Weight lifting, low cadence and MTB

what about low cadence work? would this help a mountian biker who's cadence greatly varies in mountainous terain.
sort of weight training on the bike, with a lot of control over heart rate.
tarvy

Low cadence work is important for all riders that race with low cadences, but if you think about your MTB race how much of that is spent at very low cadence? Probably, most gradual climbs are done at +70 rpm and steep short hills might have lower cadences but only for a matter of seconds. The highest cadences you'll reach in a MTB race are around 120 rpm. So thats a working range of 70 to 120.

So when training, either train off road where your cadence will be the same as in races or if on the road spend some time at different cadences between 70 and 120. My favourite way of doing this is to use one gear for a whole ride so that cadence drops on climbs and rises on decents.

Also consider that when your cadence drops low or is very high that there may be an alternative way to ride the course faster (for example, changing gear, running, standing up, sitting down, more practice needed of that particular technical element, more specific fitness required) and change training or technique to acheive this 'faster speed'. [Hope that bit makes sense]

For the very steep sections, its perhaps best practicing these in a seperate session. As these are perhaps limited by skill as much as anything else. When fresh your ability to ride these may be limited by strengt, however when approaching these climbs quickly or when fatigued during a race the force you can produce will not be limited by strength. Therefore strength is unlikely to limit your performance.

__________________
www.cyclingforums.com

then i wonder if tempo type training (70ish cadence) with a more middle intensity HR
would be better (for building dare i say, strength?)
than the often prescribed low cadence(50-60 range), low HR
work in the .
tarvy

"My favourite way of doing this is to use one gear for a whole ride so that cadence drops on climbs and rises on decents."

which is a good reason to ride a single speed, which I do on occasion. plus, it is fun

Remembering the definition of strength; then riding round at 50 to 60 RPM is unlikely to make you stronger. It still may have a place, what did you feel the benefits of this type of training were other than strength?

The tempo training at 70ish would be more specific and I'm sure of more benefit to the MTB rider; but why do lots of this training if it rarely occurs during an MTB race?

It would be interesting to see an MTB race on SRM or PowerTap so that we can see the exact forces, HR and cadences involved. Perhaps Ric could provide these.

__________________
www.cyclingforums.com

i read an article once that stated ned overend's average
cadence (using SRM Powermeter) throughout a 2 hr race was less than 60! of course that's
not specific to anyone but him and who knows what kind of
terrain it was (and the article could be wrong), but interesting all the same.
tarvy

dont look at average cadence, if half the race was down hill or with technical sections with little pedling then the average cadence is greatly reduced. NOthing to120rpm =ave 60 does that tell us anything?
Big gear strength endurance work, yes, high speed cadence work yes. As a national Mountain Bike coach I have riders spending a lot of effort doing aerobic intervals......its not a 5 hour race here. with strength endrance and explosive 30 sec efforts added in.
john

i guess the question is, and the one everyone has a different answer for is. whats a big gear and why does it help?
t

The thing that is being alluded to here and in a number of other threads is:

“The specificity of cadence in training”

And what I’m getting from the coaches who comment on these threads is they are all leaning towards...

Doing a comfortable cadences ( or multi cadences ) that produce the best power/performance and then selecting the right gearing to meet your best cadence/power/performance equations for any specific event.

Appreciating circumstances will occur when you will have to pedal at cadences above or below your best cadence/power/performance equation, so training this so you will be able to perform and not blow up or drop your bundle on these occasions is warranted, but it will not be the larger part of your training.

Improving the power output on your best cadence /power equations will be.

see I’ve been listening !

Very low cadence (<70 rpm) on high gears with high pressure on pedals is one of the best methods to build muscular endurance.
No matter how you do it in intervals or continous spinning.
Just watch your knees.

Yes I agree, low cadence pedalling improves strength. Possibly of even greater value is low cadence pedalling with kust one leg at a time on a turbo trainer. Sounds a little crazy but not only does it build strength and muscular endurance, it also improves pedalling action. It may feel awkward at first but will get easier as your technique improves.
A more efficient technique will improve your overall performance.
Do short intervals 2/3/4 minutes 2 or 3 times on each leg. Start easy and build up (just like weight training in a gym) otherwise you'll knacker your knees.
This is something for your off season and possibly, maybe the early part of your race season. Take the improved strength and technique into your race season when your riding/racing will be more race specific.

Note: there's also a product called powercranks which train each leg independantly, but at the same time. I believe this is acheived by having the cranks separated by a clutch in the hub. Each crank can move independantly! meaning each leg has to work through the entire pedal cycle. Only available in the States at the moment.

Also available in Canada from http://www.fact-canada.com/

Some people have mentioned training intervals (8-12min at most?) at 30rpm on a gentle grade like 7%. Do it slow so that you don't breath hard or feel burn. Anyone have long term experience with this? I've started this just recently, and only in a half-a$$ed way, so I can't comment on it's effectiveness.

I am new to this, what is cadence ? Is there a method I can follow to regain fitness on my MTB ? How much time should I spend riding and how long should I push for before I rest ? Which gear and what should I eat before and after a ride ? It is very hilly here in Sydney. oil27

__________________
Enjoy the sights of the tour.