Got my butt handed to me on a platter tonight!

[KSH]

OK... I have been getting a little stronger... so I decided to try to ride with a faster group. The "advertising" said "18 MPH on average".

Well, riding with the 12 MPH group is just not enough for me... I don't even break a sweat... AAAANNNDDDD... I did a good 18 MPH on my last ride... so I figured I was up for it.

At the start I did GOOD! When I would look down at my computer, I would be going 22 MPH to 28 MPH... down some gentle hills. I was hanging with the group.

Then the hills hit... and the wind... and I powered through most of it... and then the knee pain HIT!

My left knee had pain that would come and go... when it would come... it was PAINFUL... to the point that I seriously thought I would pull over and have a friend come take me back to my car... but when I found out were were about 6 miles away, I decided to not whimp out.

The last 10-12 miles were around 11-13 MPH.

I was just FORTUNATE enough to have 2 kind riders (Angela and Mo) who stuck with me... it had gotten dark... I had no clue how to get back... and I didn't have lights on me!

Lessons Learned:

I have learned that I am not as fast, or strong as I thought I was on the bike. It will be a very long time before I go out with a fast group like!

I am mashing the pedals = knees pain. I have no clue how to "spin". I hope I learn it someday before my knees give out.

There are some very kind and generous souls out there... who take care of new riders... and if you are one... just let the people around you KNOW that you are, and someone will be kind enough to have pity on your slow-*** soul.

[Veronica]

Make yourself get into a lower gear. Try to focus on bringing your RPMs up to 80. Do this when you're not riding with the fast group. Sounds like the rides with your regular group may be the perfect time to focus on technique. If you can afford it, you may want to get a cadence sensor.

V.

[KSH]

Make yourself get into a lower gear. Try to focus on bringing your RPMs up to 80. Do this when you're not riding with the fast group. Sounds like the rides with your regular group may be the perfect time to focus on technique. If you can afford it, you may want to get a cadence sensor.

V.

Yea... Mo kept asking me about my cadence... and he was looking for a sensor on my bike.

Sounds like I have yet another investment to make.

Dang this is adding UP!

I can barely afford the jerseys... on SALE... as it is (I have all of 2).

[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.

[shewhobikes]

I sense another breakthrough coming... I have not spent much time yet addressing cadence, just trying to get the bike dialed in, then went clipless, then new handlebars/shifters. So...
Corsair, thanks for the "knee to handlebar, scrape mud off shoe" thought. I will try that.
And everybody, what I'm hearing is, get in the gear that allows you to "go in circles" not just pull up and push down. Is that it?

[CorsairMac]

I sense another breakthrough coming... I have not spent much time yet addressing cadence, just trying to get the bike dialed in, then went clipless, then new handlebars/shifters. So...
Corsair, thanks for the "knee to handlebar, scrape mud off shoe" thought. I will try that.
And everybody, what I'm hearing is, get in the gear that allows you to "go in circles" not just pull up and push down. Is that it?

it's a no-resistance spin. I don't know how else to describe it, but as soon as I felt some push-pull in my legs I looked at my cadence counter and I had dropped into the lower-mid 70s. My first inclination was to push harder to get the cadence back up, but instead I dropped a gear and the push-pull feeling went away, my cadence went back up and my speed either stayed the same or went up! Hard to believe I know.

and yuppers Dogmama, I'm now following cadence instead of time.

[nuthatch]

GREAT insight, Corsair! I've never had the whole thing explained quite that well. I've not been putting the two things together - I'm either concentrating on cadence or concentrating on pedal technique. You make it sound like "the sweet spot"!!! And, boy, can I use any ammo available against the evil headwinds - they are really wearing down my spirit and my legs these past few days.

Shew, it sounds like a cadence counter might be worth the investment!

[CorsairMac]

GREAT insight, Corsair! I've never had the whole thing explained quite that well. I've not been putting the two things together - I'm either concentrating on cadence or concentrating on pedal technique. You make it sound like "the sweet spot"!!! And, boy, can I use any ammo available against the evil headwinds - they are really wearing down my spirit and my legs these past few days.

Shew, it sounds like a cadence counter might be worth the investment!

wait til you find it with a tailwind!......coz that 15+mph headwind became a tailwind when I turned to come back to work and I was riding at speeds over 22 mph without pushing. I just kept spinning and the speed just kept climbing. At one point I felt a slight bit of panic when I realized if I crashed at 22+ mph I could probably get hurt, so I just pedalled harder to see if I could hit 25!! (which I didn't - today!)