What really grinds my gears...

How often have you sat and watched the Tour de France or big cycling event and listened to the commentators say the riders are pushing a very high tempo averaging 110 RPM and wondered what the hell are they talking about?  RPM, otherwise known as Cadence refers to revolutions per minute or how many times you turn your cranks over per minute.  Actually there's a very good reason why they are doing this.  Firstly it's sustainable over a longer period to pedal faster, rather than harder. They will also be maintaining a lower level of lactic acid in the muscles which is known to slow down muscle responsiveness as you near your physical limits.  

If you've ever been puffed after ten minutes on a bike then you're possibly on a steep hill or perhaps you're in the wrong gear.  I learnt early in my cycling life not to worry about speed and concentrate on having a cadence of at least 90 RPM.  Nowadays I'm the one inquiring about cadence, making the suggestion to drop down to a lower chain ring or easier gear and imploring other cyclists to favour spin over grind.  If you don't have a gadget that tells you your cadence, ask yourself is this a comfortable pace you could sustain all day or as one of my training partners says find a comfortable gear to ride in and then change into the next easiest gear.

Learning new ways is always difficult, so don't try and graduate from 75 to 100 RPM overnight.  It's effectively a re-programming exercise for your body and your brain.  One way to approach this exercise is to find a relatively flat course, wind trainer or spin bike, put your bike in the easiest gear and peddle as fast as you can. Pushing down and pulling up with each stroke of the pedal, rather than being all about downward force on the pedals.  If the pushing and pulling concept is too difficult to grasp, then think about pulling big circles with your feet clipped into your pedals.  You should be able to get to 120 RPM or higher.  Try and sustain that for a minute, take a minute off and repeat and gradually add minutes to the effort.

Every time I see someone out for a training ride pushing a ridiculously hard gear with a very low cadence rate I want to get into their ear and give them a big selfrighteouscyclist reminder about the potential damage they might be doing to themselves.  Whilst out on a regular Sunday spin with another mate I encountered one such solo cyclist.   Pushing his highest gear he would have barely made 60 RPM, but he was flying along at least 5km/h faster than our pace. I sat wheel to wheel with him for a while but he wasn't much for conversation and then dropped into his draft realising that wasn't my pace and let him go thinking we'll probably pick him up later.  Sure enough, no more than 5km down the road we passed him.  Maybe that was part of his training plan to go out and grind himself into the ground, but not one I'd subscribe to 35kms from home.

Are you a grinder or a spinner?  A lot of cyclists will tell you this is an easy way to spot a triathlete from a cyclist.  Perhaps they're right,  but it’s just as likely to be those new to cycling.  I'm sure I spent the first few years of my triathlon career pushing the big gears only to die on the run.  It wasn't until I found the fine line between spin and grind that I was successfully able to produce decent run times off the bike.  

Of course when the going gets tough and your cadence drops off don't be afraid to change down gears and keep your cadence steady on 90 or higher.  Once you run out of gears stay seated as long as you can and only then stand to push your pedals for about 10 revs and resume your seat, because now you're only left with the downward force of your pedal stroke.  

This is really important for kids and adolescents whether they're riding recreationally or competitively.  The message should be to make it a spin not a grind.  Just as young people are discouraged from weight training, the repetitive use of use of hard gears can cause damage to young developing muscles. Therefore in the cycling word junior riders are restricted to Gear Limitations  in all forms of competitive cycling.   Actually the first thing I did when I put together a racing bike for my 12 year old son was to set the cadence meter and teach him how to spin and explain the importance of it.  Sit, spin and enjoy.

Caffeine speak has been notably absent from recent blogs, so I'm going to segue over to the exception and when it's ok to grind.  Presenting the self proclaimed Coolest Grinder on the Street, which in 100 turns will grind 14 grams of coffee beans.  While you're thinking about that, what other ideas and techniques have you found that have taken you from grinder to spinner?