Should you only use your small chain ring in winter?
“Only use your small chainring in winter”. This is a traditional piece of cycling advice, first suggested to me over 30 years ago. I’d joined my local cycling club and had been going on Sunday rides (usually just me and the ‘old boys’) for the autumn, and now winter was here. The main thing I recall was that at the same time as getting this nugget of wisdom, the frustratingly slow pace (for a 15-year-old) was getting even slower on these long rides. I’m sure the drop in pace was intentional on their part – and looking back, I suspect the advice was delivered with perfect timing.
So is it actually sound advice? Here are a couple of arguments why it might be worth listening to…
It will limit your effort
Winter training is mainly about long, steady rides. It’s not just teenagers that struggle with the right pace for this – I don’t think I’ve ever had to ask one of my athletes to ‘speed up your easy rides, please’. The opposite is undoubtedly true, however. Most of us either don’t like riding at an easy effort, don’t understand the benefits, or just don’t know how easy ‘easy rides’ should be. Of course, this isn’t true for everyone, but I think it’s safe to say that erring on the side of ‘a bit slower’ is probably best.
The small chainring doesn’t stop you from riding fast (have you ever seen how quickly you can go in a middling gear at 170 rpm?), but it certainly discourages you. During the last hour of a long ride, you might well appreciate that you’ve taken it a bit more steadily for the first three.
It will develop your ability to ride higher cadences
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that riding at a high cadence for a prolonged period will make you better at high cadences. But why is this a good thing? Well, it’s not because there is a ‘perfect’ cadence, and that happens to be a number over 100. However, it is true that if you are not used to higher cadences, then at first, you will be quite inefficient at them. Higher cadences will reduce the force you need to apply for a given power output, as power = force x velocity, and in bicycle terms, velocity = cadence. Being able to use these higher cadences, if you choose, gives you the option to adjust the amount of force you apply without affecting power. Lower force means less muscle fatigue or a delay in the onset of muscle fatigue. So while you’ll still probably have a preferred cadence to knock out during a race to produce your best power, being able to play with the cadence a little might just help you adjust where it hurts the most – your legs or your lungs? If it’s your legs, up the cadence a bit and take some pressure off; if it’s the opposite, drop the cadence down. If you are not efficient at higher cadences, the first option is taken away unless you are willing to slow down.
In the interests of balance, here are a couple of counter-arguments:
The whole winter?
If you stay in the small ring all winter, it implies only easy rides for 3 – 4 months, with no more strenuous efforts. This is not optimal training. Although exponents of polarised training (myself included) are always talking about ‘more easy’, that’s because most people don’t do enough easy training, easy enough (see ‘it will limit your effort’). There still needs to be some high intensity, though, even during the winter. And while you could probably do most of your tough sessions in the small ring, the priority is getting the power out for these workouts – there is no need to put any potential barriers in the way of achieving this.
What about low cadence?
Would you be better doing the opposite – always keeping it in the big ring? It might be a great way to display how strong you are to your fellow cyclists, in an alpha male, posturing type way . More seriously, though, will this make you stronger and is it, therefore, a better idea than the small ring during winter? Well, probably not. Though low cadence has its place, it is no substitute for actual strength training. It just emphasises the effect of higher intensity workouts by creating a slightly greater load or force on your legs (remember power = force x velocity). Actual strength training (if you haven’t heard coach Alan say ‘squats = watts’ then you probably haven’t met him) will do a far better job of maximally recruiting muscle fibres and stimulating strength and power increases.
On balance
So what’s the verdict? I think spending more time in the small ring in winter is a good idea – just not all the time. It could be especially useful if you are traditionally a bit of a grinder, enabling you to develop high cadence ‘skills’ at an appropriate time in the training season. It will also naturally help control your output if you typically struggle to keep the easy rides easy. Now I’m closer to being an old boy than a teenager. I’ll certainly keep that advice in my back pocket next time I’m out riding in winter with any of the youngsters!!!
Kevin opened a B&B for cyclists in France in 2014, & then a year later decided to start a cycle coaching (level 3) qualification. This was mainly in order to be able to better support his guests (but also to make his own training more effective too). At the B&B he runs the odd training camp for cyclists but mainly offers coaching advice while guiding guests. An engineer by background, he happy diving into all sorts of training data, but also understanding that coaching is about much more than just the numbers!
After being introduced to triathlon by a good friend & then taking part in races for a couple of years he decided that a level 2 coaching course with British Triathlon was the way forward, completing this in 2019.
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