Unrelated, but the pedaling cadence people have on ebikes bothers me. I’m always seeing folks in a high gear slowly pedaling. I’m like dude you’re sacrificing watts! Pedal faster on a lower gear, you’ll use the same energy but go faster.
You get into the habit of just ignoring the gears because it doesn’t seem to make any real difference. Sure been in a lower gear is more efficient but it doesn’t feel any different so you don’t think about it.
I thought it was the other way around, where doing the higher force version results in higher efficiency, so you use more energy to achieve the same effect (when you use the lower gear and pedal more). It’s easier to generate force but takes more energy to apply that force over the same diatance (because the converted distance you’re applying it to on your end is longer).
The optimal method for range is basically PWM (pedal then pause and repeat) at the highest output that you can sustain (up to a limit, where both increased losses from the speed during bursts and from your muscles becomes too high)
Spinning in low gear uses the human body’s capabilities more efficiently. Whether more or less distance is spun is less important because it is so much easier to pedal low gear/high cadence. It’s the difference between jogging and sprinting. High cadence/low gear keeps it a mainly cardiorespiratory endeavor while low cadence/high gear is just your quads vs your ability to suffer. You can look at the legs of distance (tour de France) vs sprint (track) cyclists to see the difference in body composition from each approach. I’m not arguing with your reasoning. I’ve only ever measured watts not watt/hours.
Hmm, when I go out for a ride my muscles always feel better if I’m keeping my cadence high vs grinding in a high gear. Like muscles don’t act the same way a motor does. And if I’m on an ebikes I want to get the most of what my muscles are doing.
But maybe grinding in a higher gear is better for endurance, IDK?
Unrelated, but the pedaling cadence people have on ebikes bothers me. I’m always seeing folks in a high gear slowly pedaling. I’m like dude you’re sacrificing watts! Pedal faster on a lower gear, you’ll use the same energy but go faster.
You get into the habit of just ignoring the gears because it doesn’t seem to make any real difference. Sure been in a lower gear is more efficient but it doesn’t feel any different so you don’t think about it.
I thought it was the other way around, where doing the higher force version results in higher efficiency, so you use more energy to achieve the same effect (when you use the lower gear and pedal more). It’s easier to generate force but takes more energy to apply that force over the same diatance (because the converted distance you’re applying it to on your end is longer).
The optimal method for range is basically PWM (pedal then pause and repeat) at the highest output that you can sustain (up to a limit, where both increased losses from the speed during bursts and from your muscles becomes too high)
Spinning in low gear uses the human body’s capabilities more efficiently. Whether more or less distance is spun is less important because it is so much easier to pedal low gear/high cadence. It’s the difference between jogging and sprinting. High cadence/low gear keeps it a mainly cardiorespiratory endeavor while low cadence/high gear is just your quads vs your ability to suffer. You can look at the legs of distance (tour de France) vs sprint (track) cyclists to see the difference in body composition from each approach. I’m not arguing with your reasoning. I’ve only ever measured watts not watt/hours.
Hmm, when I go out for a ride my muscles always feel better if I’m keeping my cadence high vs grinding in a high gear. Like muscles don’t act the same way a motor does. And if I’m on an ebikes I want to get the most of what my muscles are doing.
But maybe grinding in a higher gear is better for endurance, IDK?