Sorry, I don't buy it. Armstrong might be an idol for the US public, but he is definitely far from universal. Cadence -- see Merckx training (there is a clip of his cadence on the rollers on "Star and Watercarriers"). He was asked once whether it was better to mash a big gear or spin a small gear and he famously replied that it was better to spin a big gear. The lower cadences we see in older cyclists when they climb may be a relic of the older equipment. Riders like Merckx competed on bikes that only had 6 cogs in the cassette, the biggest being 21 (reserved for mountain stages). If you read the biographies of a couple of famous cyclists over time, you will see they were all meticulous about their diets and training regimes. Of course, sometimes the "scientific" advice they received was totally wrong. Recently, I read the biography of Gino Bartali (winner of the TdFs in 1938 and 1948) and a doctor recommended that he smoke cigarettes and drink coffee to deal with a low heart rate!