low or high cadence I'm a bit confused

[Alex Simmons/RST]

I don't claim to having been a great crit rider (1 win + couple of primes/5 years), but I made it a habit of shifting down before each turn and rarely had the need to accellerate out of saddle.

That's when you know the acceleration is coming.

Whether or not you are in/out of saddle for accelerations also depends on the nature of the course. Stay seated on a hot dot circuit and you'll get left behind.

 

[durianrider]

Pedal at a cadence that is comfortable for you and that works for you. Simple as that. Contador and Armstrong pedal at a high cadence, others do not (Ullrich and Cancellara immediately come to mind). There is no right cadence. There is a wrong cadence, however. Too low and you'll get into muscle fatigue (guessing, but < 80 rpm would probably be reasonable) after a certain period of time, and too high and you lose efficiency and speed (individual, but for you this seems like > 95 rpm). However, training for prolonged periods at 75-85 rpm at tempo power/speed will also strengthen your legs and allow you to hold at a higher pace for longer.

2 words.
POWER METER!!

Get one. Then you will know what your optimum cadence is FOR YOU.

 

[ustabe]

2 words.
POWER METER!!

Get one. Then you will know what your optimum cadence is FOR YOU.

And I'm going throw a little oil into the fire. At any time in your development as a cyclist, there is an optimum cadence for producing maximum watts, and that is the cadence you should use when you need to produce maximum watts. But performance cycling is not just about watts, it's also about recovering so you can finish the day's ride, and then recovering some more so you can do it again the next day. And cadence is a tool for aiding recovery and longevity.

Cadence is sort of like intelligence. While everybody has some, we all could benefit from more, and if we exercise it, it grows and we start seeing results.

 

[elapid]

2 words.
POWER METER!!

Get one. Then you will know what your optimum cadence is FOR YOU.

I have a PM. But I don't need a PM to determine my right cadence. For me, it is a matter of comfort and perception. Surprising that someone of such immense experience and authority as yourself needs a PM to determine what usually comes naturally.

As I stated in my post that there is no right or wrong cadence and that the right cadence is the one that is right for you.

 

[Parrulo]

i usually use an higher cadence as a i feel much more comfortable and agile but most of my friends prefer heavier gears, imo its a very personal choice depending on what type of body and muscles you have. i also don't find it very hard to find the right cadence when climbing as it comes pretty natural too me.

 

[42x16ss]

i usually use an higher cadence as a i feel much more comfortable and agile but most of my friends prefer heavier gears, imo its a very personal choice depending on what type of body and muscles you have. i also don't find it very hard to find the right cadence when climbing as it comes pretty natural too me.

I've always seemed to use a lower cadence (around 80-85 rpm) when building base and on recovery rides. This is just what comes to me naturally when putting in long relatively unstructured km's. In these rides I focus far more on HR than anything else.

When peaking for a bigger race I'll do my speed work at higher cadences (90 - 95 rpm) to get the legs ready to respond to accelerations and sprints. For this I'll concentrate more on power and cadence than HR.