Comments on: Cycling Pedalling Frequency – Fast or Slow?

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:47:47 +0000

My best ride in 2010 was high cadence in relatively flat terrain.
I did most of my indoor training on rollers, hence high cadence helped.
I lacked leg strength as it was my 1st year of cycling in many years. By using stomach muscles to forcefully exhale and with a short quick inhale I was able to boost my O2 intake so dramatically that my vision became brighter. I maintained 35-46 kph for about an hour, averaging 35 kph by midpoint of a 76 km ride.
By not changing our breathing technique from that used to grind in low gears, I don’t believe anyone can get very good at high cadence cycling.

By: Ting

Ting — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:33:31 +0000

Experience. On my ride. I noticed that the spin cycle pedal with a high pedalling rate is often that we are tired faster. Spinning around, I think with the high pedalling rate is ideal for Track Cycling, for Road riders, I think should run around a middle pedalling rate is better.

By: Michael Leffler

Michael Leffler — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:27:23 +0000

Well, here’s a observation take it as you will…my humble observations of myself seem to mimmick the erg mode on the computrainer where say you are doing a 10-15 min interval at ftp and as you get tired you power out using your leg muscles more to help compensate the increasing cardio load. Similar to a real long hill climb at high level getting up and standing. But if you spin even faster to get past your ftp on the computrainer the resistance of the unit decreases slightly which you create by spinning a little bit faster which at that high level feels more balanced and sustainable than cranking and muscles failing quickly at higher mph (which you created by spinning for me in the 100+ rpm range). It seems to be a sweet spot that allows you to punch out. In those moments of pain it’s like a survival mechanism to spin to ease the load but still get a great speed result. Granted you are approaching or in vo2 max area, pain is there – possibly like the guy taliking about near pre death experiences of varying levels or “shaking hands with god.” Now at 6.7w/kg like Lance or whatever high level it can be so many things I don’t know about. But it seems learning to spin at peak exertion is way better than trying to crank out. You last longer and can punch better. I wonder if people are all comparing various steady state high performance levels versus full tilt blow up the pack Lance moves. Maybe that last 0.1% spin effort over Ulrich style cranking is absolutely what it takes to win – as all other things being equal.

By: sebastiano

sebastiano — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:47:49 +0000

@Hans: interesting post… agree on 99% of the content, the 1% leftover is based on personal experience, hence not statistically relevant. For instance, my speed bests on the TT bike were achieved at far higher rpm and bpm than in any other event or condition, but in a “state of grace” typical of my (single) peak of form.
@Jesper: I never ride standing Due to my physical build, if I have arms working at the same time as the legs, I have 1 min “fuel”. All of the data I record, with extremely limited deviations, are from seated positions. I recall every single event when I used the small gear in 2010… and every single time I stood on the pedals.

By: Jesper Bondo Medhus

Jesper Bondo Medhus — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:36:46 +0000

The interesting thing about this study is that there was a trend that the riders chose to ride with too fast rpm. They performed better when they used the relatively low cadence of 73rpm. I agree that race situations require a cadence that is more dynamic. You should always be able to accelerate and react properly. That is not possible with 73rpm on average. Even though this ergometer trial is different from real cycling, it indicates that it can be worth to consider choice of cadence, and that fast pedalling not per default is the best way to ride. Thanks for sharing your studies and experience, Hans.