speed and cadence and quads, oh my!

[NaeNae]

Your quad pain might have nothing to do with cadence or gear and everything to do with how your bike is set up. I find that if my saddle is too low and/or too far forward, my quads get overly tired. Have you had a fitting on your bike? How high is your saddle? Is it high enough that you have just a slight bend in your knee at the bottom of your pedal stroke? Can you sit on your saddle and just barely touch your toes, not touch your toes nearly at all or can you put your feet down? Is your saddle all the way forward, in the middle of the rails or set forward or behind center?

Of course, I could be wrong, but I think it's something to look in to.

I think the height of my saddle is fine; slight bend in the knees and can barely touch toes when sitting. It looks like it is about 2/3 of the way forward.

My boyfriend, who used to work in a bike shop, "fitted" it for me. I'll ask him about the saddle possibly being too far forward.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[indysteel]

Do you have long femurs? While my legs are short (really short), my femurs are relatively long. I have to put my saddle all the way back on the rails and use a seatpost with a lot of setback in order to get my knees far enough behind my bottom bracket to make my quads happy. I prefer to sit a bit farther back than conventional wisdom (knee over pedal spindle) would otherwise indicate. I get a lot more leverage behind the pedal that way.

If you do start playing around with your position, use some tape or permanent marker to indicate where you started from. If you move your saddle back, remember that it will effectively raise your saddle, too, such that you usually have to lower the saddle a tiny smidge to compensate.

[NaeNae]

Do you have long femurs? .

I don't think so...if anything, I think I have a long torso. I don't know how/if that would affect things. Again, thank you.

[indysteel]

I don't think so...if anything, I think I have a long torso. I don't know how/if that would affect things. Again, thank you.

I have a long waist and short legs, but my femurs are long relative to my leg length. That basically means that my saddle needs to go way back to put me in an optimal power position.

But in rereading your op, I see why you think your lower cadence is wearing your legs out. Forgot about speed and focus on efficiency by gradually increasing cadence. Who cares how fast you're going if you're wearing yourself out and sore after rides. As you get better conditioned and stronger, the speed will start to follow.

[jusdooit]

With regard to stretching your chain........don't worry about it. Chains stretch, you replace them, just be sure to measure it every so often so it can be changed in a timely manner. I have a compact double and use the full range of gears and got about 2,000 miles on my chain, about average I think. It is because of your lack of using all your gears that you're "Goldilocks." In general changing gears either up or down on your front chainring is equal to three small rings (cogs) in the back. I order to avoid the "goldilocks" effect you should shift through three cogs in the back in the opposite direction for a shift in the front. Meaning before shifting down in the front shift up in the back by 3, followed immediately by the front shift. I don't know what type of shifters you're using, but my Shimano STI's are designed to make this easier when moving to the big ring up front, as they allow me to sweep 3 gears with one large push with the right shifter. If I'm not making total sense maybe BF can help clarify.
Keep at it and don't be afraid to experiment with different gear combinations.

[jusdooit]

BTW your saddle may be too far back forcing your recruit your quads more than necessary. If you choose to move your sadlle do it in very small increments and ALWAYS measure it's current location first. That way if the new position doesn't work you can put it back to where you started.

[bluebug32]

Just read this article on cadence: http://www.active.com/cycling/Articl...risid=22913991

[bluebug32]

Maybe it's just me, but when I ride hard (or mash gears or do a lot of hills or try to keep up with the fast group), my quads hurt! As long as it's the good kind of hurt, vs. pain from an injury, I think you're okay. Give them a good stretch afterward and use a foam roller or massage stick to loosen them up.

I would also play around with your position on the saddle. When you're pedaling in the drops or on the hoods, you tend to use your quads the most. Slide back on the saddle when you climb to engage your glutes/hams and to give your quads a break. Stand up and climb, slide to the nose of the saddle and see how that feels. Moving around will work the muscles more evenly and give your quads a break.

[smilingcat]

sounds like most of your power is coming from the down stroke only. You should be pulling up on the up stroke and sweeping back at the bottom and pushing forward at the top of your pedaling stroke. Ask your BF about it.

When you learn to apply power on full circle, you'll find that things are lot easier and easier on your quads.

And if your quads feel sore after a ride, sit down and use a roller to massage out the built up lactate in your leg. This will help you recover faster. And feel better too!

You can buy a roller from a cycling shop and if you can't find it, you can always improvise.