RChung said:
Long Post alert
The "article" never answered the question. And of course the answer is "it depends"
Take a flat TT ones FTP can vary with RPM. Most will get different Power with different Cadences. Hence the Idea of testing 3 different times, say 20 minutes at at different cadences. Use the Cadence that you are the best during your TT, but vary your training up or down a bit to work the cadences that are not as strong. You don't always have the perfect choice, so train for those times. Those times come more in mass start events. Also most racers can keep gaps from forming better when they can spin up the gear they have as apposed to grabing a bigger gear or accelerating a bigger gear. Oviously to a point. If you are already at 110 RPM and you top at 120, your power at those higher RPMs will probably not be enough to sustain the cadence.
I personally find it easier to hold a wheel in a little bit bigger gear.
Another part of "it depends";
Sometimes cadence is limited by the gear and the grade. So naturally, to mantain power, your Torque will have to be higher when the grade forces you down from say 90 to 70 RPMs. But if you could increase your cadence on the same hill your torque and hence power would have to increase as well.
Wouldn't it be of some advantage to train for the specificity of each reallity in cycling. Climbing, TT and sprinting.
Now peak power is different again from a more steady state power. Sprinting often has a much higher power at higher cadence. Of course optimal torques are used as well. Which is the main objective of sprinting to get the highest RPMs times the highest torque.
And of course elevating the front wheel of a trainer
will do nothing unless you also manipulate the RPM and torque, (easily measured as it is realative to Power), to simulate climbing conditions. Usualll lower RPMs at Higher torque.
Lance was fast because he could make good torque at high RPMs (Equals more power) While aerobically supplying the ATP.
The more steady state power you can procuce riding higher RPMs usually increases endurance because it can rely more on the oxditive fibers. You get much more ATP aerobically than anaerobically. This gets more pronounces as you go below FTP. The more ATP per gram of Carbs the longer you can ride.
I like a big gear but I go through muscle glycogen like there is no tomorrow.
The goal should not be to just increase cadence, but increase cadence while keeping the torque the same. This is done through training.
Power goes up if either torque or RPMs goes up, given the other stays the same. Increasing torque at a given point will tend to stimulate more non oxidative fibers. Increasing RPMs will tend to stimulate more Oxidative fibers. Again for steady state.
So find that best RPM and work on slightly raising it and Power. So you know your torque is staying up.
Sorry for the long post, but that artical could not have irked me more than if it was troll bait.
It comes down to you either pedal faster or harder or both to go faster. Adaptions follow from which you do!