Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

high revolution

I have been cycling like mad. With that I mean, I have been cycling and anyone looking at me must have thought I was mad (more so then usual even) or at the very least, I suspected them of thinking that based on how I was feeling.

The reason is that my schedule for this week told me that I needed to cycle at a lowish heart rate (that bit I can do easily!) but at an ever increasing high amount of revolutions per minute (RPM for short). And I tell you, when you are pedaling at 100 RPM on a normal bike on a normal road or trail – that is a LOT. You basically feel like you are inching forward instead of those bold pedal strokes I like. It made me feel like some fragile creature afraid of using too much force in case I’d break – and that is something I don’t often feel like for sure!!

It got worse whenever I had to go uphill. Because I had to keep my heartrate low, I had to keep decreasing my speed and gear levels to almost nothing in order to stick to both high RPM and low heartrate. So you are sitting there, on a hill feeling like any less and you’ll end up sliding backwards, pedaling like mad (yes I said it before, but the feeling really doesn’t go away!) taking about five times as long getting to the top as usual. The advantage is that you are working hard and staying almost within your own backyard, so if you get bored, you sneak inside for a cup of coffee, watch the telly and finish that hill later No, seriously – it was a very interesting experience for sure.

But I must admit, having applied this to my rides now for three weeks – rides of between 2 and 4 hours in length each – it really does work. My legs have gotten stronger and whilst I am still maintaining a ridiculously high RPM, I can increase the gear level meaning I basically go much faster then I used to (more turns of the wheel per minute x high gears = faster pace). So I guess I am sold on the idea and on top of that, I am breathing so easily whilst pedalling so hard that I really feel it was a waste of effort before when I would always select a much higher gear.

So if you see anyone attempting a hill whilst spinning their wheels in a mad-hatters’ rhythm – it might just be me!

Music for this session: Spinning Wheels by Justin Hulsey