Is There an Optimal Cycling Cadence? The Science

Is there a certain cadence that will produce the best cycling performance and will doing cadence intervals in training make you faster and fitter? I dive into the science to try to find out.

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Studies used in this video:

[chrisko]

Backward hat Dylan is pure art. He probably is responsible for more than half of the 137k subscribers this channel has at the moment. And faster than you, for sure.

[ShadowzKiller]

I think that practicing or trying out different cadences may be good to understand how your body responds. For instance, I found that on the flats in a group, I can save energy and quickly catch up to someone if I set my gears heavy and pedal at a lower RPM. Likewise, I spin going up hill because I feel the momentum of my legs provides a rhythm to push myself up the hill. So, if anything, psychological understanding of yourself.

[AlexPeka]

Don't know if you sat on this video for the prime moment but releasing just after another questionable GCN video on cadence was perfect 😁

Love that (for me at least) your videos have become satisfying validation of the (literally) days of research and information I've chosen to take on board and plan my training around.

Keep em coming!

[ihzbc]

Wow, this video blow my mind, i raced many times on 110-115rpm avg on more than 3 hours races ( which is natural for me ) and my maximum was 117 for more than 2hours and a half, now i understand why my training cadences never came even close to my race cadence, on training i can do 95rpm if i really go high cadence for 3h but it's a record and i generally ride more at 75-85rpm. The reason is just that i didn't go as fast, same thing for the climbs... I Always tryed to go full cadence on climbs and never achived to do so, now after i saw this video it's like an evidence to me. I think it's like a car, you can't go 5000rpm at 50km/h but at 200km/h you should ! 🤯

[dropatrain]

My cadence is so low it gives my legs time to recovery between each pedal stroke!

[markmlinar]

Without trying, 84 is my sweet spot as well. We were told to do thousands of 100 rpm miles back in the day. Fast legs helps when you need to use it, but for cruising and TT, 84 is perfect for me.

[duncalistair]

Just discovered this channel a week ago. I was wondering about cadence research right before going on YouTube and bam, top of my recommendations! Good timing :D

[clas]

I think common sense is to ride with your prefered cadence if it’s not extremely odd (belove 70 or above 110). Your prefered cadence is probably where you are most efficient. However adding some high cadence efforts into your training seems wise as it trains your neurological system. Everything what the legs do originates from the brain 😁 If you race you know pace and effort can vary alot, especially in crit-style races so being used to high cadence bursts can be a good thing.

[JonFairhurst]

I think that a small amount of cadence training is helpful for novice cyclists. If we don’t experience too low and too high, our comfortable rpm might just be what we thought we were supposed to do. I see many recreational cyclists use very low cadences because they’re just puttering around. I’m sure that some just aren’t comfortable with shifting. And some probably think that, because they are slow cyclists, they should pedal slowly. But as we know, if they gain the skills to pedal closer to 80 rpm, their riding will get easier.

For me, when I’ve been off the bike for a while, I’ll tend to pedal more slowly. After a week of renewed training, my comfort zone is faster.

So we might not need hours of training at extreme rpms, but a few minutes high and low can help us rewire our expectations.

Now… regarding strength training… big weights or high reps? Grizzly bear power or jack rabbit explosiveness? How about plyos? In general, it’s fast up and slow down, but I wonder what style is best for cycling.

[mlafleurhua]

Chris Miller just posted a video of a casual ride with Jay Vine. Jay mentions that his new coach has de-emphasized weights - especially heavy weights - and emphasizes high torque, low rev intervals. At around the 2:20 mark in the video, Jay mentions doing 4 min intervals at 400w and 50 rpm. Sounds like this coach is taking Jay back to some aspects of old school training

[ucdcrush]

I'd like to see a video on saddle setback. Particularly wondering why your is always slammed all the way forward. :)

[philadams]

When I'm on the final interval and right near the point of failure, sometimes it's impossible to hit the power at my preferred high cadence and lower cadences magically allow me to get there. At the start of the session when I'm fresh, the opposite is true.

[joshuakoch]

Hey Dylan, I have a video suggestion for you. How does body fat percentage affect cycling performance? Maybe you could answer questions like what is the most optimal body fat% range for training and racing, how does being in a negative energy balance affect training and power output, how significant of a difference will it make to cut to lower body fat in the long term, what is the average body fat of Tour de France cyclists and other elite endurance athletes, and what part of the season/year is best to cut to lower body fat so it doesn’t interfere with training and racing, or is it fine to cut during hard training and racing.

[James-zuij]

My take on it is that if you need to produce lots of power (track), spinning is best, i.e, if you do something more times in the same time = more energy. To limit muscle fatigue, spinning is best, even though it is less efficient. I think when spinning, you need to throw your legs around rather than push or pull. Therefore, all the little muscles in your hips and abdomen are engaged. (I.e. more muscles joining the party) Similar to the difference between throwing a baseball and a dart. The sprinter can push hard and throw hard.
I think if you need to preserve legs on a fast chain gang, it is advisable to up your cadence just a little bit (105 instead of 95) when power is needed. Then at the final competitive push at the end you are a bit fresher.
Similarly with leg destroying hills where you are 99% fit again, just moderately spin up the hills. If you are fully fit on the other hand, and don't need to preserve anything, you go at what's optimal for you. That's just the way I see it; not a scientist or a good cyclist. Strangely, not being good at something provides a better insight to how to preserve one's self ...maybe.

[lsantilli]

One of the big reasons I think you see so much variation in cadence data, is because people have a preferred cadence- particularly when time trialling. When you instruct them to change their cadence, it alters their position and thus downstream power, even if at a higher cadence (because their less aero, or cannot hold the same gearing at the higher cadence).

[mikesquires]

Another great video! The conclusions as presented make total sense. However, in my opinion there are two reasons for doing cadence drills on the bike;

1. Break up the boredom.

2. Adapting to pedaling at a cadence we are not comfortable with because sometimes one has to do that. For example, climbing up a muddy gravel road. Or racing on a velodrome with a fixed gear bike.

But for strength, I go to the gym and lift heavy weights.

[drouleau]

I find my legs/body/zone I'm riding in/terrain dictate my cadence. Generally speaking, if I'm going easy (Z1/Z2) my cadence is typically in the low 70's to low/mid 80's. Tempo (Z3) and threshold (Z4) and I'm in the low to mid 80's. VO2 and anaerobic (Z5/Z6) and I'm in the mid to upper 80's, maybe into the low 90's if I'm going really hard. Sprints are over 100. I've tried spinning in the 90's in every zone (although this was long before power meters were commercially available) as 20+ years ago, that was all the rage, but doesn't work for at lower power.

[stevek]

Great discussion of a complex and confusing subject. Thanks.

My take from this is, to enjoy your rpm comfort zone, but do some training at higher and lower cadence as well.

[danielakerman]

Interesting vid — especially the way it highlights subjective perception vs objective results. A lot of the findings reflect my empirical experience. On flat road, I personally like to be pedaling at 92-102 rpm. Below 92, it subjectively FEELS like power delivery is less smooth and like too much force through the pedal is required, and above 102 my cardiovascular system seems to get overly taxed as perceived through my breathing and heart rate (and my pedal-stroke also begins to get rougher). When climbing, I like to be between 65 and 75 rpm, primarily to make it smoother getting out of the saddle, and I can’t comfortably pedal above 75 rpm out of the saddle.

[gregcavanaugh]

If training is about adaptation, does it stand to reason that low cadence/high tension will produce adaptations that high cadence/low tension does not? (not in comparison to strength training in the weight room). If variety keeps you from plateaus (in the same way varying intensity and volume does) it seems that there would be a place for low cadence/high tension.