Originally Posted by HTupolev

You misread my posts. I wasn't saying that self-selected cadence on climbs is the same as on the flats, in fact I explicitly pointed out that most people don't climb at a high spin even if their gears allow them to. I was arguing that the change in climbing cadence over the years has been heavily driven by changes to how bicycles are equipped, since people were more frequently bottomed out in the past.

Self-selected cadence does seem to drop on climbs at like-for-like intensity, probably due to some nebulous combination of posture and inertial load.

Originally Posted by HTupolev

... Some "experienced" cyclists will tell newbies to watch their cadence and give them specific cadence targets, rather than actually explain how gearing works as needed.