cadence

[NJBikeGal]

Count! Count the rotations of one leg in a minute and that is your cadence. Granted, there are a ton of other factors: wheel size, gear ratio, etc. But, this is a simple way to figure it out.

Everyone's cadence will differ. A men's pro racer may have a cadence between 90 and 110/120, a novice rider more like 70-80. What you want to focus on is not mashing your pedals. You shouldn't have to exert tremendous amounts of force to get the pedals to move...that's mashing (I used to do this A LOT!). Developing a higher rate of cadence takes some work, but you'll get it!

As far as a cassette...(I only speak Shimano, not Campy...and I don't know what you have on there now)...I would expect that you would want at least a 25, if not a 27 rear cassette for climbing mountains.