acer910 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Depends on the terrain (flat, rolling hills, uphill both ways, etc.), weather (headwind, tailwind, no wind), amount of people (solo vs. paceline) and surface (cobblestones will take more effort per same speed than smooth concrete, off road more than on). Let's say a solo flat ride with no wind on decent pavement: if you can get the whole thing done in 3 hours ride time, i.e. 20mph avg, that'd be pretty good in my book. il be going over two huge bridges so thats 4 times, it will be me and one other guy but hes going to drop me so solo, pretty crappy pavement and a big headwind. i think il be able to do it in around 3 hours and 30 minutes. averaging 18mph. i did a 30 mile ride today and concentrating on keeping my cadence between 85 and 90 is a pain. 80 feels way too difficult, 97 is where i like to ride. but i managed to keep it around 85, i heard 80 is a good cadence for road riding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a/s/l? Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Cadence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dowmagik Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadence_(cycling) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubbish heap two Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 il be going over two huge bridges so thats 4 times, it will be me and one other guy but hes going to drop me so solo, pretty crappy pavement and a big headwind. i think il be able to do it in around 3 hours and 30 minutes. averaging 18mph. i did a 30 mile ride today and concentrating on keeping my cadence between 85 and 90 is a pain. 80 feels way too difficult, 97 is where i like to ride. but i managed to keep it around 85, i heard 80 is a good cadence for road riding? If you feel good at 97 then pedal there. 90 is the generally agreed upon "most efficient" cadence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-walk Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I stick around 85 and it seems pretty normal to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acer910 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 well it depends if im going uphill or downhill. downhill would in theory cause a lower cadence because of the higher gear and visa versa. buti guess the point of watching your cadence is so you can maintain a steady cadence, have something to do to keep you from getting bored and to make you able to ride longer? and something that ive been wondering, say you have 3 cogs up front and 9 in the back. you are in the middle cog up front and on the smallest cog in the rear. you have to shift up one gear, to shift up one gear you would have to shift up one in the front and shift down 9 in the rear. you would think that would cause your drivetrain to explode, not to mention youd lose a good 4 or 5 turns of the pedal. is there any way to get around that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-walk Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Chain rings are upfront and cogs are in the back. Second, keeping a consistent cadence allows you to ride more efficiently throughout multiple gears. Third, your drive train wont explode if you don't do it simultaneously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat ralphy Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 i did san francisco to san jose in 3 hours... 50 miles with a few good hills and some winding i brought one full water bottle...and a power bar, that was it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
count chocula Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 attack all hills!!!! gaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acer910 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Chain rings are upfront and cogs are in the back. Second, keeping a consistent cadence allows you to ride more efficiently throughout multiple gears. Third, your drive train wont explode if you don't do it simultaneously. yea i know, i just didnt feel like typing or thinking a whole lot. but what i dont get, is when you need to get to that one higher gear when your at the most resistance the chainring can offer, how do you get over the fact that your jumping from the toughest setting in one chainring to the toughest setting in the next largest one? in theory you would need to go from the toughest on one chainring to the easiest on the tougher chainring. and i know it wont explode... but theres no way it can be good to shift up one chainring while simultaneously dropping down 9 cogs. oh, and any advice on getting started with intervals? i wont be starting for a month until school starts when i cant spend all day riding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
count chocula Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 stay in the big chainring problem solved. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 So you're running a triple with 9 speed? First, if you're in your middle chainring (42T) I would not go below your seventh cog. If you're continuing to shift down to keep the cadence low then shift up into your large chainring (52T) and then shift up to a smaller cog. You're doing the same thing, essentially, but what you're not doing is crossing your chain... which quickly shortens the life of your chain. Say you're in your 42/12 and you want to go higher but you have no more cogs. What would be smarter to do is only get to 42/17 and then shift up to your 52 and up shift one or two cogs in the back... so you're at 52/21. Or something to that effect. This should give you the same cadence you're looking for but save the life of your chain. Obviously it will take some practice on your part to figure out where you need to be in your gears but really think about not crossing your chain. It will help you ride more efficiently when you know your gears and which ones you need to be in to keep the bike moving at a decent click. That might sound all wacky, but I know what I meant to say. Ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Intervals... what kind of intervals? Hills, Sprints, Endurance, Strength... whatch'ya want? Here's one for hills - Find a hill that is at least two miles long and roughly 4-5% gradient. As you are approaching the base of the climb be sure you're in your large chainring and spinning above 90rpm. As the road goes up stay in the large chainring and only shift to a larger cog in the back until you're "comfortably" spinning between 50rpm - 70rpm's. Stay seated the entire climb. Do that interval two times. One your way back down be sure to continue pedaling but don't push it... just work out the lactic acid you built up. And yes, I realize this goes against the chain crossing thing I just mentioned in the above post. It's a beauty for endurance... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 stay in the big chainring problem solved. :) Atta'boy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubbish heap two Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Joker, one thing I notice in my track races is that while I can contest a lot of people in a sprint if I'm in the right position, I can't really dictate the pace when it gets consistently around the high 20's / lower 30's mph. I try to find the right wheel, hold on and take half lap pulls at the front if need be. I figured road racing was going to help with this but so far it hasn't because out in RR's/crits it's easy to sit in a relatively big group compared to the track even when the pace ramps up and sit on a wheel for a long time, whereas the track the custom is usually half lap pulls for each guy up front unless they just like to lead out or got something up their sleeve like slowing the group to keep a teammate out front. Do you have any ideas for intervals to help with keeping those high paces on my own when it's time to bridge a gap or try and break off the front? I was thinking a series of 5 or 10 minute TT's, or my much trusted "10x10's" (10 second all out sprint, 10 second easy spin, repeated 10 times) but don't have much idea besides that. In some of these longer points races, bridging gaps is basically an inevitability that will probably happen multiple times since it's nearly impossible to try and contest every sprint lap (other than by being a major sandbagger of course :D). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I had a coach that gave me a drill that helped out with just that sorta thing. I mean, this helped me... I don't know if it'll work for you. Everyone is different. He had me do 17 minute TT's with my HR between 155 and 170. Basically 80% of my max. My cadence was supposed to be over 90rpm's. So if you think about the high cadence and the high HR you can imagine the effort being put out for 17 minutes. I would do these once a week and do three in a day with a six minute rest between each one. The rest was easy spin with my HR below 130. I found that around the 10 minute mark I would start to feel all kinds of pain and really wanted to stop but I knew that keeping it going was going to pay in the end. Oddly, after the 12-13 minute mark I would feel fine and could even ramp it up a little. This helped me tremendously in road races as the uber-domestique. I could always be counted on to chase down a break and if I felt saucy I could jump and catch a break on my own. Being on the track so much your pedaling mechanics have to be awesome... with the pushing on the down stroke and pulling on the up stroke. Add to that these drills and you'd be amazed at how fast you can get going, and hold it. One thing I've noticed is that when I do these efforts in a race situation I can't stop pedaling once I've reached the break or set a fast tempo and pulled off. I have to keep pedaling, just soft pedaling. If I stop pedaling and coast for a bit... I'm done. Race over. I think it's because the effort is so intense. Those 10x10 drills sound great for crits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Rubbish... I do those hill drills on Springville rd, just off Skyline. It's just over two miles long and a 4% gradient... it's perfect for that interval. And the 17 minute drills I would do out on Sauvies because it's quiet and I can concentrate on the pain and cadence. Well, I'd do one on my way out to Sauvies then two on the Sauvies loop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecarwreck Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 on speed intervals, find a nice looong flat-ish stretch and do this 2x with 5-10 minutes of easy spinning in between: 2:00 all out, 2:00 recovery 1:30 all out, 1:30 recovery 1:00 all out, 1:00 recovery 0:45 all out, 0:45 recovery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R@ndomH3ro Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I has a homemade bike cap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisDayAllGodsDie Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 homemade bike caps are awesome, i ended up going to the thrift store a bit ago and got a shitload of wool skirts, cut those up and made some badass caps, the bill though always got me, i now use cardboard from boxes, or 2 layers of bristol board. what did you use? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R@ndomH3ro Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 i got a plastic school folder, here are some better photos Brim down Brim up, I like it a lot. I used to think that bike caps where goofy, but they are really good at keeping your head cool and sweat out of your eyes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisDayAllGodsDie Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 ah, cool, i'll try that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acer910 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 thanks for the help guys, and joker, it made perfect sense to me haha. i cant do any intervals on hills because i live at the beach (no hills at all). im really just looking for intervals i can do on rollers inside that will help me with sprinting and strength. as those are my biggest areas i need to improve in... and i dont have a heart rate monitor or a watt meter. but from reading all these posts im assuming a interval is basically going hard for a set amount of time then pedalling easy for a much smaller amount of time then repeating it a certain amount of times? im getting real excited about this ride sunday :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubbish heap two Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Yes, that's basically what they are Acer. There's a million different variations but the one common theme is they work better and faster than just going out and riding hard for a long time in most cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acer910 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 yea the reason why i want to learn how to do intervals is because once school starts i get home after dark and i want to still be able to ride so il ride inside on my rollers. and if you havent already, check this out http://www.trekbikeswow.com/ play once every day per email, im using like 8 different emails. if you win they email you something and you print it out and bring it to your trek dealer. i won a trek shirt and i trek waterbottle already. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-walk Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 i just lost... but cool find. I'll try to keep up on that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acer910 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 yea i found out about it at my lbs. they also let you play there and if your nice they will give you a few extra tries lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubbish heap two Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Thanks for the tips Joker. I'll try that interval out and put my HRM on for it. Any specific reason why it's 17 minutes and not 20? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a/s/l? Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Rode like 15 miles today of downhill/climbing. Threw my chain in the first hour. Accidentally bumped the shifter twice instead on once. Got my fingers all greasy and shit. Going to ride with some fast paced music tomorrow in one ear to help keep a good rhythm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Harris Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 yea the reason why i want to learn how to do intervals is because once school starts i get home after dark and i want to still be able to ride so il ride inside on my rollers. and if you havent already, check this out http://www.trekbikeswow.com/ play once every day per email, im using like 8 different emails. if you win they email you something and you print it out and bring it to your trek dealer. i won a trek shirt and i trek waterbottle already. I almost won the "Trek Travel Trip"... Would that have been epic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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