Cadence when simulating hill climb
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Hi,
Most of my training is limited to a gym-bike at lunchtime, and I get to ride a sportive say once every 3 weeks. These often involve a lot of climbing (2000 - 3500m).
When these climbs get near the 10% mark I find that I cannot maintain the cadence that I would like, so I drop to to ~70 RPM.
Does this mean that my training @FTP done on a stationary trainer should also be done at a cadence of around 70 RPM ?
Thanks.
Most of my training is limited to a gym-bike at lunchtime, and I get to ride a sportive say once every 3 weeks. These often involve a lot of climbing (2000 - 3500m).
When these climbs get near the 10% mark I find that I cannot maintain the cadence that I would like, so I drop to to ~70 RPM.
Does this mean that my training @FTP done on a stationary trainer should also be done at a cadence of around 70 RPM ?
Thanks.
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What gearing do you have on your bike and how much do you weigh?
indigo wrote:Hi,
Most of my training is limited to a gym-bike at lunchtime, and I get to ride a sportive say once every 3 weeks. These often involve a lot of climbing (2000 - 3500m).
When these climbs get near the 10% mark I find that I cannot maintain the cadence that I would like, so I drop to to ~70 RPM.
Does this mean that my training @FTP done on a stationary trainer should also be done at a cadence of around 70 RPM ?
Thanks.
I train for a mountain time trial with typical 12% gradients and parts that go up to 18% and even with compact gearing it can be hard to maintain high cadence. As part of my training I do some lower cadence intervals. You said below you run 34x27 so there isn't much option to improve the gearing.
Most road derailleurs can handle a 30t cog and Shimano makes 12-30 cassettes.
Most people naturally climb at a lower rpm so you'd want to simulate that on the trainer.
Most people naturally climb at a lower rpm so you'd want to simulate that on the trainer.
Approach the problem from both sides. Do train with lower cadence, but also look into lower gearing if the gradient is forcing you pedal at a suboptimal rate. Assuming you're on SRAM/Shimano, the (Tiagra?) 10sp 12-30 cassette is very cheap. I'm using it myself a lot in training, for steepest hillclimbs, and the longest days in the mountains.
Good luck for the hillclimb.
Good luck for the hillclimb.
Bikes: Raw Ti, 650b flatbar CX
70rpm sounds low for a 34x27 granny gear. That works out to 7mph at 70rpm. I run the same gearing and I'm guessing 34x27 on a 10% gradient is more like 80-85rpm which still feels low to me after spinning 90-100rpm most of the way up the hill (the steep part is right at the top.) My knees would protest if I did my FTP intervals at 70rpm.
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When you say "near the 10% mark" what do you mean, precisely?
A while ago I actually took some time to look at the average cadences for the fastest times on a few climbs around here. Up to 8% the traditional 80-90rpm cadence dominated, but as it gets steeper the cadence drops for everyone.
For example, on a 13% 1km climb most people are riding 50-60rpm. Surprisingly, on a 200m 19% climb the cadence goes back up again.
(Limited data though: It's surprising to me how many people don't record their cadence)
A while ago I actually took some time to look at the average cadences for the fastest times on a few climbs around here. Up to 8% the traditional 80-90rpm cadence dominated, but as it gets steeper the cadence drops for everyone.
For example, on a 13% 1km climb most people are riding 50-60rpm. Surprisingly, on a 200m 19% climb the cadence goes back up again.
(Limited data though: It's surprising to me how many people don't record their cadence)