Maelochs

But "Jackson" is a really good song and the other is ... 108 bpm.

ColaJacket

Found a site that classifies pop songs by bpm.

GH

big chainring 

Well then I'm pedaling 60rpm. I was loafing it and singin hotter than a pepper sprout.

SprintzNKiloz

1) ride a fixed gear bike
2) ride rollers
3) race track!

GerryinHouston

I used a metronome app in the past to keep in sync. I found it easier to set it so that the bpm is twice the rpm, so I can synchronize with each leg on the downstroke. Gives the pedestrians in the MUP a fright hearing this beep-bop coming closer...

rex615

Robocyclist. LOL

Road Fan

I agree with this, but I would say "click down (easier) 1 gear in the back and don't change the front. You should now have a foot speed that is roughly 10% faster than it was." Ride like that for maybe 10 minutes, or until when you start to feel winded. Then shift back into your previous comfortable gear.

Jim from Boston

Cadence

I’m a 40+ year long cyclist and I ride mainly for fitness. My training tool is the Relative Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale, and I use cadence to chose gears to maintain my desired exertion.

My basic training is to ride at my RPE of 50% for six miles to warm up, then cruise at an RPE of 60%, and do intervals (on hills) at 70%. I try to change gears to maintain a cadence of about 85-90 rpm on flats and rolling hills, and about 60 to 80 rpm on harder hills, to maintain my RPE. Shift up to higher gears as the cadence rises, and shift down as the RPE increases.

ltxi

Just what does "improving cadence" mean, in particular to a rec/fitness rider? Seriously. I run at what feels experienced best. Last time I checked that means nominally 85/90. Why would I want to strive to change that/what works?

Maelochs

I try to increase my cadence in order to increase my ability to ride at a faster cadence. Sometimes it helps to be able to spin.

I used to climb hills with an insane cadence because I had a giant heart and lungs. After over a decade getting hugely fat, I have a weak, sickly heart and lungs, with which I refuse to be saddled forever. Hence, I work to increase my cadence and my capability to ride at a faster cadence both comfortably and uncomfortably.

If I never try to improve, I never improve. I could ride slowly the rest of my life and be happy, but I suspect that I could also ride a little faster and be at least as happy. hence ...

StanSeven

That's a good cadence. You can experiment and see if something better works for you but that's probably ideal if you arrived at it over lots of training. Many people seem to try and keep increasing cadence but the problem is they may exceed the optimal rate and not be as efficient.

Of course it always helps in a sprint to be able to go 120 or more.

BlazingPedals

The mods generally frown on the use of sock puppets. But I'm pretty sure there are a few here.

ltxi

Thanks...I arrived at that "naturally" and it really hasn't changed since the early '80s. It's just what I feel comfortable with. Other than exceptions...sprints, as you mentioned, and doddering along on purpose, as in riding with my wife...getting out of that zone for more than a bit just feels really off.

One amusing, to me, note. Back in the day, the AF bike based fitness test required maintaining 60 rpm while they increased resistance. Drove me freakin' nuts that did.

Machka 

You don't need to improve your cadence. A rec rider who is plodding along at 60 rpm and wondering why he/she is experiencing butt and knee pain might want to improve their cadence.

seperry

Thank you

a1penguin

A year and a half ago, I started concentrating on increasing cadence. I have a garmin with cadence sensor, so it was easy for me to just look at the garmin. I can pretty much tell what my cadence is without looking.

Like the others say, get a watch and count for 15 or 30 seconds and do the math. I think that you should find a large parking lot, ride normally and see what your cadence is. Then ride the same distance again, trying to maintain the same speed but in a lower gear. You'll see that you are pedaling faster. Do this enough to get some idea of what your usual cadence is and what riding at about 80 RPM is like. 80 was my goal and it took a month or two of forcing myself on some rides to pedal faster than I wanted to. After a while it became normal! After a while I found myself naturally increasing cadence. On open, flat road, I find that I ride at about 90 RPM and even riding at 95 doesn't seem too crazy like it once did.

On my weekend rides, the fast riders who pass me generally ride at higher cadence. I see a lot of commuters who are pedaling at such a low RPM while going up a small incline that I think they are about to fall over. It really helps to use a lower gear (higher RPM) at the beginning of the hill.

At higher cadence, you work your heart harder and increase your aerobic fitness. At lower cadence, you work your leg muscles harder.

seperry

On yesterday's ride I went with your suggestion of going down a gear and pedaling faster on my twenty mile ride along A1A state road along the beach outside of Jacksonville. I found it is a much better ride up and down the inclines of the road. Although I lost a little speed it felt much better on my legs so therefore I will able to ride further. On today's 15 mile ride in my neighborhood I did interval training and I think I am understanding how and when to gear up and down a little better.

Thanks again

bakes1

If that is the case wouldn't you be better served through specific interval/sprint training? Not just purposely spinning along in a lower gear for no other reason than the interweb told you to 'improve cadence' ??
And I don't mean you personally StanSeven. I mean the bulk of the people that are always asking about cadence.
I know that I personally can ride for 20-30 miles at a clip averaging around 85 - 90 without ever looking at a computer of any type and I am not a seasoned vet by any means.
I rode a lot when I was younger and when I picked it back up again years later it was pretty easy to get rolling again.
That being said, I wouldn't of course know how to really become a better sprinter but I can't believe it is by doing nothing other then tooling along on your daily ride in a lower gear at a higher cadence as many, many people on this forum have suggested in multiple posts whenever cadence is discussed.
If I had to hazard a semi educated guess I would say that anyone not experienced enough to be able to know what cadence works best for them probably shouldn't even be discussing cadence.
Especially considering that from what I have read, even many so called experts on the subject will disagree on what works best for all levels of riders.

BlazingPedals

In my experience, using perceived exertion to determine how hard to exercise is pretty much useless. People ALWAYS over-estimate how hard they're working. And the circular logic of the OP (increase my cadence so I can ride at a higher cadence?) tells me he's only following that path because he thinks it's the path to improvement - which may or may not be the case. Racers may like higher cadences because being in a lower gear leaves them more able to respond to surges and sprints; but those concerns don't matter to a recreational or fitness rider.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the comment. The actual term is Relative Perceived Exertion, and I find it a way to monitor how hard I am working. As noted above, by assigning an RPE of 50% to my pace without thinking about it, I’m pretty confident about increments in effort to 60% (have to focus on pace), and 70% (start to breathe hard).

My absolute energy output may vary by how I feel, but using RPE, I will always be exerting more at any given time, than if I was just pedaling along. Since I am a recreational/fitness/commuter rider, that’s good enough for me, and I am happy with my progress. I have described my program as,

I do agree that cadence is secondary to exertion, and depends on riding conditions...hills and winds.

Maelochs

As I mentioned earlier, I am learning to increase my cadence and not because someone told me I should.

And it seems to be working. I now have the option to push hard or spin a little quicker, which changes the load on my body and increases my range and performance--as the OP noted himself. Having the heart/lung capacity to spin faster helps on hills where more frequent power strokes can be more efficient (consider climbing stairs one at a time or three at a time.)

I am not practicing sprinting---that is something wholly different. I don't race so i don't need to have a hard 300-meter sprint. I just want to increase my fitness, and since I have a history of heart and lung issues, I want to focus on those systems. if I let myself I would just build my legs and ride everywhere at 45-55 rpm, which is fine except I am getting old and what I don't build now I won't have later, when the extra heart-lung capacity might add a few years to my life.

gregf83 

Not true at all. RPE is generally better than using heart rate and if you've trained for a while it's not much different than using a power meter. Experienced cyclists know what it feels like to ride at a threshold pace or in a range suitable for VO2Max efforts.

stormshadowx1

What is your current cadence?

I have done about 900 miles on my CX bike without a cadence sensor; I started in March. Now that I have one I realized that I was going at 50-60rpm on the 46 chainring (rear gears shifting between 13,14,15). I should of focused more on spinning to 80rpm and change gears when I get uncomfortable. Now my goal is to be 80rpm on the 46/15.

They always say: "spin to win"

Road Fan

Are my sock puppets supposed to have the same name as me?

ColaJacket

Most people that need to improve their cadence are probably riders like me. I've only got about 1400 miles in since I started cycling in April. I still need to put more base miles in, before worrying too much about interval training. But I can work on my cadence. So that when I do have enough base miles in to start HIIT's, I'll also have the fitness needed to do them correctly. A higher cadence should help your fitness level if you're as inexperienced as I am.

GH