Should I Pedal Fast or Slow?
What is the most efficient speed to pedal during triathlon?
Is it better to pedal slower or faster?
When I bike with my wife, she always keeps the bike in a harder gear, even when going up hill. I tell her to switch down to an easeir gear to make it easier, but she never listens. She’s pushing against more resistance with each pedal stroke, and tiring more of the muscle fibers in her legs to give her enough power to keep her going. But she’s not running a marathon after the bike ride — she’s more concerned about building muscles in her legs — so for her, it could make sense to pedal slower in a harder gear.
But if you’re biking in a triathlon, your goal is to save your legs for the marathon. Ironically, that means you need to spin faster, not harder. My wife’s strategy, to build muscle, will lead to muscle fatigue much more quickly. During the triathlon bike, pedal in an easier gear so that you can pedal faster, and save your legs for the run. This reduces the resistance you’re pushing against each stroke, and moves the stress of pedaling from your leg muscles to your heart and lungs. Pedaling faster reduces the resistance you’re pushing against with each stroke, which shifts a good portion of the stress of pedaling from your leg muscles to your heart and lungs. Now, this gives you an advantage — your heart and lungs don’t fatigue the same way as your leg muscles do. Your pedal cadence, if you have a monitor, should be in the 90 - 100 rpms.
Here’s a training plan to help you teach yourself how to pedal faster:
- On a flat road, shift into an easy gear and bring your cadence up to 15 to 16 pedal revolutions per ten-second count (90 to 96 rpms)
- Don’t stand, and pedal fast without bouncing in your seat.
- Slow down if you can’t stay in the seat.
- You want to be able to pedal at an even smooth cadence.
- Do this in intervals of 5-8 minutes, separated by 5-8 minutes of normal speed.
Another drill is to spin at 110 rpms for 1-2 mins. As you learn to spin really fast then 90 rpms will seem great.
Great article about Lance Armstong’s contribution to this topic, from TriFuel, here;
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