trouble with my gears

Its a matter of experimentation, but also you need to measure.

In order to answer your question correctly - in reality you will be answering the question yourself - you would probably have to pedal FASTER!! 😄

Can you actually tell how many pedal strokes a minute are you doing?

If you can let us know.

You must be able to pedal 80 - 90 ppm on the highest gear possible. Sometimes that means gearing DOWN a little.

It worked for me .... increasing my pedal strokes from my "natural" 60 ppm - one a second - to 80, 90, and more often now than before 100 ppm will tap in the speed that is "hidden" between your bike and you.

Obviously you can trust me or buy a 35 dollar bike computer if you dont believe me.

I did not believe anybody till I bought one - with the cadence (ppm counter) - feature and I actually improved my speed from cruising 13ish mph to 18ish mph Avg. by pedaling faster than what felt natural.

I hope this helps.

thanks ill look into my ppm

I agree, evena cheap cadance computer will help. Starting your cadence experiment around the 80-90 rpm range is a good place to start. Then you can adjust from there. I like to try and stay in around 90-100 rpm myself no and i used to be a masher, always using the heaviest gears. Now I stick the the middle gears more often and my speed and endurance have increased a lot.