johnridley | New bike computer

Having been encouraged by a cycling friend that it's about time I started doing some work on technique, I picked up a new bike computer, one that reads cadence (pedal RPM). The theory (and I'm convinced it's true) is that human legs are most efficient when working at a set RPM on the pedals. What that speed is varies per person, and can be altered through training (varying the amount of fast vs slow muscle fibers).

Now, I'm not about to get all athletic geeky training dude (just watch me scarfing chocolate and chips sometime), but I thought this was something that made sense, would increase my speed or at least reduce fatigue or allow me to ride farther. Even the guy who convinced me said he just displays cadence for a week or so a year to make sure he's on-form, then just rides the rest of the year.

So I decided on a Sigma BC1606L (the "standard" is the Cateye Astrale 8, but the Sigma has more functions, a backlight, and is cheaper). Got one off eBay for $25, put it on last night.

I had decided to make the first morning ignoring the thing, just riding as I always do, in order to get a baseline, since I don't have a good idea what my cadence was already. I'd been told that shooting for 90-100 was a good goal.

My ride average for the morning was 96. I just went out to grab a sandwich for lunch, and it looks like I "naturally" spin at 100, shifting up when I hit about 110. The average was probably down at 96 because my commute includes some pretty screwed up gravel and hills near the end, and I'm a little slow to downshift.

I have been told for years (by the same guy) that the right answer when facing hills/winds is to downshift and pedal faster. And I was aware of the whole cadence theory, and I did try to maintain a steady pedalling speed. And it does feel better, over time I just started doing what seemed to get me there quickly with as little effort as possible.

So I guess I'm already good there. Of course, my technique isn't the greatest. I tend not to do a proper "spin" - I don't properly lift my trailing leg, the pushing leg is doing the work to lift the other leg. At the very least the trailing leg should get out of the way if it isn't going to work. I've worked on that in the past, but I relapse when I'm not thinking about it.

Anyway, I will probably look at the numbers once in a while to see how I "naturally" handle different situations. I've recently become convinced that the little chainring on my bike MIGHT actually be handy in a few situations, like if I'm facing a stiff headwind and climbing a steep hill at the same time, or if I ever do some loaded touring.

The new computer also has a cute function, total hours on the bike. I guess that's almost interesting. I'm guesstimating (heh, Firefox has "guesstimating" in its dictionary!) a 16 MPH average speed for the last 3 years, and I'm close enough to 10,000 miles on this bike that the difference doesn't matter, so I'm going to set the hour meter at 625 initially.