I have been putting a few road miles on my mountain bike getting around town. My conditioning is decent, but the riding is really makes my quads sore. I know that a lot of it is specificity, but I also wonder if I am pushing too high a gear most of the time. How do you count cadence: half revolutions(like a step) or whole revolutions per minute, and what should I be spinning at when I don't have a training objective, just to get somewhere?
Another question is about optimum tire pressure on the road and on single track(equivalent to Cedar Glades). I think my tires were low even for the trail on today's road ride, and I am hoping that fixing that will speed me up a little. What pressure do I want on the road and on the trails?
Buk - in terms of measuring cadence, it's usually revolutions per minute. The way I measure it is the amount of times my right foot hits the bottom of the pedal cycle in one minute.
As for what you should be spinning at with no training goal in mind, that's kind of whatever you are comfortable with. When I'm riding in the flats, I shoot for 70-80 per minute in a pretty tough chainring, but my goal is to get stronger in the flats. So whatever you're comfortable with.
On my road bike, for how much I weigh, I have my tires at about 110 psi. For mountain bikes, I shoot for about 80-90, but I like my tires firm.
Alot of it will depend on the tire. If you are going to be on the road, close to the maximum recommended will be fine. On the trails, you'll just have to work that out. The firmer the trail, the more pressure you can run.
On my Blur, I usually run between 28-30 PSI on the trails. My race yesterday, I dipped down to 25 as the course was wet, muddy, and VERY slick. Note that I also run UST (tubeless) tires so that allows me to run lower pressures without worrying about flats.
I (we) usually run Silly's bike around 35 PSI on the trails. Yesterday saw about 30ish for her trying to gain some extra traction.
Cadence is very personal. On my road bike, my computer says I average 85-90 RPMs on most rides. I'm sure on my MTB (offroad) it's a bit less, but I still spin. For me, this is easier as I don't have much strength to just "muscle up" stuff. Usually, Silly spins a bit slower than me (harder gears) as she has more muscle strength than I do.
First, check your saddle height and for and aft adjustment. If you don't know how to do this, ask and I'll give you a link. Sounds like your saddle could possibly be too low, an extremely common cause of quad soreness or top of the kneecap soreness in new riders.
Anything lower than 75 rpm on a flat paved road is generally too low for a new rider Buk. Aim for 85-90 rpm to start. Work on not bouncing around. Keep a smooth pedal stroke with no dead spot. Once you are comfortable working on this cadence, then you can work your way down or up to something that is more your style. As bmp said, generally riders with stronger and larger leg muscles (think Jan Ullrich) can power through lower cadences, while riders with smaller muscles and/or excellent aerobic capacity and elasticity (think Lance Armstrong) can spin higher cadences. The general rule on the road is, when your legs burn, spin an easier gear and when you are breathing hard, spin a harder gear. When both hurt, you need to slow down and train more/smarter.
I run my tires at the same pressure silly does. 35 psi for hard dry trail conditions and 30 for muddy. I still can't go downhill nearly as fast as she does, not uphill even half as fast as bmph8ter. But I can say I run similar pressures to them.
Like emartin10, I like my road bike tires real hard. Seems like it is around 100 psi. On my MTB, I think I use about 35 psi.
As far as gearing goes, I think I shoot for 13th gear in the flats on my MTB. Not sure on my road bike. I am still learning that bike.
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I have my bike shop get me some that I can run high, but it's not 90 like I though, it's around 55 or 60. I checked last night when I was unpacking, and yeah. My bad!
Thanks for the input guys. I will try to count my cadence, but I am pretty sure that I was right in that I have been spinning much slower than what is recomended.
Kaiser, a good description or site about proper seat setting would be awesome. Most of my soreness is in the lower part of my quad towards the inside. Being sore after a 4 mile ride makes me feel puny!
Your riding mostly on a road right Buk? Go with around 35psi and adjust your saddle height so that your leg is almost straight when your foot is at the bottom of the pedalstroke. You're pedaling will be more efficient and make full use of your power.
But I'm sure Kaiser can provide a better explanation.
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38 front 40 rear on MTB when in the dirt. It varies a bit depending on riding conditions. But I usually start there.
I weigh 190lbs so you have to consider that when you determine tire pressure on an mtb at least.
I'm surprised a few of you, especially Beech are running such low perssure. I find that I get to the Rim when jumping or hitting sharp obsticles. Sometimes I can feel the tires sidewall fold when I am in a fast corner.
Just my thoughts. Oh, and I agree 100% with Kaiser, you need to get your body position checked out if possible. Probably too low a saddle is at least contributing to your soreness.
125 on the road bike, the road slicks on the mtb run at 80. Off road depends - 40-45 for hard fast singletrack, 30 for sand or mud. I'm about 210, so I don't really ever go less than that.
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Ignore my 35psi comment Craig, I don't know what I was thinking. Go with around 80 since you weight nearly 190.
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To answer part of your question:
Counting your down strokes of one foot for one minute, or in 15 seconds and multiply by 4, is accurate enough.
Extra blabbing:
I shoot for 70-80 rpm on flats, a little faster as I enter a hill, then NLT 70 climbing. If I resort to standing it depends. In the past I have had my lowest candence there - 60 but, back again to NLT 70 if I sit back down. I read something the other day that too low a cadence on hills - like my 60 - will make heart rates skyrocket in 5 to 10 seconds. I don't recall. I usually felt fine enough.
So I tried a higher cadence of 70 like was suggested. Key is to find a gear setting that provides enough resistance on the downstroke but not so little resistance that I'm using muscles to slow down my downstroke to stay within cadence. That setup makes my legs hurt more than anything in that the lactic acid builds up.
Legs versus Lungs and the relation to Cadence
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