Lance's gear ratio vs most efficient Ironman gear ratio?

Triathlon Forum
2

I think find a happy median, a comfortable rpm (i like around 80), at a decent gear. But for base work, do it either in a big gear or spinning really really fast.

3

Lance uses a high cadence, yes. He also pushes a big gear at those high rpms. There was a lot made of this in the year he and Jan went head to head in the last TT and Lance was spinning while Jan used a much lower cadence. They both were flying. I digress. Some people have been able to emulate his high cadence wih success. Others have failed. Doesn’t work for everyone. YMMV.

4

Welcome to slowtwitch.

Mentioning Lance in your first post the day you signed up: 5 on the Troll-meter.

Allow me to familiarize you with the search function on Slowtwitch… you missed about 200 threads on this very topic in the last month alone. Above the scrolling “latest news” bar you will see a search function… type in “optimal ironman cadence” and see what comes up, or click here:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=forum_1&search_type=AND&search_string=optimal+ironman+cadence&sb=post_time

failing that, there’s always one of many popular internet search engines to use:

Here

good luck!

5

I could be wrong in this, so take it with a grain of salt:
Lower rpm’s with a bigger gear puts more stress on the leg muscles, while higher rpm’s with a smaller gear puts more stress on the cardiovascular system. The cardiovascular system recovers more quickly than your skeletal muscles, so recent convention tends to favor higher rpm’s for faster recovery.
But different people have different preferences when it comes to cadence. Just as Lance likes using really high rpm’s, people like Jan Ullrich preferred to use a much bigger gear and grind it out at lower rpm’s. I think it’s safe to say anything between about 80-110 is good based on your preferences.
But, like I said, I’m no expert, and this is just my 2 cents.

6

In reply to " but now my Tri Coach told me that I should train and ride in the biggest gear possible 12/53 because it will translate into fewer revolutions" Get a new coach, or ride a 53:12 fixie and save the weight. If you are serious sbout biking learn to peddle at all speeds, smoothly at 120rpm with light resitance and also pushing a big gear, slower revs. Find what is best for you. As for Lance it was his High cadance up hills in a low gear that was much different. Yes in TT He spun faster but that was not quite as unusual.