Riding at a higher cadence is not necessarily about speed at least not initially - Riding at a higher cadence is less taxing - However, it takes time to be comfortable riding at higer cadences. There was an article from Floyd Landis that it took him over a year to be comfortable at higher cadences.

Do simple spinups
Warm up 10-20 minutes - spin around 90 RPM
Then do 3 min at 100 RPM, 2 min at 110 and 1 min at 120+.
When first starting out you may want to cut these times in half.
Do 5 min of recovery spinning and then do a second set.
Then 10 min cool down.
This is probably best done on a trainer - or if on the road then a continuous flat section.
Use whatever gearing that allows you to maintain the cadence with out over-exerting and without bouncing in the saddle. The intent is to even out your pedal stroke. Along with this you can also do single leg drills (definitely on a trainer) to really get a feel for your pedal stroke.

Stick with the long slow distance at as high a cadence as you can maintain. If 75 or 80 rpm is as high as you can comfortably ride for distance now, then do that. You'll gradually build greater endurance, and will be able to increase your cadence, too; hopefully to 90 or so.

When I started riding a couple of years ago, my cadence was around 60, so I worked on it. Now it probably averages 95. It takes time and mileage.

thehitman

Well everyone said it already. Just gradually build a good base and the speed will come with time.

good call with slowing down.

Instead of trying to ride my heart out i went out to have fun. I actually rode farther than ever 18.8 miles at 15.5 mph avg. speed.

i went slower but went longer. Thanks for the advice.

my wife and i did our longest ride yet last sunday. 32 miles at 16.2 avg. the good news is our legs were tired but not gone and our lungs were still good to go.

This stuff is starting to get real fun