conjecture though – never tested it or really researched it.

However.. I do ride with a power meter and I find that a given wattage is noticeably easier for me when I ride at around 70-80rpm than when I ride at 80-90rpm, and I have pretty heavy legs.

cadence – whatever works for you.

Doesn’t work for me molgrips – I’m a spinner (though I did train myself to be one as it didn’t come naturally) but definitely not the skinny build – not even when I was proper fit. Learning to spin made a huge difference to me on longer rides (say 3+ hours) where I used to start to pop when I was a big gear pusher. And the thing is that learning to spin doesn’t really reduce your ability to mash a big gear when you need to.

When you say big gear pushing and spinning clubber – what kind of cadences are you talking about?

My rides are almost always 80-82 average, and if I have a ride where I feel crap and feel like I’m struggling to push gears, the average only drops to 77 or so.

Spinning – 90 to 100 – sensible roadie spin, though probably more like 80-90 when offroad (not the SS!).

I used to push 60-70 most of the time. Didn’t get any slower (after the first couple of weeks) when teaching myself to spin but really did notice a big difference as mentioned on the longer rides.

My average changes depending on terrain, on an undulating ride typically is mid to low 80’s on hillier peaks rides it’s in the mid to high 70’s

I’ve seen it somewhere that around 80/90 should be the most efficient for most people.

I have a theory that the lighter build you are, the higher cadence is appropriate. Because in theory faster is better, but the heavier your legs are the more energy is wasted simply moving their mass up and down. So there’s a point where the advantage of faster cadence is outweighed by the energy wasted in moving your legs.

I like this excuse!

80-120+ for road stuff and turbo trainer, I’ve set my SS on a slightly spinnier ratio as well as I’m happy a high cadence and it just seems to all gel nicely with my breathing and heart rate.

60 = too low

120 = too high

Anything else is probably about right

I have a theory that the lighter build you are, the higher cadence is appropriate. Because in theory faster is better, but the heavier your legs are the more energy is wasted simply moving their mass up and down. So there’s a point where the advantage of faster cadence is outweighed by the energy wasted in moving your legs.

Looking at that spindly legged stick insect Chris Hoy I reckon you must be spot on. 🙂

Mind you I’m pretty light and I do favour spinning. I also use 165mm cranks which are better for me. I think it also depends on whether your legs or your CV system are your strong / weak point. I don’t have the leg strength to push big gears.

I can’t manage a high cadence, Ive tried but with no joy. Though it’s probably not worth the bother now.
On long runs I end up pushing a big gear for the comfort, spinning causes me all sorts of aches.

*Feel free to shoot me down*

Won’t a persons make up effect what cadence works best, ie, do you have slow or fast twitch muscle fibres?

Fast twitch = Spinner

Slow twitch = Pusher

I know I’ve got slow twitch muscle fibres and I find that on a long ride I get much more tired spinning a low gear than I do pushing something a bit harder at a lower rpm.

Pushing big gears is no way to ride and very bad technique. Very bad for muscle development to esp in young people.

That’s why they restrict (or at least used to) the gearing ratios on junior and youth road races so you can’t push a big gear.

So funny to watch an evening 10 tt race and watch all the bods trying to grind out a huge gear on there posh carbon tt bikes and not getting any faster times than I used to on my none tri-bared road bike 15 years ago.

Spinning is def the way forward!

Won’t a persons make up effect what cadence works best, ie, do you have slow or fast twitch muscle fibres?

Fast twitch = Spinner

Slow twitch = Pusher

If anything, it’d be the other way round. Fast twitch muscle fibres are for instantaneous efforts though IIRC, which cycling isn’t on the whole. That’d only be a factor if you were say track sprinting or going for a tour stage win from a bunch sprint.

Off road that is quite a high cadence. What sort of average speed are you hitting?
If you are averaging over 12 mph off road and hitting 90+ cadence I wouldn’t worry

See, shot down in flames 😉