Road advice – avoiding "bouncing" at high cadence

I’ve been doing workouts using TrainerRoad recently and at higher cadences 110-120, I find I feel I’m bouncing a little. What’s the best way to avoid this. Thoughts from me are:

1, Saddle height (a touch down maybe?)
2, Practice

Or am I way off?

change gear?

I used to get this when I started singlespeeding. I think its to do with carrying the pedal stroke around rather than just pushing down.

just get used to the high cadence – it takes practice for your muscles and brain to get used to it

but actually I never find that in practice I get to such high cadences on the road – maybe 115 for a very few seconds at the most. usually I ride between 80 and 90

go up a gear ?

(I bounce at 75, I think)

There’s some parts of the warmups where you are supposed to ride at a higher cadence but also there’s been times when I run out of gears down long hills in the mountains where I’m aware that I’m bouncing a little so in order to feel a bit more stable at 40-50mph I’d like to work out how to stop it.

Do you mean your head/body bobbing up and down or the whole body bouncing on the saddle?

Whole body really. It starts probably around 100. Used to start earlier so I think it’s just a case of getting used to spinning faster and really focusing on the pedal action.

Soma has it, you’re stamping on the peddles and not peddling in circles i.e. smoothly

make a conscious effort to plant your bum
make a conscious effort to spin smooth circles with your feet
make a conscious effort to use all your leg muscles, not just the pushing down ones
practise

Put your seat up, not down.

As you get a better pedalling technique, you will bounce less. Concentrate on smooth circles.

Practice. I have 30 sec cadence drills to do ie 30 sec high (105) 30 sec higher (115) 30 sec max (125). I’m fine until I hit 125. The first two times i do it, I bounce at 125, but it smooths out after that, and by the 8th, its a smooth stroke. My max cadence has risen by 5 doing these drills.

Changing to harder gear defeats the purpose of ths kind of thing. Thinking about pedal stroke helped me.

RP23 with pro-pedal?

Ride singlespeed everywhere and have a beer or two.
Straight out of the pub I managed to hold 20mph for a mile and half on 36:17 when my mates thought it would be fun to try and leave me behind on their geared bikes.

I may be making it up, but I feel that I spin more smoothly at high cadence when my core is stronger.

I’d say seat up a tad too.

and for this:

down long hills in the mountains where I’m aware that I’m bouncing a little so in order to feel a bit more stable at 40-50mph I’d like to work out how to stop it.

Stop pedalling. And concentrate on being more aero if you feel the need to go faster. I’d argue you’re going fast enough though

yes- don’t change ride position if you know you are at the right long-term setup.
I believe practice and engaging the correct part of core is the key.
It sounds counter-intuitive but if you actually push away on the brake hoods rather than pull, it can help to get it right- try it! 🙂

Rollers are great for learning how to pedal smoothly and strengthening your core.

And Ned Overends book has a good section about peddling in circles. HE recommends finding a slight gradient and using one leg to pedal.

It sounds counter-intuitive but if you actually push away on the brake hoods rather than pull, it can help to get it right- try it!

That’s what I learn on rollers push back and lock your core

fixie long steep downhill problem solved

either you end up tres souplesse or your body is so mangled you’ll be worrying about walking again rather than hitting 130rpm

2. Practice.

Ride (road) fixed in the hills to force yourself to spin at an uncomfortably high cadence.

That will sort out your pedalling style (or kill you) after which you’ll be able to chase the pawls on a singlespeed (on a smooth the road) up to about 150rpm for a minute or two without bouncing.

EDIT: as D0NK wrote whilst I was typing.

Stop pedalling. And concentrate on being more aero if you feel the need to go faster. I’d argue you’re going fast enough though

Well, down the really steep hills I usually don’t pedal, I just concentrate on not screaming or hitting something but there’s a few hills I’ve gone down recently where there’s no side roads, great visibility and I’m able to keep up with traffic but once I hit (at the time) 90-100 revs I started to bounce and get a little unstable (this was in the drops). Doing it over the last few nights on the turbo brought it to mind again.

Get a bit more resistance on there. My max is around. 190 if I have the resistance correct or 120 if i dont.

BTW I’ve never tried the method I suggested, I’m too much of a scaredy to ride fixed but read quite a few people recommending it so thought I’d mention it 🙂

make a conscious effort to plant your bum

^^^^^this
there’s not an obvious technique, but it seems to me to be about holding your body (core) taught to keep you planted, but having your legs really supple so they’re spinning and not lifting you off your seat.

I’ve got some steep bumpy downhills on my commute – riding them on a fixed wheel is a real challenge – like riding a bucking broncho.