On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 00:56:41 +0200, "Ivar Hesselager"
wrote:

This may appear to be an idiocyncracy, so let's keep it between us, OK.
When on long rides I go against the wind or up moderate hills, I sometimes
"play machine", which is a non intellecutal meditative activity. Body and
soul turns into: Movement. I breathe out on every seventh pedal stroke,
which means every other time with my left and right leg. And when breathing
out on 7, I "hammer" down the pedal, and the following six strokes are
practically just as fast, but with less effort. I shift my gear to find
the cadence, that allows "the hammer feeling" on every seventh stroke and
this gives me a feeling of at "natural" cadence.
To the body it feels natural to hold your breath or to breathe out when you
maximize effort (sprinting, hitting, jumping or lifting af very heavy load)

Thanks. I'll try that, and some variations. This is what I'm talking about.

. This jump, throw, kick, or hit function supplies "homo sapiens" with a
concentrated strength, that was necessary for survival (through escape or
attack) in the jungle. Sprining on every seventh stroke, does not produce
lactate acid, so I can go on for very long with a natural fast cadence.
When I start to "play machine", speed increases about 5 %, I've noticed,
staying just below my lactate treshold. My FlightDeck computer also
provides me with the virtual cadence, but I like the idea of getting the
feel of the right natural cadence, and though it might all be a product of
my imagination (which is good enough for me) it might also someday prove be
scientifically based, that this method results in the most efficient long
time cadence.

Ivar of Denmark
(P.S: It doesn't necessarily take a lot of my precious RAM to keep counting
to seven. It's just like picking up the rythm of "The Dave Brubeck Quartet"
in the back of my head.)

Yeah, as the spots start to appear the available RAM seems to decrease, so
that's good.

-B



"Badger_South" skrev i en meddelelse
.. .

I'm wondering if there are any good tips out there for keeping cadence
high
going up moderate hills. I find I really have to hum a tune, or count reps
when the going gets tough and I start to sink below 65 or 70 (or lower).

I count to 50 and then try and take a deep sigh (more or less forceful
breathe out), and think 'sink/get centered', then do it again.

Have the experts pretty much decided that higher cadence is the way to go?
I realize we just discussed this here, in relation to energy conservation,
but we still see low cadence riding a lot in the pros during climbs. I'm
thinking maybe it's something that's just very hard to change once you've
developed your riding, and climbing style.

I haven't learned the 'quiet upper body' phase yet, but it seems like
that's next.

-B