Hi,
I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions for what could be causing issues with my cadence readings.
I’m using a kickr with an ipad and have recalibrated, but that has not changed anything.
Most of the time it is fine, but in the rest valleys, when my cadence is around the 90rpm mark, the reading is showing as somewhere around 115-120. If I increase to around 95 or more, it realigns. Same if I decrease to about 85 or less.
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Thanks
I suspect at lower powers and about your 90 rpm cadence you’re not peddling very smooth, but once you increase cadence it smooths it out, and conversely by slowing your cadence you’ll need to add torque also smoothing things out.
Cadence readings like this derived from a trainer are not perfect. They rely on seeing “pulses” in power as we push a bit hard in one point and easier at other points in the pedal circle. If a person pedals particularly smoothly, this can “hide” their true cadence and make the trainer report inaccurate data.
If you care about having more accurate data that is not affected by smoothness, it is best to get a dedicated cadence sensor attached to the crank arm or your shoe.
Thanks, I can see how that might make sensible as ~90rpm is around the Comfortable natural cadence area.
It’s no massive issue, more so just interested to understand why. What I have not done recently is used the laptop rather than ipad, might do that just to see if it replicates, but as you suggest, could always hook up a dedicated cadence sensor.
Cheers
It will be identical. The data coming from the trainer doesn’t change just because you change the device reading it. And since you mentioned it, the calibration also has no impact on your cadence results.
The source of the issue is HOW the trainer estimates cadence (power pulses), and your input to that system. Smooth cadence = likely inaccurate data, no matter what you read that with.