OK - I’m fairly new to cycling and I’m curious about cycling cadence as it relates to the HIM and IM distances. Last summer I averaged around 90 to 95 for most of my rides. I didn’t aim for this, it just happened. Is this the correct cadence or is it one of those things where it just depends on the specific individual? Looking forward to reading the posts.
Thanks Gabbiev, I figured that was the case but was curious none the less. I just want to make sure I’m not pushing too hard on the bike so I don’t screw up my run. Appreciate the feedback.
Thanks Gabbiev, I figured that was the case but was curious none the less. I just want to make sure I’m not pushing too hard on the bike so I don’t screw up my run. Appreciate the feedback.
Yea unless you are grinding out at like 60rpm or always hamstering at 110+ I think you pretty much don’t need to worry about it. Everybody’s legs have a difference range of cadences where they feel “most comfortable”…
Here is a good article Brett Sutton posted. Study says 60-70.
http://trisutto.com/come-in-spinner-the-bike-cadence-debate/
There is also a good podcast on Jim Vance talking about how Luke Mckenzie changed his cycling cadence from the 70s to low 90s and he finished 2nd at Kona. How cycling at a 90+ cadence helped him neuromuscularly to run better off the bike. http://www.babbittville.com/babbittville-radio/jim-vance/
Both theories are totally opposite. There’s a number of things to take in consideration. Maybe the sweet spot is 80? Everyone is individual though.
Wait. A “study” says 60-70, but nearly every (possibly even every) pro cyclist rides WAY above that? I think I’d side with the pro cyclists.
pro cyclists don’t need to run afterwards, most can hardly walk after a 100 mile race
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Are you training to be a cyclist or a triathlete?
I do know this: a high cadence of 100 = a higher HR which is not a good setup if your going to run off the bike.
Not all pro cyclist are 100. Jan Ullrich had a cadence in the 80s.
if you look at the research (which is many, many more studies than just a study) the most metabolically efficient cadences tend to be lower than what people typically ride.
Higher cadences are associated with higher metabolic costs.
Jay Prahsuan and I hashed this out on twitter on Saturday based on some tweet Lava magazine put out regarding an article on cadences and efficiency where they screwed the pooch.
EDIT: I can’t believe people still worry about cadence no matter who writes on it. Cadence doesn’t win races, watts do. Train to have the highest FTP you can have and be able to ride as long as possible at the highest possible % of that FTP. That’s what’s going to make you faster, not some BS article about cadence
That’s what’s going to make you faster, not some BS article about cadence
I see what you did there.
Cycling torque: what’s optimal?
Cycling torque: what’s optimal?
Brilliant post.
At that range (90-95) you are in the “tribal knowledge” zone of most cyclists. I can’t speak for the data and individual variances certainly mean something.
Francisco Moser (who set the hr record in '84 and was a very successful pro bike racer) had a famous reply when asked whether it was better to push a big gear, or spin the pedals quickly to be fast. His reply was essentially to spin a big gear quickly.
Interestingly, one of his workouts for the hr record was purportedly to turn a large gear uphill slowly (50-60 rpm) to build strength which is a workout some still do today when building on bike strength (sparingly).
Good luck.
j
The simple answer is… There’s no simple answer.
In my opinion, tweaking cadence is really only for advanced cyclists who have already got all the “easy gains” and are looking for finer improvements.
Exceptions to this are people with ridiculously low/high cadence ranges because they listened to something someone told them once who was good at cycling I think because he had all matching kit on.
I would say just go out and ride, whatever feels best is probably fine.
If you want a basic run down:
Optimal cadence will trend upwards with intensity - If you’re doing an easy spin then the best cadence is going to be significantly lower than if you’re doing a threshold effort. “Cadence = % of FTP + 5” is a decent rule of thumb for most fairly well trained individuals (within reasonable boundaries).
The optimal cadence range trends upwards as you get fitter - A newbie doing 80% FTP will have a lower optimal cadence than a pro cyclist doing 80% FTP.
A ST user going by Tilburs posted a great reply to a similar question on a thread not long ago. It’s long, but well worth the read if you’re genuinely interested.
I’ve put a link to the thread below:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=5439156;search_string=;#5439156
Liam
There was an interesting post by Joe Friel (which some on ST will automatically dismiss just because they don’t like the guy for whatever reason) that indicated that an athlete will self-select a lower cadence as the race distance increases.
http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2012/07/bike-cadence-and-triathlon-race-distance.html
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Not sure your’s was a comment that was supposed to be posted in pink.
Road cyclists do tend to ride at higher cadences, even at the expense of higher metabolic cost, because the are not riding steady-state events. Triathlon is another story, one in which frequent and large accelerations are not the norm. A good amount of what pros do does not necessarily represent good practice. Having a lot of watts excuses any number of sins.
Nope. I was completely serious, but maybe I’m wrong.
I’m listening…
Like most things with training, people want a number, and there isn’t, one number.
That being said, many triathletes and road cyclists tend to NOT spend enough initial time perfecting the smooth pedal stroke and tend to ride in too big a gear, too fast and too soon . . because it’s all about going fast, right? 
However, to go “fast” in the long term it’s wise to establish good technique and efficiency early on. The problem is, this can take time, and few people seem to want to take that time.
Great discussion everyone as I was curious to get lots of opinions. I’m never going to be a pro cyclist and my only desire is to be a competitive age grouper. Since most of my rides are solo this is a nice place to bounce questions off of people. I’ll continue to just try and improve my pedal stroke and not worry about cadence. I will also add some big gear hill workouts for leg strength. That sounds like a great idea.
Thanks again for the links to the various study’s / posts. I’ll take a look at them tonight.
Cycling torque: what’s optimal?
Please people read this above.
Where a time trialist or triathlete may want to be is not necessarily the same as what a roadie might want to work towards in terms of cadence.
Pro cyclists (any group riding roadie for that matter) has to repeatedly respond quickly to accelerations in the bunch and, if racing (or screwing around with friends) put in attacks upping their pace very quickly. Those things favor maintaining both a higher cadence generally since accelerating at low cadences is both slower and takes a serious toll on the legs over time.
Actually, the torque curve question is very relevant to road racing or spirited group rides. For anyone familiar with the concept of a car’s power curve, most roadies want to be a zippy sports car in that perfect combo of gear and RPM that lets them accelerate quickly with just a flick of the throttle. That generally means a higher cadence that puts them at that sweet spot in their power curve that allows for that. Too low a cadence and you bog down. Too high and your on the back side of your curve. For most roadies, I’d guess that sweet spot is between 90-95 and the wider your RPM power curve, the better.
If you’re naturally at 90-95 without having to think about it, it seems fine and I’d carry on not thinking about it if I was you. Plenty of more important things to worry about.
FWIW I commute ~150 miles/week on a single speed on a route with rolling hills so I do the vast majority of my bike training with a cadence that is all over the shop from <50 to >120, hence my legs are very comfortable at both ends of the spectrum. When I then get on my road or tri bike at the weekends my cadence invariably settles at about 85 on the tri bike and 90-95 on the road bike.