the numbers, they make no sense!

today i averaged 80rpm cadence on my standard sunday ride, with an average speed of 14.7mph.

i usually average 77rpm and i dunno my ave speed. today i also, for the first time since i've become a roadie, ascended ascension drive. it was much quicker than i remembered it, but just as difficult (of course, i didn't used to ride all the way to edgewood by way of cañada before climbing ascension). by the time i reached my turnaround point i had full body shakes. fun! just like the old days.

i also nearly ate it twice at the same stoplight as i struggled to unclip first one foot then the other. that would have been a bummer, in front of all those one peoples.

anyhow, back to my cadence. i noticed that on the hills, including ascension, i was doing 80-90rpm. that's way over my target of 70 and way over what i did last week.

so why so high all of a sudden? i have two theories. first, i started a new workout cycle this past week, and the first week of a well designed cycle is always easy. so i'm comparatively well rested. however, what happens the night before is nearly as important as the overall state of restfulness, and i didn't sleep or eat particularly well last night (though i did have a lot of carbs for dinner, fwiw).

the more likely theory: on wednesday i did 20 minutes of intervals on the trainer. because of an adjustment problem (i think -- i have not yet tested this) the contact between tire and trainer was such that the trainer didn't want to exert force against me, and thus, i was able to do 110rpm in top gear during the intervals.

now, going up hills at 90rpm isn't the greatest way to ride, unless all your hills are only 1 minute long. that certainly describes ascension, but it does not describe all the other hills on the route.

at least on this route, my performance was improved (even with a headwind). not only that, but when doing my 110rpm intervals, i focus on maintaining pedaling form and not jumping. i think i did a good job at that, and today on the road, at 90rmp, i did an even better job.

this leaves me conflicted: continue with what is probably not the greatest training methods, but methods that translate to real performance gains, or adjust the trainer so that i do intervals of hard resistance at a reasonable cadence?