Originally Posted by Allegheny Jet

I believe cadence is trainable. For a new rider you are doing very well. The intervals you do help greatly in improving speed and raising your lactate threshold. Up North we have a 3 to 4 month indoor season (that could be a day or two for you in FL) where any hard training rides are done on a trainer or rollers. You can increase you average cadence but will need to concentrate some efforts to do it.

Over the past few years I have attended an indoor cycling class where the participants brought their own trainers to the structured program. One of the priorities of the class is to improve pedaling technique which included higher cadences. The instructor broke the class down into different levels from E to A with A being the most advanced. He would assign cadence numbers to each level then lead us through various sets using our easiest gear ratio. As the season progressed so did the required cadence and length of the drill. For instance: Spin Up's Drill - "B level", 1 min @115 rpm, 1 min @ 120 rpm, 1 min @ 125 rpm, 1 min @ 130 rpm, 30 seconds @ 135 rpm, 30 seconds @ 115 rpm, 1 min @ 130 rpm, continuing back down to 115 rpm. At the end of the season the B level began at 115 rpm, progressed up every 1 minute by 5 rpm's until 145 rpm's with 1 min @ 145 rpm, 1 min @ 115 rpm, 1 min @ 150 rpm, 1 min @ 115 rpm, 1 min @ 155 rpm, 1 min @ 115 rpm, 30 seconds @ 160 rpm, 1 min @ 115 rpm and topped out at 170 rpm for 30 seconds. The starting point for the E or "new" riders began at 95 rpm.

The purpose of the high cadence is to train the muscles to fire in sequence without wasting effort. If you don't pedal correctly you will not make the high cadence #'s. I used to think that a cadence of 90 was high. My average cadence is currently in the mid-90's unless I'm doing hard efforts on hills or muscular endurance efforts in training. In races I have to monitor my cadence because sometimes I'll be @ 105-110 rpm and causing my HR to spike.