QUESTION: I’m relatively new to cycling, and I just bought my first bike computer. One function it has is “cadence.” I understand that’s a measurement of how many times I turn the crank per minute, but why is it important to know that while I’m riding? —Dan H.
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: Even though the bike I had when I was a beginning rider had several gears, I didn’t do much shifting while riding unless I was climbing a hill, when I worked my way down to lower gears. I enjoyed cycling, but on longer rides, I found myself tiring more quickly than did my more experienced friends.
One day, when pedaling on a road that was neither hilly nor flat, one of those friends pointed out that I wasn’t maintaining a steady cadence while rolling over the rise and fall of the road; on the slight upgrades, I just pedaled harder and slower and on the slight downgrades I coasted and then pedaled furiously to get back up to speed.
As we continued to ride, he explained that a steady pedaling rhythm is more efficient and thus less tiring. He suggested that I get a bike computer that included a cadence-measuring function (in those days, not all basic computers had that function) and then use it while riding to try to maintain a comfortable riding tempo, shifting to a lower gear when my cadence dropped and to a higher gear when it increased.
I did as he suggested. After getting the computer, I aimed for a cadence of about 75 RPMs (revolutions per minutes), and by glancing at my cadence number periodically, I shifted as needed to stay at about that tempo. The cadence readout became my “tutor” in real time for more efficient pedaling.
You can pick a cadence target by seeing what rhythm feels natural to you while riding on a flat surface on a low-wind day, but in general, turning your cranks at a lower cadence puts more demand on your muscles whereas spinning at a higher cadence puts more demand on your cardiovascular system. A steady tempo of between 70-90 RPMs will generally enable you to utilize both.
Riding into a headwind may force you to drop to a lower RPM. Likewise, when climbing steep hills, you will likely run out of gears low enough to maintain your tempo, so then you don’t worry about cadence and just do the best you can to get up the slope. When going steeply downhill, you usually won’t need to pedal at all.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
Good Comment! and you’re also going into the sophisticated area of training/improving your muscles over time. Strength training at High damage to increase white muscle / fast twitch, obviously endurance exercise to maximize endurance muscles (slow twitch). Dunno about beginning training for most of a year to maximize muscle growth then convert to endurance. AND
it’s all different with electric biking; the goal is to save battery power or there’s no point in discussing it. The gearing of electric bikes all sucks as near as I can tell and none have even 48 teeth so that at speeds over 25 mph, you’re waving your feet at the candence sensors. So, keeping the speed as low as you can including turning everything off some/most of the time. My 70 pound 4 inch tire ebike has twice the friction of a non-powered racing bike Muscle use will be intermittant and high intensity and almost no cadence, with significant stretches of near zero muscle use. So… bursts of power but with capability of doing 150 watts all the time. You can almost do constant cadance with an e-bike IF low powered and low speed ebike, and with torque controlled motor and minimized friction. Yeah, I don’t do that.
You both missed the point, this is a BEGINNER cyclist wanting BASIC information. Some of us are pure recreational riders, out on our bikes for fun, fitness and personal goals. I’ve been riding for over 20 years and don’t bother at all wtih deep scientific dives on cycling topics. I think Stan’s answer made perfect sense with just the right amount of information. And I don’t ride with a power meter or cadence sensor or heart rate monitor.
Thank you, Betty, You’ve described exactly what i intended with my answer.