Spinning (cadence)

Spinning. I am a roadie who loves to crunch the big gears and hates to spin (90+ rpm).

Quite simply, pushing the big gears is just so much more comfortable and seems easier than anything else. Problem is that everyone else (including scientists) and especially my coach, believes spinning to be more energy efficient and therefore better for you. I'm doing what my coach says because he's my coach and I trust him. Its just that spinning doesn't feel comfortable and I think its going to take a fair bit of getting used to.

Does anyone else have this problem? You naturally love the big gears but are pressured to spin? Is it possible that some people are better with the big gears and others with spinning? This one has got me confused. :confused:

Welcome to the boards!
Check out the thread under "Open Topic" titled "Cadence... what should we be doing?" It should be one of the most recent ones.... judging from that thread, you're not alone! Lots of people are mashers rather than spinners, myself included. I try to force myself to spin, because i have bad knees and I know mashing is hard on the knees, but it's not really that comfortable. I think it just takes some getting used- to.
Good luck!

What happens to your speed when switch from pushing a big gear with a low cadence to a smaller gear with a higher cadence?

Veronica

My personal observation has been that new riders seem to want to mash. I know I did and I wonder if it is a technique issue. Spinning does require a smooth pedaling action. I used spin class and riding my bike in the trainer to develop a smoother stroke.

Veronica

To Veronica

I generally find that the big gear and low cadence is good at getting me up to & maintaining higher speeds, especially 35+kph and a number of the bunches I ride in do this. When I ride with a smaller gear and a high cadence my speed is usually a bit slower. The exception to this is when I am riding into a strong headwind, then the higher cadence gives me a higher speed.

ausgirl,

Sounds like what you are doing works for you. I don't race, but I wonder if working on cadence will just make you generally stronger overall and give you more options.

Funny, your comment about the wind. We always have wind, especially in the afternoon, usually blowing 10 - 20 mph, maybe that's why I like to spin. :p

Veronica

Veronica,

I'm relying on the spinning to make me stronger and a better racer. This is based on the fact that I've only had my coach for a year, but since I've been training with him his advice has never been wrong and I've improved heaps. Road season starts this saturday, so I'll let you know if this helps me throughout the season.

Strong winds all the time? That would be a pain! I always ride in the mornings and where I live it's normally fairly calm until daylight at least.

Ausgirl

Yep, the wind is a pain. I commute to work - it's a wicked long ride (1.6 miles :D) and my coworkers at first were surprised when I would show up on the bike on the really blustery days. Now they just think I'm crazy. My students think it's cool.

Do you only race in Australia?

V.

Last night (on the trainer, mind you!) I tried staying in the easier gears (middle in front, next to the last biggest in the back?!). You know what? I was able to keep my cadence around 85 rpms! (that's me counting the pedal strokes while watching a 2nd hand). I was really surprised that I had to work up to that speed, though. Mashing doesn't do as much for you as you think it will. It didn't build better muscles, I felt so much better this morning after spinning than I ever did mashing!

Thanks guys! I can't wait to take the bike on the road and try my new techniques out.....once I can clip in and out without falling I might try! I am taking the bike back to the bike shop to let my bike-guy (that's what I affectionately call him!) fix the pedals where I can actually clip out of them! (I can get in, I can't pop out!)

Off to work.........yuck, I know...........but, gotta do something to support my cycling habit! :D

I'm a poor struggling uni student, so I've only yet raced in Australia. I mainly do club races and I'm planning a few open events for this year. Our club racing is pretty good though, because we've got over 120 people in our club with quite a few successes - 2 commonwealth champions, 4 junior world titles on the velodrome and a pro cyclist who is currently the captain of Giant Asia. A number of national and state champions too. Maybe I'll be successful at it one day too.

As for your riding to work, i think that is great if you can fit it in. It helps you to clock up the kms.

I think your coach may be going with the old coaching wisdom that says "if you can't turn a small gear, you'll never turn a big gear". Basically, he just want to make you faster :D

Let's say you comfortably turn a 53X17 @ 80 rpms....your speed will be 31.4 kph (~19.5 mph). Not too shabby.

But you want to race....


Ahhhhh. So you spend the winter riding around in ridiculously small gears, building aerobic base and a smooth pedal stroke...come race season you hop on the bike...click into your old friend 53X17, only your cadence has jumped to 100rpm. Your speed is now 39.2 kph (or 24.4 mph).

Now you're racing!

Wanna faster sprint?

If you turn your 53/12 @ 80 rpm you'll do 44.5 kph (27.6mph) but if you can crank it up to 100 rpm you'll hit 55.6kph (34.5 mph)!!!

Watch out Cipollini!

***************




gear calculator

Thanks for the website. It is great!

I know where you're coming from with the whole gears thing, because just yesterday I went on this hammer session and spun around 100rpm the whole way and had a great time. Now this group they sit on 35kph as a minimum the whole way, with this killer paceline in the middle which cranks the pace up to about 50kph! During the paceline i used my 52/15 at 100rpm and I loved it! Yeah it hurt and my legs were killing me for the rest of the day (because I'm not used to the spinning), but I felt really good when I was doing it!

:D

Well, I had my first race of the road season on Saturday. I was going quite well - spinning along and hanging in pretty nicely with the bunch, I was actually feeling pretty strong, and then I got a b****y puncture! I was loaned a spare rear wheel and I went on to finish the race, but of course by the time I was back on the bike the bunch was a couple of kms in front and with about 21/22 kms to go I had no hope of catching them. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

Meanwhile my coach accidentally caused a crash in his race bringing himself down and his best mate. They're fine, mainly skin off and bruised egos. The bikes are fine too.:D

This site has gear info you might find helpful. http://www.hostelshoppe.com/tech_gearcalc.php

I definitely understand the mashing :) I always felt much better with a lot of resistance, it made me feel strong! Anyhow a few weeks back I was on a club ride going thru a downtown area, I watched my husband mashing in front of me and I began to increase my cadence practicing on moving smoothly...it really felt counterintuitive but before I knew it I was flying! Even increasing in speed with hardly any effort...I had to keep telling my husband to shift gears (he has knee problems) so that he could increase his cadence (it was all pretty fun thru downtown and some small hills, I'm still practicing on large hills). All I can say is keep trying!!! It's pretty invigorating when everything is in order :)

anyone have answers to this on a tandem. My husband (and captain) likes to ride harder gears (is mashing the official word for it?) and I feel better spinning faster. We are not in it for speed, but like to go far. Any advice on finding the right balance?

Have you talked about it with your husband?

Thom and I have very similar riding styles, but when he gets really tired he likes to mash for a change of pace. I can deal with that for a little bit, but mashing really bothers my knees. If it goes on too long I tell him we need to change gears or I need to stand. We prefer to stand together, but we can each stand alone if needed.

Communication is key on a tandem.

You could also change out the drive train for one of these.

Da Vinci


V.

or - you could just stop pedalling??.....Just Kidding!....I find higher cadence/lower gear works really well for me - especially when I"m climbing the mountain at night to get home. There are days I feel like I"m just spinning away and going nowhere really fast - until I get home and enter my avg time in my bike journal. Surprise - it always seems to stay right around the same avg and my legs aren't so tired I can't ride to work the next day - or hike the mountains on the weekends. There is a real sense of power in "mashing" the gears - but the price I pay when I do that is too high (re: too tired to ride the next day or hike or run that night).

Quote:

---

[i]
Communication is key on a tandem.
V. [/B]

---

Absolutely! Luckily my husband and I spin about the same rate, but out here on the flats it can get very monotonous and tiring to always use the same gear. He thinks it's restful to go to an easier gear and not change the cadence while I think you need to slow the cadence primarily. We end up spinning faster and faster - like 110+. It's ridiculous. I just want a short tempory change of tempo, lower gear, stand up, whatever, just don't make me spin at 100+ with no resistance and call it resting. So, we do a LOT of communicating about how spinning at a really high tempo just burns energy and is called a "superspin" by coaches. So, when he wants to do this, I just let my legs go with the flow and don't help the forward propulsion. His problem if he wants to burn extra energy. I'm just asking if we can drop the cadence into the 80s for maybe a half mile. Fortunately, he is a good listener and trainable--part of the good communications requirement!