[Closed] What's your cadence on an indoor trainer?

I found when I started on the turbo I'd be about 75rpm, now I'm about 90-95 as a cruising tempo.

Can hold 120 rpm pretty well and top out is silly. Took quite a bit of discomfort on spins to get used to it.

Think it takes time to get used to it, I've noticed zwift requires you to be more accurate with rpm than power to get the stars.

Average 90, can get up to 150 thanks to a fair bit of practice. During the big lockdown here in 2020 I did quite a lot of cadence drills: as a challenge to myself I used the turbo everyday, and the Sufferfest/Systm cadence workout made a good easy day/recovery ride.

Free riding or racing in probably about 90-95rpm average.

Doing a workout with erg mode it's higher...95-105rpm or so. I've seen 120rpm without realising I was doing it, so I suspect 135rpm would be possible, although probably a bit ragged!

I found when I started on the turbo I’d be about 75rpm, now I’m about 90-95 as a cruising tempo.

cool, that sounds like me,  if you don't mind me asking, how long did that take you? I'm trying to get a sense of how many weeks the training programme needs to be,  I did a session yesterday where I tried to hold above 90rpm, but it was a pretty uncomfy for an hour (plus I need a better saddle!)

75-80 for me.

70-80 for me.
Not a new rider, but I’m new to smart turbos.

Mine was probably 75-80 too.

That was based on ‘real’ mountain biking over the years.

I did a few spin classes and that made me start to up the cadence.

Then doing (lots of) Zwift I’m up at around 90-95.

It didn’t take that long to get to the higher rates, mainly because I spend much more time grinding up steep climbs IRL than on a turbo where you spend much more time on the virtual flat and ‘sprinting’.

Just give it a few intensive weeks and I’m sure you’ll not struggle.

My cadence indoors has risen from an unthinking spin of 75-80rpm when i started a few years ago to nearer 95rpm these days. Can happily hold 115+ for a minute or two.

However, I dont think that has translated to faster cadence in the real world.

When I started I was around 70-75rpm, but after a few months I was happily clipping along about 85rpm and could comfortably do 95. On sprints I think I might make it to a peak of 120rpm but that’s not comfortable at all and I don’t sustain that for very long.

I’m not convinced at my current weight / size of legs I’m going to get much quicker. And actually nor do I want to - I’m a mountain biker rather than road rider.

I can happily cruise along at 85-95, can hold 100ish for quite a while, but find that of it's a prolonged effort, like a long hill, I tend to sit at about 75/80.

However, I dont think that has translated to faster cadence in the real world.

Mine certainly has, I grind a lot less than I used to. Not 100% sure it's made me any faster, though!

Should point out that outdoor my average cadence is around 80, while indoor it's 90. Previously it'd be closer to 70 outside.

Zwift cadence and stars are completely unlinked.

Below 200 - 95
200-300 - 90
300-350 - 85
350-450 - 110
450-550 - 100
550-650 - 110 again
650+ - bleurrrgggggggg

Just pedal whatevers comfortable, cadence drills are snake oil (google it, the evidence says literally no benefit and in some cases less benefit than whatever comes naturally).

Optimum cadence is influenced by crank length. Optimum (efficient) cadence tends to get lower with longer cranks. The optimum power efficiency doesn't tend to be much different for the different crank lengths but it does occur at different cadences. If you're on 175 cranks, say, 70-80 may be optimum. On 170s, maybe 90. Training to have a power band either side of an optimum cadence can be a very useful thing.

There is lots of dogma, nonsense and wilful ignorance in bike training programmes so a lot of them will predicate that 90 is good and 95-100 is better. Generally none of it has science behind it. It is about as justified as 220 minus your age for maximum heart rate.

What can happen at low cadences is you have to engage other muscle groups just to stabilise your body against the torque you're trying to generate - having your arms and shoulders suck oxygen out of your blood is obviously taking available aerobic capacity away from your legs. That's where the higher cadences come in - if the cadence is reasonable, the torque is low and you can contain the effort to your legs with your upper body cantilevered against the torque reaction through your core - that's pretty efficient.

I generally sit on 90-95 indoors and outdoors on the road. Probably a bit lower in the MTB. I’ve been riding that way for years but find the cadence build and hold type sessions (I use Sufferfest/SYSTM) quite good as part of a broader program.

This is an interesting read:

https://systm.forum.wahoofitness.com/t/from-the-coaches-why-does-cadence-matter/4568

I thought (happy to be told I’m wrong) that good efficient cadence is ~90 ?

The last few sessions I’ve averaged around 88 ish. I have no problem holding around 100. above that takes more effort

Hills is a different matter, I find it near in possible to maintain high cadence and tend to drop to about 60/70

I hit 200rpm in a set of cadence drills last year…
Normal is 90 rpm, anything over 135rpm is different technique

Ali frame on smart trainer - wouldn’t try those rpm on rollers (I’d fall off just looking at rollers though)

I did a charity spin bike challenge once - I did 166rpm for a hour with an average speed of 77km/hr. Years of riding a fixed gear helps - I could do 10-20seconds of 220rpm+.
180rpm on the road on downhills wasn’t uncommon - your legs build up massive momentum at those speeds so you need a big hill with a long run-out and no junctions 🤪 Did have a chain come off once, fortunately it unshipped outboard and ran on the outside of the sprocket, otherwise would have been very messy.

Can you set cadence levels on zwift? Like your FTP.

My natural cadence is low. A mixture of proportionally long legs and habit. It works fine for me to ride around 70-80 and push a big gear.

Zwift sets normal at about 85 and I find anything above 95 hard going. To counter that it says push 60 and it feels fine!

I find the cadence drills useful. It breaks up longer intervals. Makes me think about my core and I'm sure it engages different muscles to grind or spin.

A British Cycling coach long ago said they train to 90rpm cadence for 'pootling' along. I don't turbo train but my rides are all around 85rpm average though I do go uphill like a sloth on mogadon!

Anywhere between 85 and 95rpm, mainly dictated by my gears and the power I want to do on my (dumb) trainer.

Think I've topped out at 175rpm on rollers, is equally fun/terrifying and I couldn't imagine trying to hold it longer than a few seconds.

166rpm for an hour is insanity!

What can happen at low cadences is you have to engage other muscle groups just to stabilise your body against the torque you’re trying to generate – having your arms and shoulders suck oxygen out of your blood is obviously taking available aerobic capacity away from your legs.

I usually ride 85-90 on the turbo. Cadence drills basically train your legs to spin round faster, though it feels odd at first. Also interesting how different cadences are reflected in stresses on the body. Generally, for me at least, high cadence tends to raise HR but cause less localised leg fatigue. For the same power output at a lower cadence, I'll run a lower HR, but feel it more in the legs. I'm pretty sure this is one of the reasons a higher cadence is generally favourable, I've read that it uses less muscle glycgogen than a slower one, which makes a significant difference over a longer ride.

I think most mountain bikers have slower cadences as that suits climbing off-road.

My mountain bike cadences was about 75rpm but these days can happily sit at 85-90rpm.

135rpm does sound pretty quick if you've never pedeled that quick before.
I've managed to hit 165rpm before which I thought was good going. Until I read that bmx'ers can reach 220rpm 🤯

Mine seems to be lower than everyone else's Nick! When I did the training programmes, I never bothered with the cadence drills. I'm sure if you ride primarily MTB your cadence is slower.

I decided over/unders etc were horrible enough without trying to ride at what felt like hamster turbo wheel. It might be more efficient/better in some way but I pretty much ignored it.

Good luck with the training programmes. Did a few but the boredom was so great I made virtual friends instead and rode in groups...

. I’m sure if you ride primarily MTB your cadence is slower.

This is mostly because of the historic habit of manufacturers supplying 175 cranks on MTBs; a patently bad solution as those low cadences resonate with full suspension; Enduro pros and DH use short cranks to be able to get a lot of power down without it all dissipated in the dampers.

I remember reading a roadie timetrialling book in 1987 that explained that MTBs use longer cranks for more torque in muddy riding. That was the prevailing view back then: "MTBs are slow and need leverage". Nothing like the modern sport at all.

I used to do cadence drills on rollers up to 180rpm - 65mph. Only came off once, leaving a nice burn mark in the carpet of the rental property.

I think most mountain bikers have slower cadences as that suits climbing off-road.

Hmm, not sure I agree with that. On loose, rocky, steep stuff, a low cadence (so higher gear) is more likely to lead to a stall, whereas a lower-geared, higher cadence spin won't, as you can just keep pedalling and power through. There's definitely times when the ability to comfortably blat out, say, 60 seconds at a high cadence (like 90+) is useful off-road.

I'm between 75 and 95 on a normal Zwift ride / race, as I am in the real world also, sometimes I push bigger gears slowly or smaller gears fast, sprinting I can hit about 120rpm.

You do know that there isn't really an optimum cadence for your average Joe, we're not talking world tour pros here as they are just made differently and their aerobic and anaerobic capacity and their ability to process their fuel reserves into actual power is totally different to that of a "normal" human being, your optimum cadence is the one where you can produce the required output for your end goals without stressing your body / joints/ muscles / engine too much in the process.

"Spin to Win" all came about (by what I understand) from a certain Texan whose specific make up (natural / engineered) was suited to high RPM riding, especially climbing, on the contrary one of his biggest rivals preferred to ride larger gears.

It's a bit like the climbing on or out of the saddle debate, some people are faster out, some in, some prefer each other one.

Typically 90-110rpm, but as low as ~70 if my legs are tired.

IHN. In my experience I definitely climb with a slow cadence on a mountain bike than when I'm on a road bike. Just what feels right.

I think it's to do with the resistance from the tyres. On the road bike there is very little resistance from the road where's off road (especially when wet and muddy) there is considerably more resistance.

I suppose if you're a very strong rider or ride in very small gears off road, then being able to spin the pedals quickly when climbing a steep muddy trail would be piss easy. For me (a 40+ man with a spare tyre around his waist) not so much.

Again this is only my experience which is backed up from using a cadence sensor. 🤷‍♂️

This discussion on Trainer road seems to imply that the lower recorded average cadence off road is due to the variability of the terrain.

https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/mountain-bike-cadence-vs-trainer-cadence/15766

Makes sense.

I definitely climb with a slow cadence on a mountain bike than when I’m on a road bike. Just what feels right.

Isn't lower cadence/higher gear better for traction? Pretty certain that was accepted wisdom, I've certainly been pushing higher gears on the gravel bike and CX bike when the surface gets loose or slick.

Isn’t lower cadence/higher gear better for traction?

I think, as ever, it depends. Often what you really need for traction is a smooth power delivery, in which case a slightly lower gear and higher cadence can be better. If I'm about to hit a large patch of slop I'll change up a gear or two so I can spin smoothly through it.

When I used to go spin classes before getting a trainer, they'd say to do 130RPM for seated sprints, I'd have to find the right gear, too easy a gear and I'd bounce a little, too hard and I couldnt do it for more then 30 seconds.

Used my trainer last night and got carried away at the end of an interval and did 130 and felt fine, think once you find the gear and do a couple you'll be fine.

Good luck with the training programmes. Did a few but the boredom was so great I made virtual friends instead and rode in groups…

Yeah looked a zwift, but it feels like a bunch of hassle and cost that I don't wanna spend as my normal habit this time of year is to be all "Right, this winter I AM going to get fitter" which lasts until about mid December when I lose the will to live.

Now I've read a whole bunch of pro and con articles about cadence, so now really confused! haha, so I going to just download one of the Garmin programmes and try to follow it. Let's see what happens.