Some people are naturally good at cycling, while others have to work at it. I'm not one of those people that naturally picks things up without trying. I've been reading about different techniques and methods for training since last year, but my progress has been slow.
For example, I read several articles on how to increase speed. Last winter I worked out every day at the gym and tried to apply those lessons. I tried to keep a high RPM between 110-100 for 30 minutes. After several weeks, I was able to do that on the stationary bike. The thing is, doing it on a real bike is different. This will seem obvious, but a stationary bike doesn't require balance or keeping an eye on the road. All of these things make it difficult to maintain a steady cadence and rhythm. Without a steady cadence, it's very difficult to improve speed or average pace.
Before I started road riding, I had been mountain biking for 2 years. I naively thought "my legs are in decent shape, so it shouldn't be that hard." Well, that's simply not true. Riding trails requires a completely different set of skills and muscles. Even fire roads and dirt roads require different skills than road riding.
On a single track, you have to look at the obstacles, terrain and make sure your peddle is in the right position. If there's a boulder on the left side, you have to make sure your left peddle clears it. If there's a series of branches, rocks, boulders and trees, your peddling has to timed appropriately. When your left peddle is down at the wrong spot, you end up crashing. On more than one occasion, that's happened to me.
On the road, keeping a smooth steady cadence is critical. Even after spending November to February practicing it, I had a hard time applying it on the bike. It wasn't until mid august that I finally felt strong enough to focus on smooth cadence. So what does it mean to have a smooth cadence?
I think of it this way. Put the bike on a repair stand and turn the crank with your hand. Apply pressure evenly with one hand and listen to the sound. If you push down harder than up, it will have a "swoosh" sound. If you push the crank evenly, the sound should be a constant click.
Trying to do this on the bike is hard. Like most people, my tendency is to push harder with my strong leg. Being right-handed, that means my right leg. To develop a good cadence, you have to push evenly with both feet and lift on the up stroke. It sounds easy, but is quite hard.
Add to that breathing and body position. Good cycling technique takes a lot of time and effort to develop. Here's some videos on cadence.
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