any numpty tips on how to begin increasing my cadence speed?

i will begin by saying that my fitness atm is at rock bottom as i have only done 2 rides this year (1st was jan 24th this year about 19 miles, 2nd ride was yesterday morning before the tdf started again 19 miles) both on my road bike, am 49 also.

due to various reasons/excuses laziness,depression, weather etc my riding has been so lacking/low.

i do plan on going out tomorrow (mon) then trying for every 2-3 days after (dependant on how my body feels/weather etc).

one thing i would like to do is to try and increase my cadence speed as i have a low cadence (unfortunately i don’t currently have a cadence meter so just guessing but i think my average cadence is about 60 rpm.

i would love to eventually be able to do 20mph av speed etc for a long time but have never been able to get to that.

could you recommend any easy beginner cadence exercises to do so i can try to increase my av speed etc.

thanks in advance :-)

ps i also have my mountain bike to go offroad also have not completely gone to the dark side lol.

Lower gears.

Or ride fixed and you’ll have no choice but to pedal like fury on the downs.

Put it in the next easiest gear when riding along and get used to spinning?

Single speed road bike on low gearing?  I did that for a while and you don’t half spin going downhill

spin classes?

Fixie.  Bloody love it. I sold my DayOne about 18 months ago, wish I’d not. I should set up an eBay alert.

If you’re within a manageable distance, ride it to work.

A cadence monitor is cheap (sensors are under £20 and some connect to your phone), I’d say the first thing is measuring it to see if it’s actually an issue, I thought it was for me but it turns out I push 90.

Given where you’re starting from, is cadence the best thing to be focusing on? The best part of your plan as I read it, was trying to get out every 2 or 3 days. Anything that makes it feel more like a chore that something to enjoy might be a set back.

Go to a spinning class, I did it for years and loved it.

I think expecting to average 20mph from a low current base level is going to set you up for failure. I’d ignore that goal until you are first riding the distance that you are wanting to ride, then work on speed afterwards.

cadence is proportional to power, just improving your general fitness will raise your cadence. I don’t thinks it a case of using an easier gear…. it’s more getting “on top” of the gear ie making turning that gear more aerobic than anaerobic. Some of this would come from riding singlespeed/fixie but I don’t think it’s a particular requirement :)

I don’t think cadence has anything to do with what your actual goal sounds like. Just ride more and get generally fitter if you want to increase your average speed but it will take a long time to see any meaningful improvements.

Go to a spinning class, I did it for years and loved it.

Whilst loving spin classes is just plain weird and also has the problem “spin” is used for pretty much any indoor cycling and so can cover those with high cadence (which as I understand is what spin originally was) vs those which go for more mixed styles such as high gearing and hence slower spin. I know my rpm varies massively depending on the instructor and what they fancy doing that day plus whether I just add a few onto the gears because thats closer to how I ride outside.

I would also agree given the starting point I would just be spending the time riding without micromanaging the figures beyond watching the average speed and distance. Once you are happy covering a reasonable distance in a reasonable time then it would be time to looking at specifics to improve.

Until a couple of years ago I’d always adopted the “single speed mosher’s” approach to riding. High/tall gear and grind it out.

As I’ve gotten into more road/gravel riding and started riding with a couple of guys who are spinners I’ve realised the importance of cadence.

I used to ride with a SSer who would wipe the floor with us geared riders simple because he never stopped pedalling. No coasting. No let off.

Riding a fixed gear bike has helped a lot in getting me into the mentality of just keep pedalling.

On a geared bike I’m better but old habits die hard and I still find myself pushing a too bigger gear.

Sooooo … my tuppence … don’t stop pedalling (ever) but do so in a gear that you can spin comfortably. The speed will come but it’s not an overnight change.

First thing – get a cadence sensor. Halfords did one for about £20 when I bought one a few years back. You’ll need a garmin or wahoo that it can talk to.

I’d then do intervals when out on your bike – start to up cadence for maybe 3-4 mins at a time then drop back down to normal. I achieved this through turbo training with sweet spot sessions where you had instructions to speed up in certain workouts. You could totally do this on a bike if you find the right kind of road / track where you can concentrate.

I’ve found the faster cadence and the power that came with structured training really helps on mtb. Where previously I got to features already tired with no reserve of power to deal with them – now I arrive and can put a burst of faster cadence in and race up stuff.

Zwift with speed/cadence sensors, >80% it’s using cadence to measure your accuracy to the plan. Changed me from 70rpm to 90rpm.

I upped my cadence from around 70 to 85 rpm 15 years ago just doing steady flat road rides using a cadence meter. Any efforts on the rides were done with higher cadence and it soon it became second nature.

20mph average on the road solo is very fast imo! When I was racing I’d have struggled to do that for more than an hour.

Visualise spinning circles with your feet when you are pedalling… Don’t push the pedals down or even pull up. Think about turning your feet in circles. If you can do this on flat pedals, so much the better, as it will really focus your mind on the technique…

In combination with visualising spinning circles, drop a gear, then drop another gear. Sit on the flat 2 gears lower than you are used to, all the while thinking about those perfect circles that your feet are turning… Don’t think about applying pressure on the pedals, just focus on spinning them in a circle.

ALWAYS shift down a gear before you need it, not after…

Make sure your saddle height is spot on perfect… Too high is not good at all (it will make your hips rock and your pedal strokes will become choppy, making spinning perfect circles impossible), a little too low is better than a little too high, but micro adjust up and down as required to get it where it should be.

Try not to get bored/distracted… The benefits of visualising spinning perfect circles will become apparent quite quickly, but if you let your mind wander you will inevitably find yourself either slowing down or shifting up into a harder gear, thus pedalling slower…

A cadence meter can only measure your cadence… It doesn’t help you to improve it!

Clipless pedals can help you turn the pedals faster and more smoothly, but they just mask a poor pedalling technique… Learning to pedal smooth circles on flat pedals might sound counter intuitive, but it will build in muscle memory and the technique will stay with you for much longer…

I think expecting to average 20mph from a low current base level is going to set you up for failure

Yep, seems a pretty unrealistic goal.  I have ridden 3 to 4 times a week for last 20 years but admit to zero training (which no doubt hasn’t helped) but I could not hold 20mph average for an hour but maybe you live somewhere very flat?

I also rode fixed and singlespeed for a lot of that time and the other benefit to high cadence is that I rarely coast, even when going downhill.

Cadence drills on the turbo if you have one.

Cadence drills on the turbo if you have one.

Yeah, this. Low gear, low power, high leg speed. And nothing else to focus on except pedalling.

That said, you probably need to start by just riding your bike regularly at whatever intensity feels achievable. Get some solid, regular miles in first and then start worrying about cadence (as a bunch of people have already said).

Just get out and enjoy riding your bike in the sunshine :-)

I bet you are not 60 rpm that’s real grinding slow

Anyway who cares

Do regular consistent riding first, care about cadence later

Cadence doesn’t matter unless you need to be able to suddenly leap onto an attack in a race. Go with whatever self selecting cadence your body chooses.

Yep, riding your bike ouside as much as possible will set you up well for your later speed targets.

In the meantime I’d try to dedicate at least one turbo session per week on drills, maybe when you’re limited on time but can squeeze 45 minutes in or something.

Shorter cranks/new bike.

20 mph is fast, i’d aim for 25kmph to start with. do it for the enjoyment / fitness benefit, then when you are back into riding and enjoying riding, start setting targets

20mph is pretty quick, that’s at least a year or two of solid riding unless you only do very short flat rides.

Otherwise, as others suggested. Either join a spin class for a few sessions a week, but make sure it’s a good one, the quality varies massively. Some of the PTs at my gym seem to enjoy it and put some thought into the session. Others are just there because they have to deliver so many classes a week as part of their rent agreement with the gym.

Or just ride one gear lower than is.confortable and don’t let the cadence drop going uphill (the trick is to develop power at the higher cadence, not just spin). Do it in definite blocks of say 10min on a flat section and repeat it three times. Aim to be spinning fast enough that being that inefficient makes it hard work to keep up your normal speed.

The reason everyone’s cadence drops uphill is the muscles can’t switch on/off fast enough to be efficient, that’s what needs to be trained not just the ability to spin at 120+ RPM.

Think about moving your feet in circles rather than up and down.

20 average is acheivable if thats a goal you would like to work towards. But it will require:

A relatively flat route with minimal or no stopping or even slowing due to road hazards. Every second below 20mph requires time above 20 to balance out. As air resistnace is proportional to speed squared, this gets progressively harder.

Short rides i.e. continue doing your 19 mile rides rather than building up the distance. If you are time poor and just like the feeling of getting out, this could mean its a worthy goal, compared to say trying to work up to completing a century.

A pre and post ride warm up and cool down, either on or off the bike.

Proper road bike (and tyres!) and kit. Sounds like you’ve got this already.

For the original question, ride at a speed you are comfortable with on a road with no or constant gradient, and just try switching to a gear easier and maintaining your speed (even a bar mounted phone will give fairly accurate speed these days). Keep this up for a few minutes, then swap back to your prefered harder gear – making sure to maintain speed – for a break.

Would echo comments above about getting a cadence meter (its hard to time anything youreslf while exercising hard) and checking your saddle height. Both too high and too low could mean you naturally favour power rather than spinning, for different reasons.

And possibly, don’t worry too much about it. Pauline Ferrand Prevot is probably the most decorated and versatile female cyclist ever; and also one of the most “trained”. And she has a very low cadence that is immediately obvious when you see her riding next to anyone else. Different people have different natural styles. the theory that 90rpm is the most efficient in all situations for everyone has been debunked.

For me, none of the drills, spin in circles etc worked at all.

What did work was getting a really good bike fit. Compared to the last fit I had, my saddle dropped a lot, which meant that my cadence has increased naturally.

To me, start there and then don’t think about it, just ride regularly.

Starting from the fitness level / lack of riding that you claim, you’re not going to be averaging 20mph on the open road any time soon. Not unless you really select a flattish course with zero traffic lights, junctions etc like round and round a park. 20mph average is quick – the sort of “gosh this is really hard work” kind of quick where you’re blowing out your arse and if you’ve only done 2 rides this year, putting in any sort of effort like that will hurt a lot and last about 3 minutes.

Cadence – I wouldn’t try anything special. You have to consciously focus on it unless you’ve got a sensor and then to think “does this feel right?” or are you only trying to increase it cos all the books say “you should spin at 90rpm” ?

SS / fixie can be good for cadence drills but in the real world where you have uphills as well, they can suddenly turn into very draggy, grinding cadence!

I managed 20+mph over 10 miles on a 78 inch fixie on tubs but that was 50 yrs ago. Yesterday I was quite pleased with 16km in 43 minutes on the Landes trails. I reckon cadence is all about use of gears and I’m currently trying to persuade the Mrs to change gear more often to sustain cadence.

Get a cadence meter and till then give it no thought.

Anything that makes it feel more like a chore that something to enjoy might be a set back.

Completely this.

Start slow and keep going relatively slow, build up your fitness slow and try and get out to enjoy it rather a target of 20mph or higher cadence.

However absolutely a higher cadence will bring you benefits. It was getting my first turbo trainer with cadence sensor many years ago that got me spinning in the 90-100 range. At first it felt very alien, now it just feels normal. Without anything to measure your cadence its going to feel very wrong and you will risk spinning too quickly, or still not spinning enough.

Watch a few GCN ‘Zone 2’ YouTube vids, I would say thats a good place to start.

If you are serious about getting fitter it might be worth purchasing a bit of kit, but Zone 2 stuff is fairly ok to follow given the just being able to talk rule

If you want to focus on cadence, you need a cadence sensor, simple as that. Obviously it’s a metric on the turbo, but on my ‘outside’ bikes I’ve no cadence measurement at all. I used to on the road bike but that died and turned into a gravel bike and since my old Garmin 810 also died, I’ve ditched seeing any metrics on the bars completely for just getting out there and riding. Never bothered with all that on the MTB anyway.

First thing you should do is just get out and ride more, it’ll increase your fitness and naturally increase your cadence. Personally I found I’d rather push a bigger gear at my natural cadence (80-85) than a lower gear at the mythical 90rpm, but then, from the turbo I know my leg’s won’t spin like Mark Cavendish’s on the Champs de Elysee – they just don’t like higher cadences.

serious cadence (237rpm average!)

i once hit 229 (a while ago now)

Re: pedaling in circles / drills

The science/physiology behind it only half works.  You cannot develop any meaningful force on the upstroke or TDC/BDC.  There aren’t the muscles available to do it,  Your legs are built for pushing.

What you do need to do is build up the muscles and nervous system so they’re firing in the correct places.

e.g. doing 1 legged drills doesn’t teach you to pedal in circles, but your brain is better at switching the quads off if it’s pulling on the hamstrings even if only slightly. It’s about minimizing the power lost by subconsciously pushing both pedals at the same time.

The other neglected facet of pedaling dynamics is core strength and the glutes. Most people put far more power out through their quads and not enough through their glutes.  In simplistic terms Quads develop the power ~1 till 4 o’clock in the pedal stroke, and the Glutes work 2 till 5.  Which is one reason why some people have what looks/feels like a very choppy pedaling dynamic.

Part of the reason is  your quads can do it almost in isolation as the leg just pushes against itself, your glutes have to work against your pelvis/core so if there’s inflexibility or strength deficiencies there, or you’re just stuck in an office job and the brain just doesn’t have a good connection with the glutes as a result they can be really ineffectively recruited. The only way to really address that is to do some stability and core work on non-biking days (planks, but squeeze your glutes, superman’s, dead bugs, reverse supermans), and on biking days, use a resistance band to do Glute Kickbacks for a few sets to get the glutes firing properly.

i once hit 229 (a while ago now)

I can/could hit 240 on a spin bike, but only for about 10s before blacking out 😂

I do know most crank based cadence sensors top out at 160 though which is borderline low enough to be an issue when doing drills !

Fixed wheel or (shudder) single speed, with gear chosen accordingly. 20 mph at 90 RPM is approx 90 inches, or 48×17 or 50×18. You can always select that gear and NOT change, just concentrate on spinning. You can lock the rear derailleur using limit screws to force the issue. Fixed makes this a trivial exercise as you cannot coast. Spinning classes are fixed wheel workouts so serve the same process.

I’ll bet you are faster than 60 RPM already, get a cadence (cheap) or power meter (expensive) to monitor.