I have made a change to my exercise bike routine, taking to heart the message from the researchers that higher cadences give better results. I still pedal very fast for 8 seconds and then pedal slower for 12 seconds, and still repeat that 120 times (i.e. a total of 40 minutes). The change I have made is that I now have the resistance level set to the lowest level (previously it was set to the second lowest level). My revolution count during the 8 second period now averages 15 (i.e. 112.5 RPM) and my revolution count during the 12 second period now averages 17 (i.e. 85 RPM), for an overall average of 96 RPM (previously it was 90 RPM). I still do one 40-minute session 6 days per week (plus 5 minutes warm up, plus 5 minutes cool down).

Note that in my adaptation of the Boutcher protocol, the "slow" phase (i.e. the 12s phase) is not really slow at all (i.e. 85 RPM on average). But it feels significantly slower than the fast phase, and I seem to just coast right through it. I guess it's partly due to the momentum generated during the fast phase.

One thing I like about the 8s/12s duty cycle is that the time seems to pass quickly, maybe because I'm always concentrating. To signal the changeover points between the 8s and 12s segments, I use the digital timer that came with my exercise bike, and I also count my revolutions during each 20 second duty cycle. Since I already know that my average revolution counts are 15 and 17 respectively, I count my revolutions until I get to 32 (on average), and then start counting from one again. I look at the timer when my count gets to about 15, to end the 8s phase at the correct time (i.e. at 8, 28, and 48 seconds of each minute). I look at the timer again when my count gets to about 32, to end the 12s phase at the correct time (i.e. at 20, 40, and 60 seconds of each minute). It's very convenient that the duty cycle is 20 seconds long, as 20 divides into 60 evenly (i.e. 3 duty cycles per minute, repeated 40 times).

There has been a definite improvement in my tremor (my main symptom). I remember that when my tremor first appeared ( approx. 2 years ago) it was just an internal tremor (i.e. I felt it but it was not visible). Since starting high-cadence cycling my tremor has weakened, and it has become internal again some of the time. I also feel I have more energy now and am thinking more clearly.

Thank you Nan, for inspiring me, and so many others, to try high-cadence cycling, using our own bikes.