cadence (Page 4): Triathlon Forum: Slowtwitch Forums

Re: cadence [Frank Day] [ In reply to ]

Oct 11, 09 17:45

In Reply To:

"I'd be more interested in hearing you comment on what I and others have been hinting at with regards to the litterature seemingly indicating that absolute power has more of an impact on cadence."

what studies are those? there are probably two dozen studies, from the 70s forward, suggesting, as frank day noted, that the energetic optimum was in the neighborhood of 60rpm to 70rpm (depending on rider intensity), that is, if you're simply measuring oxygen consumption, aerobic fatigue, etc., that slow is better than fast. this, altho "freely chosen" cadences always seemed to be around 90rpm in these studies.

then ahlquist came along with a game changer, and was the first to posit that muscle fiber recruitment was a key, essentially saying that we must look at neuromuscular fatigue, not simply aerobic fatigue; the problem being the higher rate of fuel consumption when type II fibers are recruited -- which is what happens as you lower the cadence, increasing the torque required to do the work, which increases type II fiber recruitment.

Huh? Alquist showed what? The fact that efficiency goes down when one has to recruit more fast twitch fibers? That does nothing to my argument because fast twitch recruitment goes up for both too slow cadence and too fast cadence. People should try to race at optimum cadence. Try to ride your bike unloaded at a cadence or 200 and tell me you are not recruiting any fast twitch fibers even though you are putting out zero power. The reason I mention that, in general, lower cadences are better is most are riding at too high a cadence for optimum efficiency. But, a cadence of 10 is not more efficient than a cadence of 70-90, just as a cadence or 140 is not more efficient than a cadence of 70-90. Many things can influence what the optimum cadence is for any individual including what the mix of fiber types they have in their muscles. But, the most important one is probably what power they are riding at. To say that all riders should be riding at the same cadence as what the pro men have gravitated to simply ignores what the science says, IMHO.

In Reply To:

so, you pick your poison. pedal faster and stress your aerobic system. pedal slower and stress your neuromuscular system. somewhere in there is the balance and, i think, this is why cadence rates change based on intensity.

pedal faster and stress your aerobic system. Pedal slower and stress your neuromuscular system? A statement that makes no biological sense to me.

In Reply To:

i think if -- again -- you simply look at what riders tend to do, you'll see that they pedal much faster cadences as their intensity increases. you yourself, i'm guessing, pedal 3 to 6 beats faster in a 70.3 than you do in an IM, and faster yet in an oly. if you don't, okay, but that's the norm.

but, it makes perfect sense because they can sustain higher powers for the shorter periods and the optimum cadence goes up with higher power. If they didn't change their cadence for these different efforts one should question their tactics.

Could it be that her crotch hurt or she had gas? I mean there are many different probabilities for her to be seating up showing bad form. I think unless she clarifies the issue, its all extreme speculation.

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"Bros b4 Hos, man" House MD

Team Aquaphor 06-08

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