I used to be able to make the midweek ride with my local club. One regroup point was at the top of a climb that was not that long, but fairly steep (Mulholland Highway heading North towards Los Virgenes road for the LA locals). It had a long and not all that steep downhill on hte other side.

One frequent rider was a woman ranked about 10th in the U.S. at teh time. I was about 230, she was much smaller, but not tiny. If I was sitting up and all but intentionally catching wind she would hit the same speeds when in a tuck that would have scared me to try.

Of course if we had not regrouped she would have aleady been a half mile of more ahead of me when I started the decent.