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Hi,
I ride spinning, steady cadence, even speed all the time, get the momentum going etc.... I ride geared and singlespeed.
I am need to convince a fellow rider that stomping big gears is not the way to go.... Hurt equals excersise in their opinion.
I know he will be faster, ride further and save his joints...
Any links, advice I can send him ? He may listen to that......
To be fair, hurt does equal exercise. If he's pushing harder gears, chances are he's stressing his CV system? I guess that's how you improve.
There's spinning and spinning. Not everyone spins at the same RPMs. Spinning a piss easy gear is not really going to make you improve.
I know , trouble is he gets knackered, we drop him. He has the core strength, but just the wrong technique. He's often in the third ring,. The gyroscopic action of a fast cadence gets you through the dodgy stuff.
The right gear and cadence means you can shift between two or three cogs to cope with pretty much everything.
Maybe we need to get him on a singlespeed to show him.
I was sort of playing devils advocate (is that the right term?)
Plus, for some reason, I thought you were talknig about road cycling.
But i agree, spinning a gear over rough stuff is definitely the way!
If he gets, knackered, I reckon thats more of a general fitness issue rather than the fact her turns big gears.
Trouble is he's 10 years older than me, got more determination than fitness, ex kick boxer, rower, grandad and can drink like a fish. He s ridden every Sunday through the last three winters.
If only we can get his technique right, we will all be riding the London Brighton off road.
Ha, sounds like a stubborn bastard, perhaps he needs a personality change to get him to sit and spin, rather than technique? 😉
Remove the big ring?
Sabotage his front mech so it won't go into big ring...
How do you know he'll be so much quicker if he spins? It's not categorically better, he may just be less fit?!
I've taught people to think about why they have gears and what cadence means - that seems to have worked quite well. Explaining to them that gears are just there so they can keep their legs moving at whatever is a comfortable cadence for them, regardless of the terrain. So, going uphill is a different gear to flat and down.
It sound like you already understand the benefits of using your gears more efficiently, if he won't listen to you is he going to listen to an article on the internet?
Could be he's just a grinder and you need to accept that. I've a mate who cannot comprehend going for a run/ride/swim and not completely beasting himself. He's always been like that though so now he's completely bullet proof as he can maintain a fairly high cadence and push a big gear 🙂
Point out the wear he might be doing to his knees, particularly if everything is not perfectly aligned/canted/etc.
Human knees are not particularly robust and when they are gone they are pretty much gone.
You would think that he would figure it by the fact that he gets dropped later on, pride would make him consider that he should up his cadence to not get dropped.
I think of it like a petrol engine - there is a peaky power delivery curve and you get the best performance using your gear to keep the engine in that peaked zone. Trying to grind everything is like starting off from the lights in 2nd or 3rd gear.
Sounds like a lost cause. Chronic knee pain will change his ways.
MTBing isn't helped by pejorative terms like 'Granny ring' though. How much damage has that slur done over the years I wonder?
Does pushing a big gear knacker your joints? I push a big gear most of the time, i find a cadence of 70 about right for me, but then i spend 5/6 months of the year on a singlespeed.
If he is only riding once a week, then id say that's why he cant keep up.
rocky mountain - Member
Trouble is he's 10 years older than me, got more determination than fitness, ex kick boxer, rower, grandad and can drink like a fish.
He sounds a bit like me, (apart from the kick boxer bit), which is why I seem to ride a singlespeed far better than I can ride bikes with gears. I can get up stuff on a SS that has me beaten in the granny ring on a geary bike.
Get him on a singlespeed, he sound the perfect candidate for one, and besides, if that's how he likes to ride.......
Does pushing a big gear knacker your joints?
if you are putting stress on the joint it probably will, although a cadence of 70 sounds healthy.
A big no-no is apparently trying to control your cadence on a fixed wheel, or even braking by stopping peddling.
Our knees are not setup at all to deal with stresses in that direction.
and can drink like a fish
maybe a side bet - whoever can do the whole route in middle/granny gets free beer?
spinning can be outside comfort zone - maybe pick a short ride and a beer bet