Cadence & Riding Cold Days

[Nokomis]

What sort of tights are you using?

Also, how's your circulation in general? Are your iron and thyroid levels good? Intolerance to cold can be indicative of other health problems.

Thanks for the reccomendation - I don't know what kind of tights I have; but I was wearing capris in this instance, and as you mentioned they were just as thin as shorts, so not much benefit vs. air temperature.

How does one assess curculation? Thyroid is fine, not sure the last time iron was checked.

Liza -- How cold... well, now this is a bit embarassing as it was 50-55 F when we started out on Saturday. Not 'Real' cold weather, by any means. I know that when it dips below 60 I need to keep my ears covered, as they chill & start to hurt quickly. So I had my Ibex hat on, pulled down over the top of my ears.

I think my comfort cadence is probably between 70 & 80.. I don't have a sensor, but try to be aware of rotation and relate it to spin class. I have a perception that anything over 100rpm gets sloppy & bouncy.. you mentioned starting at 100 & increasing by 10? How high of a cadence is reasonable to work at? Or to maintain if we're setting a goal for high cadence while on the road?

Thank you for all the tips!

[OakLeaf]

Most people feel the ideal cadence for road riding is around 92. Obviously it's going to be lower when you're climbing any significant hills, but you want to try to keep it over 65-70 to protect your knees (and your drivetrain). But once you're in your bottom gear and the hill's just getting steeper, you do what you can

When I was doing cadence intervals on rollers, I would start at 100 just because it was slightly higher than my usual cadence. I got to where I could maintain 160 pretty smooth for a minute. That was definitely "back in the day." But aim as high as you can! You can do cadence intervals on rolling hills too - once you crest the hill, don't upshift, just stay in your low gear and spin as high as you can on the descent. If you're trying to improve your cadence, definitely get a monitor. There are some pretty inexpensive ones out there - I use a Cateye Astrale 8 which was like $30 at the LBS.


PS Liza... eeeek! Before we started flying south for the winters, my toes would literally be blue from December through April, and that was just from staying in the house and working out indoors! Aren't you afraid of ice???

[boy in a kilt]

I used to hate exercising on the cold oklahoma mornings (but the Army gave me no options). One morning my legs almost locked up. I think it was about 15 degrees. But we were better off than the marines.

Sounds like you really need to warm up a bit more before you ride.

You have the hat, so you might want to try a neck gaiter too. The blood can cool a bit on the trip through your neck. I learned this trick in Officer Candidate School.

Try some warmer knickers. I wear my wool knickers if the temperature drops below about 65 and wear those down to the mid-40's.

On cadence.

The idea that 100 is the magic number became vogue with Miguel Indurain. He was the first person to truly dominate the tour for several years in a row. Apart from his general physiological freakiness (resting heart rate: 30), he used a very high cadence for the time. Lance Armstrong took note and started to do the same. Now, everyone does it. Spinning classes encourage it because a higher cadence is a good way to get your heart rate up quickly.

I can do 100 and once held 120 for a couple of miles just to see if I could do it, but I prefer somewhere in the 85-95 range. I bow down to OakLeaf for hitting 160. That is truly awesome.

If you can tick along happily at 18 miles an hour at 70-80 and you don't have any knee problems, you are probably ok.

[crazycanuck]

For the past 3 or 4 months during our winter season down here i've spent many a mornings cycling in kind of cool conditions.(ok, 5c is cool but not cold)

THe only thing i've done differently is wear witches britches from Ground effect on the bottom and an extra jersey on the top. I've been warm and toasty

Cycling in coolish weather is fine! Join us nuts who do cycle at 5:30am when it's 5c, raining and windy!!

Happy C off to enjoy the spring sunshine

C

[GLC1968]

We just rode this past weekend in temps like you mentioned (50-55). I don't mind it and was happy and warm in shorts (I'm a freak), but DH was having serious issues despite wearing tights. I made him back off the pace with me and told him to spin. He does well with spinning up hills, but he likes to push bigger gears in the flats. I told him he could do that...ONCE he was warmed up. He's a southern boy, too...so to him, "warming up" was a 2-3 minute exercise. Once I got him to agree to spin for awhile at a slower overall speed (I led to make sure he couldn't mash), he was fine. I think it was a solid 20-30 minutes before he felt that he'd gotten his leg strength back.

Now he complains about how his early commute takes him longer because he's trying to spin more to warm up. I remind him that he can take an extra 10 minutes per day to get to work now if it means that he'll still be able to ride at 60!

Anyway, my point is to work on spinning for the first part of any ride...but particularly in those temps. Yes, your speed will suffer if you aren't real efficient with spinning, but it's worth it. Once you are truly warmed up, you can kick it into a higher gear.