Lance has revolutionized cycling in several ways. He's shown you CAN come back from a serious illness like cancer and return to top form. And, unlike other top European racers, he's shown the value of focusing intently on ONE race, the one that matters the most to him ' Le Tour de France.
Perhaps his most important contribution to modern cycling is his ability to generate great power at pedaling speeds 15 to 20 rpms higher than most of his contemporaries. When Lance pedals, it appears he's turning the cranks almost TOO fast. Watching him on TV, it's hard to resist the urge to yell 'Shift! Shift!' as he spins his legs into a blur. It looks like he could go faster by using a bigger gear, doesn't it?
High RPM riding has long been a tenant of Lance's coach, Chris Carmichael. I've spoken with Chris a few times, and he reminded me once that when he was the national team coach in the early 1990s, he preached the merits of high cadence and passed this along to the general public via magazine articles and the like.
But, so he told me, high cadence riding really didn't 'catch on' then. Lance wasn't even sold on its merits and hadn't trained himself to spin fast. Then cancer interrupted his career. When he returned, he displayed both greater pedaling speed and lighter body weight. The result was an increased power to weight ratio. The muscular classics rider was transformed into a LEAN, AGILE climber who could still time trial as well as anyone. He's shown that's the formula for Tour success!
Would you like some of the same? You CAN improve your pedaling speed, and power production too! This transformation doesn't happen overnight, but the off-season provides roughly a four month opportunity. Are you ready to take advantage of it?
Because increased power production is a combination of strength and fast pedaling, it makes sense to work on this skill in the winter when you're (1) in the weight room, and (2) spending more time on your trainer indoors.
Ok, now before I move on, let's take a moment and review: why does 'high cadence' make sense?
First, let's look at why fast pedaling in a moderate gear is more efficient than slow pedaling in a larger gear. (And more efficient IS very important if you're running off the bike, right????) Think about this for a second: If you climb a hill in a gear of 39/25 at 100 rpms, and then climb the same hill in a much bigger gear of 53/17 at 50 rpm, your road speed will be exactly the same. If my math is correct, the rear wheel turns 1.56 times with each pedal revolution in 39/25, and it turns 3.12 times with each pedal revolution in 53/17. So, why is 39/25 at 100 rpms better than 53/17 at 50 rpms if speed is identical? The reason has more to do with physiology than gearing.
It takes the same amount of work to get up a hill at, say, 10 mph no matter whether you pedal rapidly or slowly. But when you grind a big gear, your leg muscles do a large percentage of the work on each pedal stroke. Your quads are taxed almost like you are doing squats! This creates greater muscle fatigue that not only hurts the rest of your ride, it also makes it much harder to RUN after you get off the bike!
When you spin the small gear with a faster cadence, the work is divided into more pedal revolutions. Each quad has to work more often but at a lesser resistance. As a result, your cardiovascular system is stressed but your quads are spared! This means that you induce LESS fatigue to your leg muscles, making it much easier to sustain your effort on the bike and also run much easier afterward.
Since we triathletes (and cyclists too) are aerobic machines, it's easy to see how it's much easier to train our bodies to tolerate a high aerobic load than a high muscular load. Pedaling faster makes sense. As a bonus, it's easier on the knees too!
Lance has learned this secret. His cardiovascular fitness is superb, approaching that of elite distance runners whose legs have to turn over very quickly against minimal resistance.
Here's one important caveat to this approach, however. Lance pedals low gears fast, but they're not so low that he's going slowly. On a very steep grade where the average recreational rider struggles out of the saddle to keep turning a 39/27 at 60rpms, Lance might use a 39/23 and pedal at 95 rpms. (Perhaps his competitors would use a 39/19 and pedal at 75 rpms). The lesson here is that it's not enough to turn a tiny gear fast. The trick is to turn a moderate gear fast! Lance is dominant because he combines fast, agile pedaling with mucho STRENGTH!
Now, what does this all mean when it comes to YOUR training? Below are 3 key areas where you will need to focus with my guidance.
1. As you know, I advise and program into your workouts, specific bike sessions where you are to pedal at a high cadence in a low/easy gear. This is not only great neuromuscular training for your pedaling muscles, but it's also an ideal way to build your aerobic base! You get to kill two hugely important birds with one stone! (Sorry to the bird lovers out there!)
· While on your trainer this winter, you must learn to pedal more quickly. Work on becoming gradually more comfortable pedaling at over 100 rpms! Turn smooth circles and don't bounce! Stay 'light' on the pedals.
2. During this off-season, you should be building strength slowly and methodically via a periodized strength training program that I've given you.
· You must build overall strength in the weight room with leg exercises such as squats, leg presses, and step ups, via the strength training program I've set up for you. Also, build strength in your CORE that will allow you to better transfer that power from leg to leg.
3. As the off season progresses, more of your 'on the bike' training will be set up to help you convert that 'in the weight room' strength into cycling power!
· Your bike work should and will be designed (and you need to think about and apply) to convert weight room strength into cycling power, specifically via one leg drills and low-rpm repeats on hills and on the trainer.
So, a key part of your progress on the bike in the off-season will be to progressively integrate alternating high gear climbing (to increase strength) with low gear riding/climbing (to increase cadence).
The bottom line is that if you build strength in the weight room now, AND, work on your ability to spin faster and more comfortably, you WILL be able to pedal a larger gear faster when the spring rolls around! It's that simple!
Here's a quick review:
1. Improve pedaling speed and build an incredibly large aerobic base in the process.2. Build greater strength in the pedaling musculature via strength training.3. Convert that strength to cycling specific power via specially designed bike workouts.
NOW, ride safe and smart and go get em this season!
Recovery Swim: 1.2km
managed to get to the pool by 7pm. started first sets of 500m in front crawl, could felt that the arm is tired. shoulder and neck is tense. completed the first set in 15mins
continue the second set 500m front crawl. the upper body felt better, maybe warm up liao. but after the 8th laps, the tireness came back. managed to complete it in 12mins.
rested while. swam another 4 laps. decided to stop.
good session on the recovery. tomr CBD Run.
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