This article takes you step by step through all the functions to analyze your cadence data.

Cyclists typically have a preferred cadence at which they feel most comfortable, and on bicycles with many gears it is possible to stick to a favorite cadence at a wide range of speeds. Recreational cyclists typically cycle around 60–80 rpm; racing cyclists around 80–120 rpm and sprinters up to 170 rpm for short bursts.

  Cadence Distribution

Cadence distribution by steps of RPM
By examining the cadence distribution chart, you can start to see how much time you spend in different cadence ranges. This can be informative if you are actively trying to increase or decrease your cadence for a specific workout or for overall physiological change.

Peak cadence
Gives a graphical presentation of the average and maximum cadence in relation to a specific time interval.

Why cadence analysis?

Race situations: Time NOT pedaling
One other interesting item that chart will tell you is how much time you spend NOT pedaling. This can gives you information about your capacity to cycle in the bunch of the peloton in race situations. Good technical riders can save their energy for the final of the race by not pedaling. Analytics of road winning race files learns us that they do not pedal for at least 15% of the time.

Type of muscle fibers
It also tells you something about which type of muscle fiber (slow or fast twitch) you might have a larger percentage of. The riders that pedal at a higher cadence (>95rpm) tend to have more slow twitch muscle fibers. For example, long distance triathletes. A pure sprinter will naturally gravitate towards a slower cadence when he/she is just out training or in a the peloton of a race. Since pure sprinters have more fast twitch muscle fibers, they tend to pedal at a little slower rate (<90rpm).