Slower=faster

An important part of training for any type of physical activity is being able to understand your own body. The more you understand your own physiological tendencies, the more efficient you can become. And you can apply the appropriate techniques that will provide you with the ptimum result.

Even though I have been riding bikes somewhat seriously for almost 20 years now, this year is the first time I have ever had a computer that measures cadence. I wish I had invested in one of these things years ago, because in the last two days I have made a startling discovery.

Conventional wisdom states that the optimum pedaling cadence for a cyclist is abut 90 RPM. In the past would measure this by counting my revolutions for fifteen seconds, than multiply by four. I would usually end up with a cadence pretty close to 90 RPM.

As soon as I installed the new computer, I discoverd that my cadence was actualy in the high 90s. No big deal, I thought. Efficient spinning. Good form. Just like Lance. So I would try to keep my cadence around 95 RPM, shifting gears in order to maintain the pace.

Now, one thing I crtainly need to improve upon is my leg strength and power. One of the better methods for this is to do intervals pushing a bigger gear at a lower cadence. So yesterday I decided to do a few five minute repeats, sing a big enough gear to keep my cadence around 80 RPM, and my pulse around 150 BPM.

To my surprise, when I started to push the bigger gear, I noticed something. In order to get to 150 BPM, I had to push a really big gear, and was flying. Now I intended to recvover between intervals spinning out in a low gear, around 100RPM with a pulse around 130. I decided to recover at the lower cadence, and see what happenned. I was able to go faster at 130 BPM by pushing a bigger gear than I was spinning a smaller gear at the same heart rate. I ended up having the fastest average speed of any ride I have had all year!

So I decided to try the bigger gear/slower cadence during my ride today. Even though my main focus today was climbing some steep hills, where for some pitches you don't care what your cadence is, yo just try to keep moving. On the flats I tried to keep my cadence around 80-85 RPM, and noticed an increase in average speed. I have been riding these particular roads long enough to know how fast I can go. And I was going faster than usual. All by doing one thing a little slower.