"Yep, skinny tire road bike, (71), 11 speed- compact... left hip problematical (knee revision finally working out) but, believe it or not - shortening the cranks seems to have helped... maybe it's just increasing the q factor but, I think the increase in cadence ends up being a worthwhile trade-off too but, still needing some Aleve and that's not much in the way of big hills and just 12-15 mile rides followed by several beers..."
Me.... cheap aluminum hybrid with slammed stem, cut down bars, Fatter tires, metal pedals with toe clips.. 7 cog rear road cluster, three on the front. 80% of my time is in the middle chainring. Never on the small one.
When I first started riding again, 5 years ago, I rode like when I had my coaster brake single speed western flyer with a tank, horn button, and that stuff kids had back then on their bikes. Mashing with the pedal on my instep. All upright, and all that. I learned to relocate my feet on pedals to the ball of the foot and finding and measuring, and riding to a spinning cadence, rather than mashing. And, it worked. My preferred cadence is now between about 75 and 85. Which of course, isn't anything special, but for me, spinning. And new pedals with toe clips really help position the feet and allow me to add calf muscles to the downstroke and those other muscles on an upstroke.... some. Tylenol, coffee, gatorade, and zyrtec round it all out. All good.