How can i get my speed up???

[przc]

Can you please explain the gears to me. Are the hard gears the higher gears and low the easier? I never thought to ask i just change them as needed.

[KnottedYet]

Yeah, the high gears are the harder gears. The bigger chain (front) rings and the smaller cassette (rear) cogs.

Sheldon Brown (RIP) has some great articles about gearing: http://sheldonbrown.com/gearing/index.html

Sheldon wrote great articles about everything, really. Grab a beer and a comfy chair and you could easily spend hours reading his stuff.

[BikeHN]

I'm glad you brought that up przc, I feel the same way. I feel like my cadence is high and I'm at a good pace then ZOOM!! I'm just left peddaling in awe. I have the bad habit of getting lazy on the flats too, which doesn't help my avg. speed at all.

[przc]

When i went riding with a experienced rider he told me. The more spin you have the better (stay in low gears). Is thre any truth to this??

[KnottedYet]

When i went riding with a experienced rider he told me. The more spin you have the better (stay in low gears). Is thre any truth to this??

Totally depends on your physiology.

Some people's bodies are more efficient at higher rpm, some people's aren't.

Generally, whatever rpm you feel good at is where you are efficient, and you change speed by changing gears. The range of gears lets your body pedal at its happy rpm regardless of the speed of the bicycle.

To go faster, you get into a higher gear.

Caveat on the rpm: in general, to be good to your knees, you probably want your rpm to be 60 or higher.

[XMcShiftersonX]

Also, when you're training in the fall and winter, work on doing intervals - so riding at a comfortable pace for a certain amount of time, and then spending a short amount of time sprinting, and go back and forth for your entire work out. There's videos like "spinervals" that you can use while on your trainer when inside, and then you can apply those same principles when you get outside.

[aicabsolut]

When i went riding with a experienced rider he told me. The more spin you have the better (stay in low gears). Is thre any truth to this??

but to go fast, you must learn to "spin" a high gear.


* "spin" being relative to your comfortable cadence...what Knotted said

[smilingcat]

just keep riding at a pace where you are breathing a little faster than usual. Speed will come naturally.

As for cadence, someone suggested higher than 60rpm. It's a good advice. Normal people will keep their cadence between 60 to 90 maybe 100rpm.

Don't fret and just keep riding.

[przc]

Thank-you all for your responses. When i rode yesterday i tried keeping my bike in a higher gear and since i am used to feeling the lower gears when riding i kept switching back and forth. I actually felt i went slower than usual in high gear but then i had felt the same when that guy told me to switch to lower gears and spin more. His words were spin to win and it will keep your legs tone not bulky from higher gears.