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Bike cadence variations
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I’ve never paid much attention to my cadence other that out of curiosity after I ride. I don’t display the data field on my head unit. I normally just go by feel. But today during a ride I had a few intervals for the workout and felt like I was mashing a bit on the first couple of intervals so for the last few I thought I would attempt to ride with a bit higher cadence for the last few intervals. So after the ride, to my surprise, my cadence for the internals were mostly fairly low. Low 70s rpm. The last interval was higher at 77 but others were between 72-74. This seemed very odd to me as indoors my cadence tends to be mid to high 80s but of course those are shorter sessions. I checked my last HIM which was a couple years ago and it was 85 for that entire ride.

Is fluctuation normal?

I’m not so concerned as I had a long-ish brick workout last weekend and one today and even with my low cadence on both my runs were strong. It’s just odd as I’ve always considered myself closer to a spinner than a masher.
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Re: Bike cadence variations [mickison] [ In reply to ]
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For me personally, then low cadence is a sign of a muscle strain of some sort. Fatigue for me tends to result in me spinning more than powering. Having said that I'm natural at 94-95rpm, and a strong biker. If I'm seeing 8X in the cadence screen something is odd. End of intervals when fatigued I'll be over 100, often 105rpm for the final interval at a set power.

Bike position is key fr me too. If I'm not sat right then the cadence will drop.
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Re: Bike cadence variations [Duncan74] [ In reply to ]
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Duncan74 wrote:
For me personally, then low cadence is a sign of a muscle strain of some sort. Fatigue for me tends to result in me spinning more than powering. Having said that I'm natural at 94-95rpm, and a strong biker. If I'm seeing 8X in the cadence screen something is odd. End of intervals when fatigued I'll be over 100, often 105rpm for the final interval at a set power.

Bike position is key fr me too. If I'm not sat right then the cadence will drop.

I'm a little suspicious of my stages PM cadence readings being off. I've looked at some of my data over the past two years and low 70s is really unusual. Even for some really hilly rides where cadence was low due to running out of gears on steep climbs I was still mid and high 70s. and these past couple rides where I've had these low 70s are not very hilly rides. so I'm going to throw a different cadence sensor on for my next ride and see what happens. I talked to my coach and she agreed the cadence seemed a little odd but was not particularly concerned as my runs after the bike have been strong
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Re: Bike cadence variations [mickison] [ In reply to ]
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I remember reading somewhere that cadence drops with age. That's certainly been my experience. A decade ago I was in the 90-95 range, now I'm around 75 indoor on the trainer, 80 outside. My performance has improved during that time too, so maybe I should never have been in the 90-95 range. I'd take your coach's perspective: what counts is how you're doing on the run and your overall time. But yeah, to answer your question: fluctuation in cadence over time does seem to happen to a lot of people.
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Re: Bike cadence variations [hyr00] [ In reply to ]
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hyr00 wrote:
I remember reading somewhere that cadence drops with age. That's certainly been my experience. A decade ago I was in the 90-95 range, now I'm around 75 indoor on the trainer, 80 outside. My performance has improved during that time too, so maybe I should never have been in the 90-95 range. I'd take your coach's perspective: what counts is how you're doing on the run and your overall time. But yeah, to answer your question: fluctuation in cadence over time does seem to happen to a lot of people.

yes. I definitely rely on my coach to tell me and/or confirm when there's something to be concerned about. It's part of the reason I pay here of course. I just want to make sure the number is accurate. I looked back at a HIM less than two years ago and my avg cadence was 85 for that ride on a moderately hilly course and my sprint races last year my cadence was high 80s. so to be low 70s seems unusual. But again, my run off bike has been strong. and during my rides, I never look at cadence. just go by what feels better.
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Re: Bike cadence variations [hyr00] [ In reply to ]
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Just an update. This past weekend I did a BRICK session that was identical to the week before. But this time I kept my cadence about 85 rpms. Prior week was low 70s. This time run was slightly faster but I’m not going to make the leap to say the higher cadence was the reason. But seems high or low cadence didn’t matter that much for me. Not going to worry about it.
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Re: Bike cadence variations [mickison] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, everyone is wired differently, so you need to ride to your personal strengths. I rode with a former pro triathlete last week, and the dude was built like a freakin' beast. His thighs were the size of Volkswagens. He rode at a cadence below 70 and was very fast. I am a spinner and ride north of 90. He slowed down when he tried to spin faster than his natural ~70.
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