Spinning
Today I went for a long ride. The day dawned (mostly) clear and blue, and I planned to set out early. I had done the work of retaping my bars, re-positioning the (original) saddle, and taking the bike off of the stand last night. I grabbed a quick breakfast, loaded up the jersey pockets and set off.
I had specific goals in mind today. The last time I went for a ride of this distance, I went out way too fast, and by the end of the ride, I was completely flat, and I had a hard time making it up my home hill. So today, I wanted to maintain a regular pace that would be sustainable. The second part of this was to maintain my nutrition levels, again, so the whole thing was sustainable.
My planned route was to head around the BGT, north until I hit 68th Ave NE, turn south into Kirkland, then make my way to I-90, through Myrtle Edwards across the locks and home. I made that route with a little bit of additional distance so I rounded out to a full fifty. The route had a few climbs, so I had to take care on these as well.
Going out for the first few miles, I resisted the temptation to pull harder to catch the folks that kept passing me. And on the first big hill, I had to make sure I didn't climb to aggressively. Also, I had to remember to feed myself before I got hungry.
All in all, I met my goals! But I did so by going against a bit of conventional wisdom. They say that spinning helps you in a few ways, but not the least of which is theoretically reducing your overall energy expenditure. Once you get the cardio base to sustain the spin rate, you'll use less energy to maintain the same speed at a higher RPM.
But I think that everybody's different. Like the way that A needs to eat carbs, while K's body basically demands that she not have them. I don't think I'm built to be a spinner. I feel more comfortable at a slightly lower cadence (say, 70-80 turns or so--my cadence sensor on the bike is broken...), and I feel like I can maintain it for longer. Like on today's ride, I felt strong the whole time. Part of that was paying attention to nutrition, but the other aforementioned ride saw me consciously trying to spin, and it didn't pay off.
So I'm a masher, and I'm proud of it.
I had specific goals in mind today. The last time I went for a ride of this distance, I went out way too fast, and by the end of the ride, I was completely flat, and I had a hard time making it up my home hill. So today, I wanted to maintain a regular pace that would be sustainable. The second part of this was to maintain my nutrition levels, again, so the whole thing was sustainable.
My planned route was to head around the BGT, north until I hit 68th Ave NE, turn south into Kirkland, then make my way to I-90, through Myrtle Edwards across the locks and home. I made that route with a little bit of additional distance so I rounded out to a full fifty. The route had a few climbs, so I had to take care on these as well.
Going out for the first few miles, I resisted the temptation to pull harder to catch the folks that kept passing me. And on the first big hill, I had to make sure I didn't climb to aggressively. Also, I had to remember to feed myself before I got hungry.
All in all, I met my goals! But I did so by going against a bit of conventional wisdom. They say that spinning helps you in a few ways, but not the least of which is theoretically reducing your overall energy expenditure. Once you get the cardio base to sustain the spin rate, you'll use less energy to maintain the same speed at a higher RPM.
But I think that everybody's different. Like the way that A needs to eat carbs, while K's body basically demands that she not have them. I don't think I'm built to be a spinner. I feel more comfortable at a slightly lower cadence (say, 70-80 turns or so--my cadence sensor on the bike is broken...), and I feel like I can maintain it for longer. Like on today's ride, I felt strong the whole time. Part of that was paying attention to nutrition, but the other aforementioned ride saw me consciously trying to spin, and it didn't pay off.
So I'm a masher, and I'm proud of it.
posted by Sanford Owings at 5:18 PM
1 Comments:
Meow.
Lance spins >100, Jan cranks at 85. Are you trying to tell us you prefer wearing pink to yellow? ;)
Seriously, there's successful cyclists at every range of the cadence spectrum. IMHO, you'll get most efficient physiologically at the cadence you ride most often. Changing cadence takes time, and it's not something you can just go out and do in one or two rides.
Good deal on working out the rest of the goals! Nutrition and proper pacing are key. So many people go out too hard, and it's tough to watch them blow past in the early miles. But when you pass them back in the latter miles, there's a great feeling of vindication. Just gotta have the patience.
The best advice on that I've seen is "Ride your own race, if they're going out too hard, you'll see them again. If not, they're faster than you anyway so don't sweat it."
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