Im a long time mtb but newbie at road. Ive got myself a garmin and want to start using the cadence and heart rate monitors for training but I have no idea what i should be looking at! Ive done a few "googles" but cant find too much info on getting started, anyone have any advice for working with either? Are there set formulas I can follow or anything?
Heres a bit of info about me if that helps!
Im young (24) and reasonable fit, I feel pretty comfortable at maintaining 80rpm at the moment on a 50-70km medium difficulty ride (say bobbin head). I havent experimented with the heart rate yet...
Im mainly using the roadie to train for XC/DH.
Cheers,
Whitey
I got into road for the similar reasons (DH and XC training) and to loose a few kg's. Not an expert, but my 2 cents as follows.
You should train for what you want to do. Doing 150km road rides with a 110bpm will not help with a 180bpm 4 minute DH balls to the wall stop-start sprint. I think you need to decide if you want higher power or better endurance.
If you want higher power, do bobbin head hill repeats as fast as you can and build your lactic threshold and muscle strength. Ride until you are shattered, then do one more climb. Do this a few times a week, make sure you have a big chocolate milkshake within 30 minutes of finishing riding (proven by AIS as best recovery food, contains protein and sugar). In 2 months you will be smashing it. Train in HR Zone 4-5. Track your progress on the Garmin and try to better your time and KOM position as motivation as this training can get boring and it hurts.
If you want super endurance you should train at a lower heart rate (In Zone 2) and punch out 6 hour+ rides. Never train in Zone 3, it is dead mans land and not recommended. I found this document fairly good if your wanting to train for endurance - its part of the training program for 3 peaks 235km challenge. You should reprogram your Garmin to match these heart rates zones as the present ones are different.
http://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/media/vanilla/file/Cycling-Inform's Heart Rate Training Guide.pdf
If you try to do both at the same time you will end up master of neither, so make a choice to start with.
For cadence, I don't know if I agree with high cadence is always better. It depends on your body type, I have tried it and didn't suit me. I just naturally prefer to spin slower (around 70-75rpm) and apply more torque but I am 185cm and weigh 85kg. Maybe if your a Tour De France 65kg bean stick 100rpm would work.