Compact Gear, Big ring vs Little ring

[GreatPaws]

well, since you all are so nice about dumb questions...

a) The bike at the gym says my rpms are mostly 70-75 rpm when I'm comfortable.(my real world bike doesn't have rpms) I"m supposed to go faster than that?????? Why? I have aways to build up to then...

b) How do you know if you have a "compact crankset"?


A url/ link is fine if this is too newbie...

[tulip]

A better measure of effort at spin class is a heart rate monitor. Cadence is important, but you don't want to be bouncing in the saddle (cadence is too high in that case).

BTW, GreatPaws, glad to see another TEer in Richmond!

[OakLeaf]

Cadence is important, but you don't want to be bouncing in the saddle (cadence is too high in that case).

It doesn't mean your cadence is too high, it means your pedal stroke is uneven. If you're not smooth at a high cadence, then you're not smooth at a lower cadence either, it just isn't as obvious.

One way to build an even circular pedal stroke is with cadence drills, either downhill or downwind on an outdoor bike; on rollers; or on a stationary bike with very low resistance. Spin at the fastest cadence you can without bouncing (which can be kind of hard to tell on a stationary bike, but anyway), then increase your cadence by 10 rpm for one minute, and repeat several times.

[GreatPaws]

bouncing? as in i'm moving in the saddle?? i don't think i'm that fit... lol.. <tries to picture what "bouncing" could look like>

The heart rate monitor is being shipped from amazon as we speak. Should be here tomorrow. Other than making sure I don't die, I didn't realize I could use it to measure effort. Unless you mean the general "don't do 90% of your heartrate" kind.

tulip- are you in Richmond?? I feel like the on non- professional biker out here?!!!! Where are all of you??? Where do I find you?

[andtckrtoo]

This is an interesting topic for me, a fairly experienced rider. I used to always push higher gears and a lower cadence. I have very strong legs, and this was the easiest for me.

When I bought my new bike, I had a cadence meter put on and spent a lot of time on a trainer, trying to match the cadence Coach Sean recommended. The first two to three weeks I did this, I huffed and puffed and thought I'd keel over. But, I ended up with a higher cadence and a lower gear and was actually faster, especially up hill.

I've spent the summer outside (yay!) on my bike, so I haven't been watching cadence, but I am faster. However, i still ride big gears - but at a higher spin - especially on the flats and rolling hills. I'm not built to have a very high cadence spin - 90 is still tough unless it's a low, low gear - I average about 80. I still have very strong legs, so a bit of both seems to work best for me.

So, that's my long winded why of saying try both and find out what works best for you.

[Miranda]

Warning: post reading requires beverage of choice, here we go...

My boss for work has a saying "the cyclists that can push the biggest gear the fastests--wins".

I teach Spinning at my gym. And my boss (teaches & supervises our area) years ago was a racer for a team (& race winner). No longer races, but cycles recreationally still.

In order to be able to do this, you must have BOTH strong leg muscles to turn the bigger gear (& cadence 90rpm+)... AND strong lungs+heart /very aerobically fit to fuel those muscles with the oxygen they need to do their work. That comes w/time of getting fitter /stronger.

I own various cycling books. Plus lots of reading on here & Mr. Google. The 90rpm is some formula I believe racing cycling coaches came up w/as optimal for a balance between speed / effort etc.

Not saying obviously you are trying to race here... but part of their point is cycling efficiency. I don't race either, btw.

Being able to maintain a higher speed gives you the ability to keep pace w/a wider variety of people to ride with (like you get someone to ride w/besides the BF... or he wants to ride quicker = you can keep up etc.).

My first roadie had a triple crank: 50,39,30. Never used the 30. Rarely the 50. Did all my riding and spinning in my 39. Upper 80s, close to 90rpm to get a speed average I was happy with.

Well, my new ride had a compact crank like yours: 50/34. I ride my 50 ring 90%+ of the time. Even on climbs mostly (midwest here, btw, not CO mts). My guy buddy said when I was riding the big ring like that I had two choices: 1) get stronger and be able to push it 90rpm; or 2) switch out to a 53, 39 double to get back my 39 ring to "spin"... (my wider triple was part of my knee issues... won't go back to that unless I'd move to mts.)

Trying to spin in the 34 ring I just get mad because I'm "going no where fast". Becauase I'm not pushing as much gear for the speed. I hate that. It's an exhausting waste of effort. So, I've opted to try and let my legs get stronger pushing the 50 ring at 90rpm. That effort has driven my HR up (near lactate threshold--hard work effort). But, I am getting fitter aerobically (=feels like less effort) & I can tell my legs muscles have developed more = got stronger. How much improvement my body is capable of... not sure yet, thus my 39 ring need is still up in the air for me.

Which... btw, depends on what your goals are: if distance, pacing yourself & not burning up all your muscles fuel stores too fast w/too hard a work effort... thus we call the cycling 'bonk'. Been there *sigh*.


In the beginning the effort does hurt. Meaning like it's a hard workout, read: not knees grinding or you feel on the brink of cardiac arrest--still can spit out one word of breath, "with oxygen"... not anaerobic (without oxygen--breathless). My suggestion is to ride these efforts in increasing "intervals" as you progres...

Hold you gear that gives you the "happy speed" you like w/less cadence as you are doing now. Then for a few minutes pick up your cadence in the same gear to 90rpm. Your heart rate will go up etc.... but so will your speed. Then, back it off. Recover. Repeat. Doing this ongoing & increasing, you will find it starts to get easier to do = getting fitter.

On your spin bike at the gym...
If you are bouncing in the saddle, add on some more resistence to the fly wheel (just like using a hard gear outside on your real bici). This will help to smooth out your pedal stroke. If you don't even have a pc on the bike, just manually count out the cadence using a clock second hand. I do this all the time in my classes I teach for various drills...

Take one foot, say right, and each time it hits the bottom of the pedal stroke, that's one revolution / circle. I like a 15 sec count. So, for 15sec count the # of times that foot hits the bottom. Take that # and multiple times 4 to equal 60secs / 1 minute... and viola, you have your total revolutions per minute (rpm) for cadence. E.g. a count of 23 strokes in 15sec x 4 = total rpm of 92.

Sorry, I know that is still a lot to process... but maybe of some help of what the BF is trying to say in the "guy version of: hey! small ring... SPIN!" lol. Lastly... "yes" as the peeps have said, do what is comfortable to you riding NOW. Just I think what part of *his* point is... only w/a lot more words.

Best Wishes.
Miranda

[Andrea]

He's probably just trying to slow you down because you're wearing him out

[indysteel]

Warning: post reading requires beverage of choice, here we go...

My boss for work has a saying "the cyclists that can push the biggest gear the fastests--wins".

I teach Spinning at my gym. And my boss (teaches & supervises our area) years ago was a racer for a team (& race winner). No longer races, but cycles recreationally still.

In order to be able to do this, you must have BOTH strong leg muscles to turn the bigger gear (& cadence 90rpm+)... AND strong lungs+heart /very aerobically fit to fuel those muscles with the oxygen they need to do their work. That comes w/time of getting fitter /stronger.

I own various cycling books. Plus lots of reading on here & Mr. Google. The 90rpm is some formula I believe racing cycling coaches came up w/as optimal for a balance between speed / effort etc.

Not saying obviously you are trying to race here... but part of their point is cycling efficiency. I don't race either, btw.

Being able to maintain a higher speed gives you the ability to keep pace w/a wider variety of people to ride with (like you get someone to ride w/besides the BF... or he wants to ride quicker = you can keep up etc.).

My first roadie had a triple crank: 50,39,30. Never used the 30. Rarely the 50. Did all my riding and spinning in my 39. Upper 80s, close to 90rpm to get a speed average I was happy with.

Well, my new ride had a compact crank like yours: 50/34. I ride my 50 ring 90%+ of the time. Even on climbs mostly (midwest here, btw, not CO mts). My guy buddy said when I was riding the big ring like that I had two choices: 1) get stronger and be able to push it 90rpm; or 2) switch out to a 53, 39 double to get back my 39 ring to "spin"... (my wider triple was part of my knee issues... won't go back to that unless I'd move to mts.)

Trying to spin in the 34 ring I just get mad because I'm "going no where fast". Becauase I'm not pushing as much gear for the speed. I hate that. It's an exhausting waste of effort. So, I've opted to try and let my legs get stronger pushing the 50 ring at 90rpm. That effort has driven my HR up (near lactate threshold--hard work effort). But, I am getting fitter aerobically (=feels like less effort) & I can tell my legs muscles have developed more = got stronger. How much improvement my body is capable of... not sure yet, thus my 39 ring need is still up in the air for me.

Which... btw, depends on what your goals are: if distance, pacing yourself & not burning up all your muscles fuel stores too fast w/too hard a work effort... thus we call the cycling 'bonk'. Been there *sigh*.


In the beginning the effort does hurt. Meaning like it's a hard workout, read: not knees grinding or you feel on the brink of cardiac arrest--still can spit out one word of breath, "with oxygen"... not anaerobic (without oxygen--breathless). My suggestion is to ride these efforts in increasing "intervals" as you progres...

Hold you gear that gives you the "happy speed" you like w/less cadence as you are doing now. Then for a few minutes pick up your cadence in the same gear to 90rpm. Your heart rate will go up etc.... but so will your speed. Then, back it off. Recover. Repeat. Doing this ongoing & increasing, you will find it starts to get easier to do = getting fitter.

On your spin bike at the gym...
If you are bouncing in the saddle, add on some more resistence to the fly wheel (just like using a hard gear outside on your real bici). This will help to smooth out your pedal stroke. If you don't even have a pc on the bike, just manually count out the cadence using a clock second hand. I do this all the time in my classes I teach for various drills...

Take one foot, say right, and each time it hits the bottom of the pedal stroke, that's one revolution / circle. I like a 15 sec count. So, for 15sec count the # of times that foot hits the bottom. Take that # and multiple times 4 to equal 60secs / 1 minute... and viola, you have your total revolutions per minute (rpm) for cadence. E.g. a count of 23 strokes in 15sec x 4 = total rpm of 92.

Sorry, I know that is still a lot to process... but maybe of some help of what the BF is trying to say in the "guy version of: hey! small ring... SPIN!" lol. Lastly... "yes" as the peeps have said, do what is comfortable to you riding NOW. Just I think what part of *his* point is... only w/a lot more words.

Best Wishes.
Miranda

Miranda, I'm a little confused as to why you're having trouble replicating the gears on your compact that you liked to use on your triple. Depending on what cassette spread you used on both your old and new bike, you should be able to get pretty close to your old favorite gear ratios--maybe not exactly, but close. Run the numbers using Sheldon Brown's gear calculator and you'll see. Otherwise, you might play around with different cassette spreads to find the gear combinations that work best for you. That's what I did when I went from a triple to a compact. I ended up going with a cassette that not only gave me the smaller gears that I need to climb the steep hills in southern Indiana, but also provided the "sweet spot" gears that I like on the flats.