Quote:
Originally Posted by 99dart
I like your thought process! LOL As a "young" man I loved riding bike. Now...My knees & legs aren't happy at all pedaling hard. I am hoping the electric assist will help build leg strength again.
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Yeah, know what you mean.
I’ve been riding consistently since I learned, but picked it up even more after a knee injury when cycling was used to rehab knee and strengthen leg muscles. Before long I replaced running with cycling.
I can no longer ride anywhere close to the same intensity that I enjoyed before, but what’s hurt more than getting older is not having the time to train. I hope in next year or two I can get back to riding as before, just slower. To get stronger at any age we have to put in the time and effort.
As to pedaling “hard”, that’s not good unless rider is young and trying to build muscle mass quickly. Riders can develop more power by spinning faster, so it pays to use a lower gear and turn pedals over quickly. Pedaling slowly at high effort (torque) will fatigue legs, make them burn, and possibly lead to knee problems. If you watch proffessional bike races, you’ll see many spinning close to 100 RPMs while going up mountains. In old days they “mashed” while climbing, which is no longer competitive.
By the way, I didn’t mean to discourage electric assist of any kind. I was just thinking that if not trying to keep up with a group, why not just pedal at a slower pace? If you only cover half the distance in same amount of time, does it really matter? I expect most times it wouldn’t matter much.