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I wouldn't worry too much. We all do different things. My knees are screwed so twiddling just makes things worse. Maybe its a development thing. I was brought up time trialling on a 13-17 block and a 42/52 chainset. I struggle to twiddle a little gear. I'm a lot faster up almost any hill by pushing a medium to high gear(although its gets low on the 25% + ones) at about 60 to 70 rpm max. I suspect I get away with it as we don't have big long hills in Britain where low gears might work. I also find that too low spoils the smoothness of the cadence and it gets a bit jerky. You may find that at some point that's worth a thought.
some of this ^^^
i unintentionally (i was just riding what was in front of me) did a 20 min power best (for the last 18 months) last week on some climb out of/near Penmachno, average speed was sub 10kph and cadence was 68 average
Higher cadences make me feel like my hips are about to disintegrate. I think on a mtb cadence is as much about bike control and traction as optimal physiology. Probably only time off-road cadence is dictated by physiology or training is on a fire road
Maybe its a development thing. I was brought up time trialling on a 13-17 block and a 42/52 chainset. I struggle to twiddle a little gear.
I'm exactly the same. Grew up doing short TTs (mainly 10s, the odd 25). I've no idea what my average cadence is but I'm sure I push larger gears than most up hills. It does mean I'm quite fast on the ups (especially on the fat bike which keeps traction) provided they're not technical. However, my legs 'go' well before my aerobic capacity and when they're gone - well they're gone.
I'm trying to work on spinning better but it just isn't my natural style
This topic and the "Training with Max HR" thread the other day sort of line up with what I've been thinking about/looking at recently.
I've been making more use of my HR zones to manage effort levels for all of my riding, trying not to spend too much time in Z5 digging into my limited Anerobic reserves too much...
I bought a cadence sensor last winter, fitted it to my Road bike and then didn't pay much attention to it for several months, however in recent months I've started using it alongside HR as a way to understand and manage my effort levels when out riding. The key for me seems to be looking at what HR is doing in relation to Cadence at any given moment, it sounds obvious but it isn't always so...
My Heart seems to be happiest on flats/hills (Low-Mid Z4) at between about 85-95rpm with gear selection to suit, if cadence drops due to a steeper incline and more work being needed, HR heads up obviously, I can manage the rate of work with gear choice (till that runs out) and/or adjusting cadence, eventually any climb that goes up enough will send me into Z5 but I can delay that if I pay attention to cadence from the bottom.
If I spin up on the flat over ~100rpm then again HR goes up, so I can use Cadence again as a way to try and manage HR in order to reduce overall fatigue.
I'm getting better at spotting HR and/or cadence heading in the wrong direction before my legs start to tell me about it now and I've taken to riding on the road with only HR Zone, Cadence and Avg speed fields on display as this lets me manage my overall pace and monitor current effort levels.
I've setup My HR Zones based on my understanding of Freil's suggested methods in the cyclists training Bible with just the HRM and a frequently ridden flat(ish) ten miles to do a "Poor mans LTHR" test, so while I'm sure it's not accurate enough for many it's worked well enough for me...
I suppose next obvious thing to do is try and apply the same sort of thing to riding off-road on my MTB/CX bikes, I have noticed I spend more time at higher HR on the MTB certainly, which is of course inevitable, it's a less efficient machine, I don't know how useful I'd find a Cadence number on the MTB but I might just try it.
Power measurement seems to be the bigger thing for people now, but I'm not so sure that many people are using it correctly from what I've read here and elsewhere, it seems like it's become a bit of a "wattage war" without people really thinking about the physiological effects of generating big numbers or whether it can be sustained/recovered from effectively...