I've just begun on the journey of analyzing riding habits critically, in order to identify and iron out bad habits and mistakes, with an aim to increase performance and reduce effort. During a recent brevet ride, I was paying close attention to my vital statistics (heart rate, cadence, power output) and was spinning with a cadence far higher than my normal 70 RPM grinding.
The one thing I have a marked difficulty dealing with, are climbs; I tire easily and my average speed drops to abyssmal lows. It happened this time too, but since I was paying closer attention to my riding habits, I was actually able to pick up flaws in my technique, and figure out fixes.<ol>
Gear selection: I've never been a gear selection expert, having had no experience of geared bicycles before 2013. Since then, on flat stretches, I'd try and select the hardest (highest) gear I could manage, to get more speed and on climbs, I'd go on downshifting on the rear cogs till I hit the largest, and then, I'd switch to a smaller chainring. The biggest cog on the rear would be too hard for the biggest chainring, but switching chainrings would bring in a huge change, and I'd find myself spinning too easily, and my speed would drop further while I rushed to change to a higher cog on the rear. The solution to this, is to effect a chainring change while there are at least three more cogs remaining on the rear; this ensures that you don't go to a state while you are spinning too easily, and you'd have the ability to further downshift at least three more should it be needed.
Coasting: While doing a long and hard ride, recovery intervals are crucial, but one needs to keep spinning right through them. I found myself having a hard time riding, though my heart rate was very nomimal, and quickly realized that the discomfort was increasing, the more I coasted. The reason for this, simple as it is, eluded me earlier; when you stop spinning, all of your weight (or most of it, depending on your posture) is borne by the butt, and this is not good. As long as you continue to spin, the legs take on the bulk of the weight, so never stop spinning. Spinning with easy gears is 100% better than coasting.
Taking in too little momentum while taking on a climb: It's important to get as much momentum as possible, into a climb. For many short rises, it's possible to crest them without losing too much speed, with careful use of momentum and correct gear selection.
Extracting too little out of descents: When taking on a series of climbs and descents, it's important also to gain the most out of the descents; instead of coasting, engage a lower gear and gain some crucial extra extra speed that will not only help towards a better average speed, but also help you take in more momentum into the next climb.
Cadence: I've had my knees complaining in the past, on long rides in which I used to grind at lower RPMs. This time though, I was spinning at higher RPMs consistently, and felt a whole lot fresher and was without any pain in the knee.
Heart rate: It turns out that I put a performance that was too conservative. Over 37% of the total ride time came under Z1, or active recovery. I could have clearly pushed more.
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