Basic Cycling Skills – Cadence
The cadence during cycling refers to the number of cycles of pedaling in 1 minute.
Academia has conducted extensive research on the optimal cadence. As early as 1929, Hartree and Hill pointed out that there was an optimal cadence. When a cyclist’s pedaling frequency is too low, unstable output power and muscle relaxation will waste energy. But when the cyclist pedals too fast, the body also loses energy in order to overcome the resistance inside the muscles. So there must be an ideal cadence between the two. However, Hartree and Hill did not give exact values.
In other studies, the minimum oxygen consumption is used as the criterion for optimal cadence. Studies have shown that when calculating the oxygen consumption from cycling without resistance to cycling with resistance, the optimal cadence is gradually increased to 100 rpm. It was found that the lowest cadence consumption was between 90 rpm and 100 rpm. This coincides with the cadence chosen by the actual cyclist. In addition, the optimal frequency determined by the survey is between 90 rpm and 100 rpm. Obviously, the tension of the leg muscles is one of the decisive factors in cycling.
Cycling pedal training
Cadence training is a long-term conscious training process. The key is to keep the body stable under high cadence, so as not to cause the body to swing from side to side and bounce up and down due to the increase in cadence. That is to say, make people and bicycles always maintain coordination, and always achieve the realm of the integration of people and bicycles. easy to say, hard to do.
How to train cadence and strength when cycling is a compulsory course for introductory bicycles, especially for road bikes. At the beginning of training, you can temporarily put the speed aside and only practice the frequency; after the frequency is raised (for example, reaching a longer time of 100 cadences or more), supplemented with strength and endurance to reach a certain speed target, so gradually increase. Become a master cyclist when the frequency and power are synchronized!
Where should we start the training of cadence and strength when cycling?
The first argument is that both frequency and strength are indispensable, and both need to be improved through training. Cadence is an introductory skill in cycling. If you don’t learn how to pedal efficiently, you can’t really learn to ride a bicycle. Therefore, instructors usually ask to start with basic pedaling skills, including cadence training. Cadence and strength are not congenital, and they need to be hard-trained. Therefore, the methods of training frequency and strength can only be trained during cycling, and frequency training and pedaling techniques are very closely related. If you don’t master it Blindly pedaling vigorously can easily lead to movement deformation, so many coaches advocate training from frequency first, and then gradually supplemented with strength training.
The second way of saying is, how can you achieve high cadence without a certain amount of power. When observing professional cyclists and Tour de France cyclists (road bikes), their cadence should be 100-120/minute on flat roads (individual time races, it will be 120-150/minute), and climbing 80-90/minute. This is to prevent excessive accumulation of lactic acid. Super strong leg muscle strength is the first place. When the strength reaches a certain level, it is good to train high cadence. High cadence is good, but it requires strength as support. We discovered during cycling that if the cadence is high, but the strength cannot keep up, it is especially prominent when climbing. So, train your legs more often, and if you keep up with your strength, then you can train your cadence again, it will be much easier.
Two different arguments are important and can be tried. The most important thing is to keep cycling, constantly sum upcycling experience, enjoy the fun of cycling, gain knowledge in practice, and hone our will in cycling. Maybe we can’t become masters in cycling, but we participate, we ride, we are healthy, and we are happy.
How to improve our cadence?
Smooth, high-speed pedaling is the key to cycling like a professional cyclist. You can use this to identify an experienced cyclist. They sat on the seat of the bike, their upper body was as steady as a mountain, but their legs were running at high speed like pistons. There is no extra movement, no shaking, just like a high-performance engine, continuously generating power.
The high speeds of professional cyclists come naturally through practice. Use a smaller gear ratio so that your heartbeat does not exceed 80% of your maximum heart rate.
(1) Lower your seat by 2-3mm to reduce the tendency of your body to bounce at high speeds (many people may have this feeling, at high speeds, the body jumps up and down, as if sitting on a spring). The seat can be gradually adjusted back to the correct height in the future.
(2) Focus on pulling the pedal to slide across the lowest point to eliminate the pedaling dead point. (My personal feeling is that the use of self-locking should focus more on the horizontal force, that is, “drag and pull” instead of “step and lift” in the vertical direction)
(3) Use a stopwatch with cadence as physiological feedback, and gradually increase the speed. Every time you can ride comfortably at this speed for 5 minutes.
(4) Spend a few minutes pedaling at a high speed for each ride. The last 5 minutes of warm-up is the best time.
Do I still need to cadence when going uphill?
Generally, 90-100 refers to the cadence during efficient racing cycling or intensity training on flat roads. It is usually not so high when climbing. It is good to have 70-80 when climbing.
When you start uphill, you can still maintain the cadence before the uphill at first, but as the slope increases, maintaining the cadence at the beginning gradually becomes difficult, and you need to change gears (changing the flywheel and chainring, up The front chainring of the slope is usually changed to the small chainring in advance) to maintain the original cadence, and the speed is reduced accordingly. If the uphill is long, you may need to change gears several times to maintain proper cadence. Make muscles less fatigued.
If you change gears too early, you will suddenly feel a loss of resistance. Not only will you feel like your feet are empty, but the speed will also drop sharply. At the same time, the knee joint will have a sudden loss of support and increase the chance of injury; if you change gears too much At night, due to the increase of the slope, people will feel that the resistance under the feet is increasing, and the cadence cannot be maintained at all. At this time, it is necessary to shake the body to increase the pedaling strength or use a stronger force to barely support the original cadence, then the knee joint Will be injured due to excessive pressure. Therefore, shifting gears too early and too late are both inappropriate and can cause joint injuries.
When is the best time to change gears? It is judged by experience and feeling. As the slope increases, the speed of the bike gradually decreases. Generally, I will feel that the speed of the bike is about to decrease (that is when the cadence starts to be a little bit). It is difficult to maintain) Shift gears and keep the original pedaling force; but it is very likely that after shifting the gears, it will be difficult to hold them for a long time, so the next time you feel that it will be difficult to maintain, then change gears, and so on…If it is a very steep slope, and the original cadence cannot be changed even when shifting gears, then don’t insist on insisting on it anymore. Slow down and slow down, at least not to hurt yourself. Because we are a cycling tour, not a professional competition, we don’t have to force ourselves to challenge ourselves once in a while, it depends on our mood and physical strength.
Misunderstandings about high cadence A reasonable cadence makes your steps lighter!
High cadence generally causes an increase in heart rate. When the cadence is increased, the intensity of each stepping decreases, so the burden on the muscular system is reduced, and the burden on the cardiovascular system is increased. So your breath will become thicker. When the cadence is low, the breathing will be much better, but the thighs will be more tired.
So the key is to find your “optimal” cadence, which should be the balance between your muscular system and your cardiovascular system. Finding your own optimal cadence takes many attempts.
Practicing cadence is actually practicing correct and reasonable pedaling, which can help you use your physical strength more reasonably. Cycling exercises. If you want to use strength and speed, strength is the foundation, and cadence is the kingly way.
Especially for girls who love beauty, practicing cadence is particularly important. Many girls are worried about whether cycling will make their legs thicker. In fact, otherwise, high cadence cycling that suits them will make your legs thinner!
