90 cadence

I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum speed? What are the variables
that affect this value, ie. what body size is better at 85, and 95, etc.

Anything else besides body size?

Ben Wight

 

I think you should cycle with whatever cadence you feel comfortable. I am 192 cm, 90 kg and 90rpm is
too fast for me, I prefer 75-80. Going faster feels uncomfortable and at 90+ I start to bounce. And
when I go uphill I tend to lower the cadence, so perhaps the 80 is even too high for me.

Joop

"Ben Wight" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum speed? What are the
> variables that affect this value, ie. what body size is better at 85, and 95, etc.
>
> Anything else besides body size?
>
> Ben Wight

 

> "Ben Wight" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum speed? What are the
> > variables that affect this value, ie. what body
size
> > is better at 85, and 95, etc.
> >
> > Anything else besides body size?
> >
I find that it's actually pedal pressure (how hard you're pushing) that matters most. You can do
lots of light reps but only a few heavy reps. I might be comfortable at 85-105rpm, but I find that
(on the flats) the faster I go, the faster cadence I want to ride to keep peak pedal forces at a
level low enough for me to sustain.
e.g. fast cruising at 35-40kph - maybe 95-105rpm, 50kph 110-120rpm and sometimes 135rpm for short
bursts - the acceleration is easier with the lighter pedal pressures. I tell you, 115rpm can
feel like really plugging (too low a cadence) at over 60kph on the flat.

Just keep thinking: does my pedal action feel light, brisk and round? If it feels heavy, slow or
square - try changing down. I CAN sprint at 150rpm (normal on the velodrome) or rev at over 200rpm
downhill on a fixed gear - the ability to do this helps co-ordination for the more normal rev range.

My 13 yr old son is happy revving along in the bunch at up to 160rpm (when speeds are 'round 60kph
on the flat - i.e. not for long) to allow for the fact that his legs aren't as strong as the adults
but is often at 120-140rpm when we're doing 35-50. So that is a partial answer to the bodyweight Q.

You can't benefit from higher cadences until you've trained yourself to be efficient. Mark Lee
P.S. According to "research", the most efficient cadence is 60rpm but unfortunately, there is not a
person in the world strong enough to cycle fast using this cadence. It's okay climbing a
mountain or pottering around the neighbourhood, but useles for doing 40kph.

 

<namedrop>Peter Keen</namedrop> once told me, "It doesn't matter what your cadence is if you can
ride at 40mph."

--
John Stevenson Cyclingnews.com

 

Running too slow a cadence under load (such as up hill) is a great way to blow a knee cap. The idea is use as high a cadence as you can and change gear to keep it at that rpm. Higher speed motor in a low gear results in less strain on the motor right?
When I started road riding I was spinning around 60-70rpm relying on leg power and wondering why my knees hurt. I've now worked up to sit around 80-90rpm with bursts of speed over 100rpm.
The USA have spin classes to teach riders how to peddle like crazy. Do a search on the web for " bicycles spin" etc and see what you think.

 

www.spinning.com might be a good place to have a read. "Ben Wight" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum speed? What are the
> variables that affect this value, ie. what body size is better at 85, and 95, etc.
>
> Anything else besides body size?
>
> Ben Wight

 

Ben,

I don't think body size really has anything to do with spinning... I used to amateur race, and could
maintain 85 for about 6 hours straight, irrespective of incline, and stay in the saddle... I'm about
5'10" and weigh anywhere between 70 and 85 kgs, depending on my muscle density at the time...

The secret I found to maintaining the cadence was to use a cycle computer with a cadence alarm, and
to pick my gearing to maintain the cadence I wanted to ride at... When I upgraded to a flightdeck, I
found that the lack of alarm feature was a huge negative... Now, I ride to maintain heart rate,
rather than to maintain cadence... Creates a different level of fitness...

Cheers,

Drew

"Mick D" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> www.spinning.com might be a good place to have a read. "Ben Wight" <[email protected]> wrote in
> message news:[email protected]...
> > I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum speed? What are the
> > variables that affect this value, ie. what body
size
> > is better at 85, and 95, etc.
> >
> > Anything else besides body size?
> >
> > Ben Wight
> >
>

 

Heya!

Umm, I think your type of muscle make-up determines your best cadence.

From my uninformed reading of cycliterature (and other stuff), if you are a mainly short-twitch
muscle type - a sprinter - then your natural cadence will be higher that if you are a mainly
long-twitch muscle type
- a hill-climber, or in neddy-racing terms, a "stayer" (I think).

Tho, it does seem that body size, or rather how tall u are, does have some correlation to firstly
what type of muscles u have. Fer example, it seems all the TDF winners lately tend to be lanky
types, whereas the sprint kings (and queens - allez Longo!) seem to be stubby persons. I think there
is also some correlation here with wee-but-bemuscled 100 m sprinters and stratospheric 5 000 m
winners - tho of course, there are plenty of the opposite height-wise, tho more importantly, there
seem to be none of the opposite, muscle-wise.

Summary: sprint-types have higher (90-100) optimum cadences, and are often, but not always,
shortish. Distance/hill-climbing types have lower (80-90) optimum cadences, and are often, but not
always, tallish

Andrew Morris wrote:
>
> Ben,
>
> I don't think body size really has anything to do with spinning... I used to amateur race, and
> could maintain 85 for about 6 hours straight, irrespective of incline, and stay in the
> saddle... I'm about 5'10" and weigh anywhere between 70 and 85 kgs, depending on my muscle
> density at the time...
>
> The secret I found to maintaining the cadence was to use a cycle computer with a cadence alarm,
> and to pick my gearing to maintain the cadence I wanted to ride at... When I upgraded to a
> flightdeck, I found that the lack of alarm feature was a huge negative... Now, I ride to maintain
> heart rate, rather than to maintain cadence... Creates a different level of fitness...
>
> Cheers,
>
> Drew
>
> "Mick D" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > www.spinning.com might be a good place to have a read. "Ben Wight" <[email protected]> wrote in
> > message news:[email protected]...
> > > I read the value of 90 being used often, is this considered an optimum speed? What are the
> > > variables that affect this value, ie. what body
> size
> > > is better at 85, and 95, etc.
> > >
> > > Anything else besides body size?
> > >
> > > Ben Wight
> > >
> > >
> >