I went out for a short ride last night in an attempt to do some strength training. I put the bike on the heaviest gears and started going hard. I went for 5.6 mi hard w/o changing gears even on the uphills, then 1.4 at a higher cadence and lighter gear to rest my legs(didnt worry about speed, only cadence in this part). I did this three times wich added up to around 19.6 mi(i dont count the last 1.4 since it was only a cool down). My average speed was 19.6.
The week before i did a time trial to see how fit i am and i averaged 19.9mph on the same course for 14mi…
It seems like i am loosing a lot of power on trying to be at a certain cadence and not concentrating on pushing the pedals hard enough.
has anyone tried or does any one ride alternating cadence during a race or a ride? it seems that i can ride on heavy gears for 5 miles on flats and then maybe only switch up to a higher cadence to rest my legs a bit on inclines and then go back to low cadence.
I will say that on the lower cadence i felt some stress on one of my knees so that will probably keep me from pushing that hard for long periods of time…
I do something similar when I am doing 30 or 60 minute max efforts on the trainer. I usually switch gears maintaining the same watts. Seems to help, although it could be relief of the boredom factor as much as anything. I usually find it easier to maintain power by switching to a higher gear as I get tired (on < 1 hour efforts). IMHO, focus on different cadences in training, working strength and RPMs alternately. Then do whatever feels good when racing.
I imagine bigger gear/ slower cadence vs. lower gear / faster cadence will impact your running legs. You could probably experiment with gear/cadence ratios and figure out what works best for you. I have to admit that I don’t think about my cadence when I’m racing, although I’m told I spin pretty fast. I just think about going as fast as I can without trashing my legs too badly. Seems to work out OK.
Hold on. So you’re comparing your time from a low-cadence strength workout session to a previous week’s TT performance? You’re comparing apples-to-oranges. Low-candence workouts aren’t meant to be fast workouts - they’re meant to develop more power so that when you do ride at a normal cadence you’ll go faster (assuming power is your limiter).
Hold on. So you’re comparing your time from a low-cadence strength workout session to a previous week’s TT performance? You’re comparing apples-to-oranges. Low-candence workouts aren’t meant to be fast workouts - they’re meant to develop more power so that when you do ride at a normal cadence you’ll go faster (assuming power is your limiter).
the problem is that i’m on the hardest gear and if i push hard i will obviously go fast. if i were to slow down purposely then it would require little strength from my legs. i guess i should try the excersize on a harder incline as to slow me down and present an even higher resistance. its just hard to find a hill long enough.
Sometimes I go for a ride in the hills near town. There is a 20K loop with several hills that were 500m to 2K in length. Loop1, all hills at 90 RPM or more spinning uphill in the aero position in a 34x26. Second loop, every alternate hill standing at 60-80 RPM and the other seated in the aero position cranking at 48-60 RPM. Feel like weights on the bike. My HR never gets up high as I am not moving quick.
In races, I try to keep it in the same big gears on similar hills and spin, so my force per stroke is the same as the “weight workout”, but I am putting out way more wattage.
main set 4 to 5 times
3 min race pace 90-95 rpm
3 min big gear, 60-70 rpm HR top of zone 2 - low zone 3
3 min easy spin 95-100rpm
10 min cool down
The race pace gets me warmed up for the big gear work, normally this is 1-2 teeth faster than my long ride gear. 55-15 650 wheels
The big gear work get me used to turning a big gear on the flats and helps me with muscular strength and muscular endurance, normally this is a 55-13 55-12.
The spin seems to reduce the fatigue that was built up and lets me concentrate on quicker pedaling technique. Normally this is a 55-21.
Time seems to fly by while doing this workout, before you know it, it’s time to cool down.
remember to go for time rather than distance. Intervals of 3 mins, 4 mins, and rest etc rather than x distance in this gear, y distance at this cadence.