90 cadence

[Ben Wight]

I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum
speed? What are the variables that affect this value, ie. what body size
is better at 85, and 95, etc.

Anything else besides body size?

Ben Wight

[Joop]

I think you should cycle with whatever cadence you feel comfortable.
I am 192 cm, 90 kg and 90rpm is too fast for me, I prefer 75-80. Going
faster feels uncomfortable and at 90+ I start to bounce.
And when I go uphill I tend to lower the cadence, so perhaps the 80 is even
too high for me.

Joop

"Ben Wight" <wi...@giant.net.au> wrote in message
news:3e9d374e$1...@news.chariot.net.au...

[Mark Lee]

> "Ben Wight" <wi...@giant.net.au> wrote in message

> > I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum
> > speed? What are the variables that affect this value, ie. what body
size
> > is better at 85, and 95, etc.
> >
> > Anything else besides body size?
> >

I find that it's actually pedal pressure (how hard you're pushing) that
matters most. You can do lots of light reps but only a few heavy reps.
I might be comfortable at 85-105rpm, but I find that (on the flats) the
faster I go, the faster cadence I want to ride to keep peak pedal forces at
a level low enough for me to sustain.
e.g. fast cruising at 35-40kph - maybe 95-105rpm, 50kph 110-120rpm and
sometimes 135rpm for short bursts - the acceleration is easier with the
lighter pedal pressures. I tell you, 115rpm can feel like really plugging
(too low a cadence) at over 60kph on the flat.

Just keep thinking: does my pedal action feel light, brisk and round? If it
feels heavy, slow or square - try changing down. I CAN sprint at 150rpm
(normal on the velodrome) or rev at over 200rpm downhill on a fixed gear -
the ability to do this helps co-ordination for the more normal rev range.

My 13 yr old son is happy revving along in the bunch at up to 160rpm (when
speeds are 'round 60kph on the flat - i.e. not for long) to allow for the
fact that his legs aren't as strong as the adults but is often at 120-140rpm
when we're doing 35-50. So that is a partial answer to the bodyweight Q.

You can't benefit from higher cadences until you've trained yourself to be
efficient.
Mark Lee
P.S. According to "research", the most efficient cadence is 60rpm but
unfortunately, there is not a person in the world strong enough to cycle
fast using this cadence. It's okay climbing a mountain or pottering around
the neighbourhood, but useles for doing 40kph.

[John Stevenson]

<namedrop>Peter Keen</namedrop> once told me, "It doesn't matter what
your cadence is if you can ride at 40mph."

--
John Stevenson
Cyclingnews.com

[Malcom]

Running too slow a cadence under load (such as up hill) is a great way
to blow a knee cap. The idea is use as high a cadence as you can and
change gear to keep it at that rpm. Higher speed motor in a low gear
results in less strain on the motor right? When I started road riding I
was spinning around 60-70rpm relying on leg power and wondering why my
knees hurt. I've now worked up to sit around 80-90rpm with bursts of
speed over 100rpm. The USA have spin classes to teach riders how to
peddle like crazy. Do a search on the web for " bicycles spin" etc and
see what you think.

--
>--------------------------<
Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

[Mick D]

www.spinning.com might be a good place to have a read.

"Ben Wight" <wi...@giant.net.au> wrote in message

news:3e9d374e$1...@news.chariot.net.au...

[Andrew Morris]

Ben,

I don't think body size really has anything to do with spinning... I used
to amateur race, and could maintain 85 for about 6 hours straight,
irrespective of incline, and stay in the saddle... I'm about 5'10" and
weigh anywhere between 70 and 85 kgs, depending on my muscle density at the
time...

The secret I found to maintaining the cadence was to use a cycle computer
with a cadence alarm, and to pick my gearing to maintain the cadence I
wanted to ride at... When I upgraded to a flightdeck, I found that the lack
of alarm feature was a huge negative... Now, I ride to maintain heart rate,
rather than to maintain cadence... Creates a different level of fitness...

Cheers,

Drew

"Mick D" <mdu...@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:3ea9aff8$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au...

[Fred Nieman]

Heya!

Umm, I think your type of muscle make-up determines your best cadence.

From my uninformed reading of cycliterature (and other stuff), if you
are a mainly short-twitch muscle type - a sprinter - then your natural
cadence will be higher that if you are a mainly long-twitch muscle type
- a hill-climber, or in neddy-racing terms, a "stayer" (I think).

Tho, it does seem that body size, or rather how tall u are, does have
some correlation to firstly what type of muscles u have. Fer example,
it seems all the TDF winners lately tend to be lanky types, whereas the
sprint kings (and queens - allez Longo!) seem to be stubby persons.
I think there is also some correlation here with wee-but-bemuscled 100 m
sprinters and stratospheric 5 000 m winners - tho of course, there are
plenty of the opposite height-wise, tho more importantly, there seem to
be none of the opposite, muscle-wise.

Summary: sprint-types have higher (90-100) optimum cadences, and are
often, but not always, shortish. Distance/hill-climbing types have
lower (80-90) optimum cadences, and are often, but not always, tallish