Need some help from the math guys on this one, because what my head tells me must be true, my legs tell me is false.
So I'm trying to improve my climbing technique in a place that doesn't have many hills, just endless rollers.
I'm going up what passes for a hill around here and pretending that I'm already bottomed out in my gearing (in order to make the hill seem twice as steep as it really is as a training exercise), but trying to maintain cadence. Obviously I can't keep this up since I'm going over the wattage output I can maintain (I'm not monitoring power, just using that as a general term).
So I slow my cadence from 90 to 75. I don't change gears. This should, I would think, feel easier. Same gear, lower cadence, lower wattage, lower speed, so the force of each pedal stroke should be less.
But it feels harder to turn the pedals at this lower cadence.
Am I missing something? Shouldn't it feel easier, everything else (incline, wind, and gear) staying the same?
Now, given how most conversations here go, keep in mind I'm not saying that riding at the same speed with a lower cadence should feel easier. I'm saying lowering your cadence without changing your gear, thus losing speed, should feel easier.
So I'm trying to improve my climbing technique in a place that doesn't have many hills, just endless rollers.
I'm going up what passes for a hill around here and pretending that I'm already bottomed out in my gearing (in order to make the hill seem twice as steep as it really is as a training exercise), but trying to maintain cadence. Obviously I can't keep this up since I'm going over the wattage output I can maintain (I'm not monitoring power, just using that as a general term).
So I slow my cadence from 90 to 75. I don't change gears. This should, I would think, feel easier. Same gear, lower cadence, lower wattage, lower speed, so the force of each pedal stroke should be less.
But it feels harder to turn the pedals at this lower cadence.
Am I missing something? Shouldn't it feel easier, everything else (incline, wind, and gear) staying the same?
Now, given how most conversations here go, keep in mind I'm not saying that riding at the same speed with a lower cadence should feel easier. I'm saying lowering your cadence without changing your gear, thus losing speed, should feel easier.