petersta:
Spinning requires less leg force to produce the same power as mashing at a lower cadence, but it's important to note that spinning will cause more muscle/tendon/ligament soreness than mashing.
People are into cadence these days because of Armstrong, but it's hardly anything new. Many, many decades ago, Tour riders used fixed gear bikes in time trials, averaging about 120 rpm at 25 mph for an hour. That's legspeed!!!
Also, spinning when going fast is the byproduct of having power, not the other way around. In other words, you don't spin to produce a lot of power, you spin (if possible) because you have lots of aerobic capacity.
If you want to go fast and don't have lots of aerobic power, you won't be able to use a high pedal cadence. You will be forced to use heavier gears and mash the pedals, using leg strength to power the effort.
That's why many riders have to mash when climbing or time trialing, but can spin when cruising easy. If they worked on high-cadence power efforts, they could spin when jamming instead of mashing.
Professional riders do recovery rides slowly at 12-13-14-15 mph, using low pedal cadences. Recovery rides done right are so slow, kids on bikes might go faster than you do. Also, about an hour at the most is more than enough time for a recovery ride. If you went 15 mph for an hour, that's only 15 miles.
When recovering, the idea is to pump oxygenated blood through your legs. The intensity/speed necessary to do this is extemely low. It's not really possible to do a recovery ride too easy, but many riders do them way too hard.
Forget about "training" when doing recovery rides. You do recovery rides so you can do more training on another day.
If you are really trying to recover, you need to ride very, very slow, and turn the cranks slowly, like 60-80 rpm or so. Heart rate is not at all important, except that many people need to use hrm's to ensure they don't go too hard.
If you are going so slow that you feel like you are wasting your time completely, you are probably going slow enough. If you are not sure, ride even slower.
You should be able to breath through your nose with your mouth closed and not feel the balls of your feet on the pedals when doing recovery rides. Be gentle.
So should you spin??? Yes, but not on recovery rides. Be patient, legspeed will come in time. Spinning is a neuromuscular skill that anyone can learn. However, when recovering, more spinning is not going to help very much if at all. It might contribute to even more soreness.
It could be said there is nothing wrong with high pedal cadences when recovering, but then again, there is nothing right about them either!!!
Happy spinning & recovering!!!
