I am getting on the trainer today and trying to correct something that bothered me over the weekend.
I seem to be able to hold my FTP (260) for the full hour on the flatlands, but cannot do so in the hills. I know power fluctuation in the hills is quite normal, but I try to keep it as steady as possible. It just does not seem to hold and I am not sure why.
My question is, is there any advantage to doing L4 workouts and at a low cadence to simulate hillwork (60-75 rpm) versus doing L4 at my typical flatland/trainer cadence (95-100 rpm)?
I was thinking for my 2x20 doing the first interval at the higher cadence and the second at the lower cadence.
Have you considered that the lower hill cadence may be contributing to your inability to hold FTP on hilly rides? Are the hills so steep that you cannot maintain 85+ rpm with your current gearing?
Yeah, that is something that I should have prefaced the post with. The hilly rides with grades of 6-8% I am okay. When it really tilts up that is when I start losing the ability to hold the power. Generally my cadence goes down to around 70rpm.
Yeah, that is something that I should have prefaced the post with. The hilly rides with grades of 6-8% I am okay. When it really tilts up that is when I start losing the ability to hold the power. Generally my cadence goes down to around 70rpm.
There are some coaches out there that would say that you need to practice hill climbing at low cadence to be able to do this sort of stuff well and maybe you are proof of this. To me, it seems like a mix of high and low cadence work in your training would make a lot of sense since we aren't all riding strictly at 95 rpm +/- 2 all day, everyday, are we? 🙂
At the same time, can you put a lower gear on your bike for the hills? If you're trying to do this in a 39x23, do you have a 25 or 27 available in the back? Or compact cranks?
I know that my power drops off at very low cadence too so getting myself back to a more normal self-selected cadence of 80-90 rpm (or as close as I can get to it) tends to help my power on climbs. This means getting lower gears for the steep stuff.
Yeah, that is something that I should have prefaced the post with. The hilly rides with grades of 6-8% I am okay. When it really tilts up that is when I start losing the ability to hold the power. Generally my cadence goes down to around 70rpm.
Thanks for the input. I do have a second bike with a compact crank. Unfortunately it does not have the PT setup, but I can change that easily enough.
Something I did notice that may be/most likely is contributing to my loss of power is the degradation of my mechanics on steep climbs/low RPM. I concentrated on my mechanics and I seem to start mashing when it gets steep.
Any suggestions on how to work on this? My mechanics are pretty decent at lower gradients.
I think "red herring" is the term you're looking for. Within a certain range cadence is a red herring, but obviously you don't want to pedal at 5 rpm or 200 rpm for long. The question is where the limits of your power range are and where you'd like them to be in terms of the ability to accelerate and to minimize stresses on your joints. I don't think you can totally ignore cadence but some folks make it the sole focus of their training and they're probably chasing ghosts. -Dave
