Bike: Cadence & Speed, zones
Bike, cadence and speed:
In JOS and my bike workouts feel good. I think I am doing work and I think the work is working.
I just have no idea if I am doing it right.
Is there a specific cadence to shoot for? I have found that I can be in upper chain & 4th or 5th gear at a 67 cadence and in zone 4. OR I could be in middle chain, 5th or 6th gear at an 80 cadence in zone 4. Or should I pull back and hit a 90 candence?!
I am sweating like heck, and my legs feel stronger each time.
What which of these scenarios is the right "work" ??
Also, is speed on a trainer usually less, equal to or more than riding outside?
THANK YOU
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Comments
Dottie:
This has been discussed to death elsewhere. General industry guidance is 90ish. The EN guidance is don't sweat the cadence issue. Whatever is comfortable and gets the WORK done then that is your cadence. I am in the high 90's when I do my WORK.
And if you look at footage from Kona, Chris Lieto has a high cadence and Maca has a low cadence. Which is right?
Keep up the good work.
John
All that said, power is power, so if you are hitting z4 power the “work” is the same regardless of cadence. Although certainly the character of your “workout” is a lot different.
Regarding “speed” on the trainer, it is a function of the resistance unit on the trainer and completely irrelevant in my experience. For example, I just changed from a CycleOps Fluid2 to a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and my z4 “speed” at 211 watts went from 23.5 to 21.5 mph. If I am inconsistent with the tire pressure or the force with which the resistance unit contacts the tire it changes my “speed” at a given power output. So personally I do not use that metric, and have configured my screen on the Garmin to not bother showing it.
Dottie:
As indicated above, allow your body to self select the cadence. Once you know what you are most comfortable with, you can mix it up from time to time and go outside your comfort level. It can be beneficial developing ability to function in a wide window of cadences, otherwise don't sweat it.
Speed on the trainer has no comparison to the outside. I would use it to monitor the trend on the trainer only, if at all.
All solid advice above, enjoy it.
Interestingly, research has shown that the most 'efficient' cadence thermodynamically is somewhere in the low 60s. However, the higher the cadence, the less muscular force is required to put out a given power. So, most people find a balance somewhere between 80-90. The 'gospel' in triathlon is that you'll 'trash your legs' if you bike at too low a cadence, making it hard to run off of that effort. But, there's a lot of individual factors there.
I've often wondered if you couldn't train up to bike at a cadence in the 60's, and train yourself to run off of an effort like that...