You won't ever be fast if you don't get comfortable riding at a high cadence. 60 rpm in the 52 front and 11 rear will only give you about 22 mph. And stomping on that gear combo isn't easy for very long when on level terrain no matter how strong your legs are.
Where as one can get about that in the more normal for cruising gear of 52 front and 15 rear at just a tad over 80 rpm. And for times one can keep up 80 rpm in the 11 rear such as on a false flat the speed will be at about 30 mph.
High cadence can also let you climb hills with less leg muscle and not be so worn out at the top. It feels good when you can stay with the group going up a slope and then at the crest of the hill when everyone is give out muscling their low cadence, to shift to a the next higher gear and pull away from everyone to go down the other side alone.
When I first stated getting serious about increasing my normal cadence from 60 to 80 plus RPM, I thought that I needed to simply ride more and increase it over time and many rides. However that wasn't working out well 3 years later I'd only increased my average cadence a few RPM.
Based on some stuff I'd been reading, I decided to just ride ridiculously easy gears that allowed me to keep 80 RPM or better for the entire ride when training. Those first rides were long and at slower speeds. But as I got use to keeping the higher cadence, my legs got stronger at that higher cadence. Throughout the year as I accumulated more rides and miles, I was able to use higher gear ratios which gave me the speed back that I'd lost. Before the end of that year I was faster both in average speed and cadence for the regular routes I was riding. And the difference was more than the seasonal difference I had in previous years when I was just trying to strengthen my legs at lower cadences.
Last edited by Iride01; 04-07-24 at 09:11 AM.