Cycling Cadence And Muscle Economy

By Max Wunderle

I was recently approached by a new client who was requesting that I help him out with changing his cyclometer from his front wheel to his back wheel so that he could see the miles and speed he was generating in his trainer workouts.  I looked down at the bike computer and noticed that this model was one that didn’t offer cadence (cycling revolutions per minute).  As we talked further, I realized that the primary indicators of this individual’s workout success had been rooted in miles covered and/or the speed in which those miles were achieved.  While such an outlook might be enjoyed by a recreational rider, this individual was in the early stages of training for their first ½ Iron distance competition.  Such a mentality regarding this type of training can be dangerous and do more harm than good in endurance preparation.  The remainder of this article will review how this individual and any other can better calibrate their cycling economy as well as their training metrics.

Let’s continue to use the above example as our case study.  “Steve’s” primary goal is to compete at a high age group level at the ½ Iron distance later this summer.  Steve has a strong athletic background and has had much success at the sprint level of triathlon, training in the manner mentioned above.  For races that feature cycling distances of 12-15 miles, “reckless abandon” training (without regard to heart rate or cadence) can be successful—not recommended, but the individual can have success without full knowledge of how to optimize cadence or pace their effort.  Both of these areas can be overlooked as most of the pacing in such an event is done at 90% of max effort in all three disciplines.  However, as we opt up into longer distance races, economy of muscular effort and the metrics in which we measure such effort become vital to optimizing performance.

For the purposes of this discussion, let’s look at the concept of weightlifting.  If we were to bench press a total of 200 lbs, there are several ways we could accomplish this.  One rep of 200 lbs, 5 reps of 40 lbs, 10 reps of 20 lbs or even 20 reps of 10 lbs.  If we had to move this weight as soon as possible without regard to the use of our chest and arm muscles for the rest of the day, we might opt for the 1-2-3-4-5 repetition options depending on our strength.  If however, we had to take into serious regard the condition of our muscles after such work, we might automatically default to thinking about 10-11-12 or more repetitions to make sure the muscular damage was controlled.  This is same concept that needs to be understood and executed by Steve.  The problem is that right now, Steve doesn’t have a metric for his effort or his repetitions (cadence).

As mentioned in my previously posted article on heart rate training, Steve needs to identify his maximum heart rate threshold and identify the proper % of this max heart rate that will best serve the training goal of that day.  As an example, let’s pretend today’s goal is a 2 hour ride spent fully at 70% of his max as an early season aerobic effort.  Knowing his heart rate, he can easily dial in this information and know when his effort is above or below this goal.  Secondly, Steve needs to establish a similar metric of muscular economy—that is, using a low cadence (60-70 rpms) at a high resistance level or a higher cadence (90-100 rpms) at a lower resistance level.  For Steve, his goal is a 56 mile bike leg of a ½ Iron distance event—meaning he needs to have enough energy left after such an effort to run 13.1 miles at a strong pace (strong being 5 mins slower than his stand alone ½ marathon time).  If Steve plows through the bike (even at his target heart rate) with a sub-optimized lower cadence, the effort of moving his pedals with so much resistance will significantly tire him more than spinning his cranks at a higher cadence (think about lifting the 200 lbs with 4-5 reps instead of 10-12). 

So, how does Steve find his optimized cadence?  Well, here’s the good news.  Study after study from professionals down to beginners show that the vast majority of us have optimized cadence at roughly 90 rpms.  Yes, there are exceptions, varying from a low range of 82-85 and up to 95-105, but we should all begin at 90 rpm and only veer from this benchmark through hours of trial and error on training rides.

The additional benefit of better education around cadence and muscle economy is more productive training sessions.  Once we understand our effort levels and optimized cadence level, we are all the better armed to complete more comprehensive workouts with different goals.  As an example, we might perform an entire workout at a very low rpm threshold specifically to develop more muscular endurance for cycling.  Conversely, we might execute a different training session at a 100 rpm level as a recovery ride.

What does this mean to you?  Make sure your bike computer has cadence!  Make sure you know your optimal heart rate training zones!  Speed and distance are completely secondary to your goals should you not have already experimented to optimize your cadence and effort level.  All of your training sessions should be rooted in time and effort--increased distance and speed are products of improvement in effort and economy. 

Good luck incorporating these thoughts in your training regimens! 

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