Changes to increase speed
#51
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
Posts: 40,865
Bikes: Specialized Tarmac, Canyon Exceed, Specialized Transition, Ellsworth Roots, Ridley Excalibur
Mentioned: 68 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2952 Post(s)
Liked 3,106 Times
in
1,417 Posts
I don't get this fascination with cadence. Seems like anyone who's done any training with a powermeter eventually realizes it might be mildly interesting but functionally unimportant.
Likes For caloso:
Likes For RChung:
#53
Senior Member
Cadence is important, but it's also something that people tend to figure out on their own. You can feel what your legs want to do.
The only common exception seems to be when cyclists convince themselves that bottoming out gearing on a climb isn't a performance issue. But that's also not a situation that a cadence meter will help with; the issue isn't that the person doesn't know that their cadence is low, it's that they don't acknowledge the power penalty. In other words, a power readout would be much more informative than a cadence readout.
The only common exception seems to be when cyclists convince themselves that bottoming out gearing on a climb isn't a performance issue. But that's also not a situation that a cadence meter will help with; the issue isn't that the person doesn't know that their cadence is low, it's that they don't acknowledge the power penalty. In other words, a power readout would be much more informative than a cadence readout.
#54
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Music City, USA
Posts: 4,444
Bikes: bikes
Mentioned: 52 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2622 Post(s)
Liked 1,429 Times
in
711 Posts
Hey, we all once had 0 posts. @BoraxKid isn't wrong because he has 17 posts. He's wrong and he has 17 posts.
Though that quip was more of a reference to his posting "tip". Always a fun tangent when brand new people give tips on posting to people who have clearly wasted...er...spent... lots of time posting.
Likes For rubiksoval:
#55
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Seattle
Posts: 1,949
Bikes: Specialized Roubaix, Canyon Inflite AL SLX, Ibis Ripley AF, Priority Continuum Onyx, Santana Vision, Kent Dual-Drive Tandem
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 871 Post(s)
Liked 725 Times
in
436 Posts
Cadence is like bike weight- overvalued and overinvested because it's easier and cheaper to understand and measure than power or CdA. Yes, a lot of beginners would benefit from knowing they are not getting training improvements because they aren't recruiting their whole system enough when pedaling too slowly and coasting too much, or could benefit from not riding tanks on 2 wheels, but those aren't things that need more than some awareness to address.
#56
Klaatu..Verata..Necktie?
Join Date: May 2007
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 17,662
Bikes: Litespeed Ultimate, Ultegra; Canyon Endurace, 105; Battaglin MAX, Chorus; Bianchi 928 Veloce; Ritchey Road Logic, Dura Ace; Cannondale R500 RX100; Schwinn Circuit, Sante; Lotus Supreme, Dura Ace
Mentioned: 41 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10247 Post(s)
Liked 11,601 Times
in
5,946 Posts
I think it's useful for beginners, because spinning a faster cadence doesn't feel natural at first. Once you've adapted to spinning faster, yeah, obsessing over it is probably chasing phantoms.
__________________
"Don't take life so serious-it ain't nohow permanent."
"Everybody's gotta be somewhere." - Eccles
"Don't take life so serious-it ain't nohow permanent."
"Everybody's gotta be somewhere." - Eccles
#58
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 356
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 325 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 109 Times
in
72 Posts
Cadence is like bike weight- overvalued and overinvested because it's easier and cheaper to understand and measure than power or CdA. Yes, a lot of beginners would benefit from knowing they are not getting training improvements because they aren't recruiting their whole system enough when pedaling too slowly and coasting too much, or could benefit from not riding tanks on 2 wheels, but those aren't things that need more than some awareness to address.
#59
Klaatu..Verata..Necktie?
Join Date: May 2007
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 17,662
Bikes: Litespeed Ultimate, Ultegra; Canyon Endurace, 105; Battaglin MAX, Chorus; Bianchi 928 Veloce; Ritchey Road Logic, Dura Ace; Cannondale R500 RX100; Schwinn Circuit, Sante; Lotus Supreme, Dura Ace
Mentioned: 41 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10247 Post(s)
Liked 11,601 Times
in
5,946 Posts
"Where do Mansplainers get their water? From a well, actually."
__________________
"Don't take life so serious-it ain't nohow permanent."
"Everybody's gotta be somewhere." - Eccles
"Don't take life so serious-it ain't nohow permanent."
"Everybody's gotta be somewhere." - Eccles
#60
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Seattle
Posts: 1,949
Bikes: Specialized Roubaix, Canyon Inflite AL SLX, Ibis Ripley AF, Priority Continuum Onyx, Santana Vision, Kent Dual-Drive Tandem
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 871 Post(s)
Liked 725 Times
in
436 Posts
How do you get power from cadence and gearing without slope, rolling resistance, CdA, air density, wind speed and direction, and draft effect? Am I responding to a real poster or the bot powered by Strava's power estimation algorithm?
Likes For surak:
#61
Klaatu..Verata..Necktie?
Join Date: May 2007
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 17,662
Bikes: Litespeed Ultimate, Ultegra; Canyon Endurace, 105; Battaglin MAX, Chorus; Bianchi 928 Veloce; Ritchey Road Logic, Dura Ace; Cannondale R500 RX100; Schwinn Circuit, Sante; Lotus Supreme, Dura Ace
Mentioned: 41 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10247 Post(s)
Liked 11,601 Times
in
5,946 Posts
I see all the talk about aero and training, but it seems to me that gearing must be near the top of the list in terms of what needs to be changed. From the OPs description, it sounds like a lot of riding is done in 40-11, or the highest possible gear. And he wants to go faster.
For a comparison, here is the OPs gearing compared to what I am running, and I don't consider myself all that fast. Also I'm old, but I use the 53-12 quite often and I don't think I could even pedal the OPs bike over 30 mph.
For a comparison, here is the OPs gearing compared to what I am running, and I don't consider myself all that fast. Also I'm old, but I use the 53-12 quite often and I don't think I could even pedal the OPs bike over 30 mph.
__________________
"Don't take life so serious-it ain't nohow permanent."
"Everybody's gotta be somewhere." - Eccles
"Don't take life so serious-it ain't nohow permanent."
"Everybody's gotta be somewhere." - Eccles
#63
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,879
Bikes: Colnago, Van Dessel, Factor, Cervelo, Ritchey
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3906 Post(s)
Liked 7,182 Times
in
2,905 Posts
#64
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,879
Bikes: Colnago, Van Dessel, Factor, Cervelo, Ritchey
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3906 Post(s)
Liked 7,182 Times
in
2,905 Posts
#65
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 356
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 325 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 109 Times
in
72 Posts
Easy: force applied at the pedals times cadence gives you the power output from the rider into the bike. Since OP is new to the sport, this will be an instructive thing to look at, and it's the only factor that OP will have constant control over, aside from perhaps some marginal effects on frontal area presented to the wind. Why are you being so obtuse about this? Perhaps you should lurk more.
#67
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Seattle
Posts: 1,949
Bikes: Specialized Roubaix, Canyon Inflite AL SLX, Ibis Ripley AF, Priority Continuum Onyx, Santana Vision, Kent Dual-Drive Tandem
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 871 Post(s)
Liked 725 Times
in
436 Posts
Easy: force applied at the pedals times cadence gives you the power output from the rider into the bike. Since OP is new to the sport, this will be an instructive thing to look at, and it's the only factor that OP will have constant control over, aside from perhaps some marginal effects on frontal area presented to the wind. Why are you being so obtuse about this? Perhaps you should lurk more.
Folks, I think this is the Strava power estimator posting as an elaborate prank. The moment our worst timeline's version of Skynet gained self-awareness. Good thing that instead of terrorizing the human race, it will just go around giving us completely inaccurate power estimates on our rides!
#69
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: TC, MN
Posts: 39,505
Bikes: R3 Disc, Haanjo
Mentioned: 353 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 20791 Post(s)
Liked 9,436 Times
in
4,663 Posts
#70
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,879
Bikes: Colnago, Van Dessel, Factor, Cervelo, Ritchey
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3906 Post(s)
Liked 7,182 Times
in
2,905 Posts
Originally Posted by WhyFi
Bathroom scale pedals, duh. Just don't corner aggressively.
Buy a couple of dog toys and cut out the "squeakers." Put one squeaker in each shoe. You can estimate the applied force from the sound made by the squeakers when you mash on the pedals. Calibrate with bathroom scales.
Likes For tomato coupe:
#71
Perceptual Dullard
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,395
Mentioned: 36 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 900 Post(s)
Liked 1,122 Times
in
482 Posts
Many years ago I lived next door to a woman who had toy dogs who barked all ****ing day. Cutting out their squeakers is a good idea but putting them in my shoes would have been messy.
#72
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,879
Bikes: Colnago, Van Dessel, Factor, Cervelo, Ritchey
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3906 Post(s)
Liked 7,182 Times
in
2,905 Posts
Likes For tomato coupe:
Likes For RChung: