Got my butt handed to me on a platter tonight!

[Veronica]

You don't HAVE to have a cadence sensor. They help, but you can sort of do it yourself with a watch and counting your revolutions.

Are you riding a double or triple chain ring?

V.

[Grog]

Nobody REALLY BADLY needs a cadence sensor. You probably know how long one second is (and you sound like you have a cyclocomputer already). Just make sure you make more than one full turn of the pedals per second. That should do....

Keep spinning!

[wabisabi]

Another thing I have done is to actually spend some time practicing my cadance against the minute hand of a clock to get a "feel" for what 80 or 90 actually feels like, and once you know that you can replicate it. I also have ridden behind people who I consider good riders and do what they do, especially good spinners.

[AutumnBreez]

I have seen improvements in my own riding from taking the advice of Veronica and others in other threads just like this. I have a sensor, but I can tell you from watching and observing my actions and then looking to see the outcome on the monitor, if I am spinning so fast that it is hard to keep up with my feet and upper body is bouncing to keep up move it up a gear at a time, until I am spinning just fast enough to not bounce any more and rotation is not jerking, circle smooth. I look and the rpm is up close to 80.
This best way to describe it that I think.

[CorsairMac]

I Thought I knew what cadence was - but man was I wrong. I read in some Pro Road Tips this AM that you should try and push the handlebars with your knees on the upstroke! (ok...you can't Really do that but it's a visual thing). That and scrap mud off your shoes on the downstroke. When I rode today, I kept thinking - push knees into handlebars and scrap mud off shoes and WOWOWOWOW!!!!...I was spinning in the mid-upper 90s and maintaining an ave spd of 13+ mph in 15+mph headwinds!! can you say Smoking?? The hardest thing to overcome (for me) is: you don't have to have a higher gear to get more speed. I didn't even shift down when I went downhill and hit a cadence of 125 which carried me right up the other side without shifting up. It was an epiphany moment.

What does all this have to do with KSH? I have a cadence counter on the bike I rode today but what I learned was - I wanted to be in a gear that could just let me spin spin spin - no real resistance, no pushing in my legs, no pressure in any part of my body. As soon as I felt even the slightest bit of "push" in my legs, I dropped a gear. You feel like the little kids on the big wheels pedalling like crazy - but talk about a very relaxing ride with little or no leg strain. It also helped to keep my upper body relaxed when my legs weren't pushing so hard. If it feels like you're bouncing all over the seat and not getting anywhere, go up 1 gear and get that spin back. It isn't a "slow" spin - it's a no-resistance spin. (I'm probably not saying this well at all but you'll know it when you feel it and you'll think - oh man....That's what they're talking about!!!) Try a low gear first KSH and try just spinning until you feel like you're pedalling as fast as you can and not going anywhere, then go up 1 gear and try it again. Just keep doing that until you start to feel like you're legs are "pushing" the gears, then drop down 1 gear and get the spin back. Hope I explained that OK!

[bouncybouncy]

Wow...that is a great way to explain it! Although I have only felt it on a MTB spinning circles on the paved path around the park I felt it as well...I can't wait to get my road bike to actually see the speed I can get on that!
I found that feeling following an experienced rider and watching his gears and trying to keep my cadance with his all while trying to draft (he knew I was following and guiding me along) Once I found it...WOW...I was doing 18mph on knobbies (only for 2 miles mind you) then managed to sprint for 1/2 mile at 21mph...What a feeling! That is a little training lap getting ready for some riding in NC...only thing I can do to prepare for hills. Being down here in FL our overpasses don't even count...flat is an understatment!

[alison_in_oh]

The hardest thing to overcome (for me) is: you don't have to have a higher gear to get more speed.

Abso-freakin'-lutely! I had this epiphany this spring, too, and WHOO what a rush to go faster with less effort! Love it.

[Dogmama]

Say what you will, but I LUV my cadence monitor. I have my cyclometer on cadence constantly. I don't have to count - just look at the monitor. It's especially helpful going up hills - tells me when to shift! I like to run a cadence no lower than 85 and no higher than 100.