Kind of repeating myself but my main road bike is an 11-34. With a 52/36 on the front. Yesterday I did 105km at an average cadence 88, max 123
normalised power 222W
51% L 49% R
I used every gear. And I thought about this thread during a long gentle descent when I was doing a languid 40-50 cadence at maybe 30mph in the 52:11. Just felt right.

I’m not going to beat any 20year old racers but I do like this gear range.

I have switched to an 11-32 and 11-36 option on my road bikes. I use a traditional crankset - 53-39 and the extra range using the GRX derailleurs helps a lot on the steeper climbs