No, I haven't gotten faster. I went from 2-3 days a week to every single day; tripled my mileage; and lengthened my route a bit. An hour to go 8.5 miles...

I haven't been doing Yoga that frequently at all, and my legs become sore ... when I do bother, it's notably better. Also I walk up the stairs ... after 2 floors it hurts, but my stamina is excellent.

My stamina seems to have gotten better not because the muscles don't fatigue, but rather because I feel what used to be mind-erasing pain and pretty much ignore it. Of course it's a deterrent; when I ride, I ride up hills in higher gears, but only at 10-12mph where I used to go 4-6mph in first gear. On a good day, I can just blast up those hills, get myself moving, go up 2 more gears, and roll along at 15mph easy. On level ground, I just ride casually ... basically I don't put in any effort because I'm sore. I could, but screw that.

But, a lot of that seems to be tendon pain or whatever ... if I stretch out, do yoga, the like, it's ... a little rough, given that it takes muscles and those muscles are currently quite abused. Still, the next day, I'm much better off... hell, 5 minutes later I'm much better off.

The other thing is no rest on weekends (I do errands), so I'm basically always on my bike. o_o The past 2 Saturdays have comprised 11 mile trips to the MVA for driver's license renewal, which then turned into 30 mile trips all over the damn place. Yesterday, I went about 30 miles because I had to go to UPS to get a package after work. My normal commute is 18 miles round trip.

As for buying a new product, I think a nicer bike will decrease my time by maybe 1%. It may also decrease fatigue or such, because it'll be sized properly and I'm also aiming for a posture that I find more comfortable; that just lets me ride longer and more frequently, not necessarily faster. Again, minimal effect; it's just nicer.