I just can't seem to get my legs to turn at the same rate as some people. I know it's also just more practice needed but I do wonder if some people are just built that way. I can get to 100rpm but there's no way I could sustain it for any length of time. I need to look into ways of improving. I know the whole cadence thing is a can of worms anyway.
Hi Venus
cadence and getting it right took me a while with lots of advice from BNAers.
- I can sit on 90 to 100 now but only in a really easy gear & that means I am pretty slow -
What I have been told to do is to break up the everyday rides into different sections so that I work on keeping a relatively high cadence for most of the ride (at least 1/2 at 95-100)and then do some work in a harder gear.
I try to stay as high as I can but it generally drops back to about 80-85 but is a bit faster due to the harder gear, about mid way at the back and big ring on the front now - I try for 2 or 3 kms -
sometimes it is O.K sometimes it kills me
I try on the harder stuff like longer hills or big headwinds to keep rpms up but it does drop to about 75 and that is in an easy gear (or the easiest!!)
But I love hills - hills are my friend - say it often enough and eventually I will believe it.
As i understand it (and this could be completely wrong) I have to build up to higher overall average speed by getting better at holding a higher cadence in a harder gear for longer periods and I will only do that if I try to push up the work load but not overdo it, hence the different efforts during the ride.
At first I used to ride on a harder gear but only spin at about 55rpm and only do about 19-22 kph - that was a huge effort and I could not ride for long.Now sometimes I can manage 35kph for a k or 2 - 30kph makes an appearance on the speed thing infrequently but 23-25 is my normal average over the rides I do - still pretty poor but better than when I started
While I'm still very slow I can by spinning in the easier gears ride a lot further.
I have managed to finish 2 100 km rides and 2 50s in the bit over 3 months since I started- I am always at the back
but stay (just) in front of the sag wagon - so that is the main thing.
anyway hope any of the above helps (or makes any sense at all)