help me improve!!

lamai

I was talking to a guy yesterday, who seems to know his stuff about cycling, I

asked him how I could improve on the bike this year. I have only really started

about a year ago. He told me to do 2 hour spins first for a bit to build up my

bike fitness and to stay on the small cog and so I can keep my cadence around

90. and then after a few months. the big gear would come easier. I forgot to tell

him that I am fairly fit, as I run about 3 times a week

I was told by someone else before that. that I should do maybe a long run at

the weekend, but I needed to do shorter( 20miles) fast runs during the week

or the long runs would not be as productive.

just looking for general tips from people on how I can improve again this year

thanks

petethedrummer

lamai wrote: »

stay on the small cog and so I can keep my cadence around

90. and then after a few months. the big gear would come easier. I forgot to tell

Not that I'm a cycling expert but that sounds like complete rollocks.

What if you have a tailwind or are going down hill or cycling in a bunch?

Ryaner

Most people would spin out on the small cog. The idea is to keep the cadence above 90ish. A lot of the pros can spin at 120+.

lamai

petethedrummer wrote: »

Not that I'm a cycling expert but that sounds like complete rollocks.

What if you have a tailwind or are going down hill or cycling in a bunch?

he was talking about training, to do it for a few months to get my bike fitness

up, and to get into a routine of keeping a good cadence

DirkVoodoo

I think that was some old school cycling mantra: winter time you keep it in the small ring.

I agree with Pete, focus on cadence rather than gearing. If you try and keep your cadence at 90-100 rpm then you just select the gears to maintain this. I wouldn't really be keen on sticking in just the small ring. If it's a compact then even on the flat your cadence could be ridiculous.

lamai

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I think that was some old school cycling mantra: winter time you keep it in the small ring.

I agree with Pete, focus on cadence rather than gearing. If you try and keep your cadence at 90-100 rpm then you just select the gears to maintain this. I wouldn't really be keen on sticking in just the small ring. If it's a compact then even on the flat your cadence could be ridiculous.

What's the whole idea behind cadence? what's the difference if you are doing

45/min in a big gear and doing the same speed as a lower gear at 90/min

DirkVoodoo

No no no, it's to do with the most important concept in cycling: energy.

Here you go.

Everyone has a "natural cadence" they like to use, but if you are aerobically fit then spinning works, I personally find fatigue kicks in much earlier if I try and grind a higher gear.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

No no no, it's to do with the most important concept in cycling: energy......I personally find fatigue kicks in much earlier if I try and grind a higher gear.

As the article says, it's essentially a trade-off between "fatigue" and energy use.

I read a study where they made cyclists do high power output @ really low cadence (40rpm or something). They didn't last long. The study said they weren't really sure what caused the fatigue - it isn't the normal bonk, but something muscular*

Obviously it depends on what you're training. Low cadence climbing drills are common for trained cyclists, but are not advised for beginners (i.e. in the first year or two of training, so that's me too).

* edit: I may have misremembered this bit

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

I read a study ....

Of course you did :rolleyes:

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Of course you did :rolleyes:

There's some interesting stuff here.

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

There's some interesting stuff here.

Can I not read this and say "I agree"? I don't want this to turn into another HR debate, that got confusing. I even asked a doctor friend what he thought and he looked at me like I was a bit special and opted to sit on the fence. I don't think he really cared.