Originally Posted by
pdlamb
Of course low cadence, by itself, is not the problem. But low cadence, particularly during climbing, is a proxy for higher force. And that higher force aggravates a knee that I twisted in my middle 20s. It's pretty hard to push that hard with a cadence in the 80-90 rpm zone, where that knee doesn't bother me.
Low cadence is a poor proxy for high force. I can pedal slowly with either low or high force. I can pedal quickly with either low or high force. Now that many of us have power meters, it's (way past) time to dispel the notion that low cadence hurts knees. In fact, even when climbing, once you've run out of gears and you're in your lowest, lower pedal force and lower cadence are directly (not inversely) related. That is, for any given gear, if you want to reduce force, slow down; don't speed up.