scribble79

I was told to try an spin vs mashing the pedals when riding to assist with some recovery. I will say that I don't do anything slow, I am always going at a fast pace no matter what I am doing and it is very hard to ride with no real resistance so I am constantly swapping gears to get the feel of resistance on the bike which I know isn't good for my recovery. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to help with this. I feel this is also why I tire out so fast as well.

Ross520

Listen to your body and stop worrying so much about "the feel of resistance".

pbass

Even spinning you need some resistance. I have also had to lean more towards spinning when recovering from an injury/illness - for example instead of standing up at the top of a climb like I prefer, I'd just granny gear all the way - but you can't be in such a low gear that you're just flailing your legs with no benefit.

EDIT: for some reason I was thinking more about recovering from injury, etc, not a typical recovery ride(maybe because I'm recovering from injury myself. Anyhow, same thing, you need some resistance. And recovery rides should be easy and fun. Sometimes I even take a different bike than numero uno, go somewhere flat and chill . . .

waters60

If you have a HR monitor stay in Z2 It will be very hard to go so slow but it really pays off. You will be forced to use easy gears.

BlazingPedals

What waters60 said. It's hard to go slow, especially when the group is dropping you; but it gives results.

SethAZ 

This. I personally find it difficult to spin a high cadence on a true recovery ride simply because the effort is already low enough that the resistance I need for a good controllable spin just isn't there. At some level, some resistance is necessary.

Trakhak

There was an article in VeloNews in the early '80s in which an Italian pro cyclist with very little English was being interviewed by an American with no Italian. When asked how he chose his gearing for his early-season training kilometers, the Italian replied, "I use the first gear where I feel the pedal." Wise words; you won't go wrong taking that approach.

tankist

The best cadence was discussed here before. What I personally found is that it depends on what is your weakest part. For me it is the heart (and lungs). Spinning exercises heart more than legs, so I discovered that I ride faster and with less efforts when I mash a bit more than spin. Recommendation that 90 rpms is the best just does not work for me. I prefer around 70 on flats, 60 or less climbing and 80-90 when barrelling down the hill.

Geekage

Who was it who said, "it doesn't get any easier, you just go faster?"
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​​​​If you feel you don't have enough resistance for a given cadence, shift up a gear or two while maintaining that same cadence.

And I agree that it's useful to know where your power band is. Sometimes I'll go faster shifting up a gear, even if I'm pedaling slower.

NumbersGuy

Spinning at a high cadence seems to be one of those things that's benefits are grossly overstated and actually there is a lot of empirical evidence showing that cyclists are often most efficient at a cadence well below what they believe to be their most efficient.

It's all about finding what works and is comfortable for you. From what you say about tiring out quickly, it sounds like you just go too hard for your current fitness level which may or may not have anything to do with cadence. I was very similar when I got into cycling, and in pretty much all other athletic endeavors, basically going as hard as I can for as long as I can. What I've learned is to better understand what I can sustain for different lengths of time. The Zone 2 riding that has been mentioned by others is indeed a great way to build your base fitness which will ultimately enable you to ride faster for longer. If you don't have one, I'd recommend a heart rate monitor to give you instant feedback as your riding as to exactly how hard you are working. My guess is that you'll see that as you currently ride, your heart ride gradually rises as you maintain effort through your ride, indicating that you're riding above an effort level you can maintain.

It'll take some conscious effort, but if you read up a little on FTP and heart rate training zones and can work to back off the effort slightly to keep your heart rate from continuing to climb, you'll gain performance sooner and be able to maintain speed more easily. This won't necessarily require higher cadence, but that's often the easiest method to start with. Have a goal when you ride of what range you want your heart rate to stay in and when you start creeping toward the high end, drop a gear or two and try to keep from going beyond that number. Once you do this a few times, you'll start equating how you feel to where your heart rate is and it'll take less frequent monitoring to maintain a more consistent effort. Also, more conscious of incline and change gears as it changes. You may be able to power through uphill sections but what is probably happening is that those sections are raising your heart rate and it's not recovering down and then the next one raises it a bit more and so on, until you're getting beyond what you can sustain and that's when you're getting tired. Backing off on the gears and accepting that it's ok to go slower on the inclines will keep your effort more consistent and prevent fatigue from setting in as quickly.

Ironfish653

If you have access to a basic "dumb" trainer or stationary bike, it can help because you can just dial up a certain level of resistance / simulated incline and leave it there, so you can focus on your pedaling technique. I'm a strong-but-heavy low RPM rider, too, which is usually fine, because it's flat where I live, but I have to come up with ways to train, if I'm going to be riding anywhere there are real hills, or heaven forbid, mountains.

Try not to push down on the pedals; instead, focus on pushing forward over the top, and pulling back at the bottom. This works best on clipless, or with snug toe clips, but can also be done with a grippy flat pedal, although it's definitely more demanding on the technique. Don't worry so much about your ground speed, find your legs' natural cadence, and adjust the gears until you "just feel the pedals" (good quote ) you want to find that balance where you don't outrun the bike.

JohnDThompson 

Two words: "fixed gear."

High cadence on a fixed gear will force you to learn how to smooth your pedal stroke so you're not wasting energy bouncing up and down on the saddle at high cadences.

woodcraft

If you are talking about a recovery ride, I hear you. Set out to ride easy, end up hammering.

If it is about developing a faster cadence, one minute intervals at the fastest rpm you can do without bouncing are good.

rumrunn6

make believe you're 62 & your knees like to complain, that'll help you figure it out. guess I spent too many youthful years grinding out every foot-pound-of-torgue I could, with every activity, not just cycling. fwiw, I once read if you're bouncing on your saddle, you're spinning too fast

rumrunn6

was thinking something similar the other day riding w/ a new rear wheel. if I'm rolling better, I'm not working as hard, but it's human nature to work hard enough to a certain effort & the result is being faster