Spinervals for Mere Mortals

[KayTee]

Troy assumes that your crankset has standard double chainrings, not a compact and not a triple chainring crankset. If you do have a triple, ECT doesn't want you to use the granny; only the big and middle rings. However...each of us has to listen to our own bodies and our own experience! If it's more comfortable for you to use lower gears, then by all means use them, and maybe later on you can start working up to riding higher gears. This time of year I start Troy's warm-ups and first set about one cog lower than what he says, then after I'm completely warmed up, I can ride all the gears as he calls 'em. If/when my bad knee is having a bad day, I just lighten up - exactly as us_wr suggests. Just experiment, try to set a goal and work toward it, but don't hurt yourself trying! And have fun!

[Geonz]

I never try to take that stuff exactly - I infer things like "okay, he wants me in a hard gear" so I get harder... I don't even try to figure out the exact stuff. He d0esn't know me, or my bike. GO hard, go really hard, back off a little... I do listen to the technique stuff.

[Veronica]

I try to do the cadence he wants first in whatever gear I can manage it. It's only recently I've been able to do the cadence and the gear he wants and only sometimes.

When Coach Troy says he wants you in the 15, he really means he wants you in the middle of your rear cluster.

V.

[Thorn]

Hmmm....so I'm not so alone...thanks. Up to now I've been taking the attitude that if my effort seems to match the expected and if my cadence matches what he is reading off the riders' machines, that I must be about right. Your responses make me think that I'm doing things right--thanks.

My DH uses a bike with a triple on the trainer and has found that he uses the middle chainring when ECT says "big gear" and the granny for the small chain ring. He's content with that, but I'm a tad bit more OCD-ish with new toys and wondered if the rest of the world was also compensating and how.

I have a old bike on the trainer with a 6 speed hub. At times I can run out of gears. I finally stopped to count teeth to see where my cassette mapped to a standard Shimano. For me my 15 is one up from the smallest (Bluestreak--the 15 gear is the one with 15 teeth--on a 9-speed cassette it will near the middle of the cassette, plus or minus one gear).

Thus, if I try the same mapping as DH of using the small chain ring and the right tooth count, I can run out of gears (and, of course, I always run out on the low end). Maybe it is best--this way I have to go by effort and cadence only and that could keep me from overdoing it.