Same here - outside rides 100+ rpm. 94 feels like grinding it out. It is fine unless you need lower cadence.
Pros can maintain high cadence hill up. I did the marmotte last year - first mountain went well but from the second mountain thinks got worse and worse because you cannot maintain 95+ with a normal gear and a non pro wattage.
I had a similar experience. My cadence drifted up steadily in my 4 years of cycling, from 65-70 as a beginner to 95-100 last year. A lot of conscious effort went into that initial, then it became second nature.
However this year Iāve been experimenting with allowing myself to drop my cadence back to 75-80 when I feel I may need it (typically after 1 to 1.5h at very high intensity, when trying to keep pushing out high power). Iāve found that it works almost like a second gear: I couldĀ“t maintain threshold at 95rpm in that situation, it just felt impossible. But I can keep going a long time after dropping to 75ish rpm despite the initial feeling of āthis is too much tension in the muscles, Iām going to blow up soonā.
N=1, but thatās been one of the biggest revelations of the 2021 season for me.
So I now believe oneās ānaturalā cadence can be too high, if you convince yourself that your natural cadence is higher than what it actually is. Thatās an easy trap to fall into I feelā¦
Iām between 85-100. Usually spin faster the harder it is