I'm 59, 5'7", 175 pounds and ride every day trying to get in about 25 miles. For my daily commutes I mostly ride a Giant Transend hybrid, aluminum frame and wider wheels. I also use this bike when I ride with a casual group that includes lots of newbies as it forces me to slow down (not that I'm very fast anyway) and I can haul supplies. These casual group rides can be anywhere from 10 to 30 miles, plus whatever distance I ride getting to and from the starting point.

For other group rides and my pleasure rides I am riding a steel Salsa Pistola road bike. This also seems to have what tsl refers to as "relaxed front-end geometry." So far my longest ride on the Pistola is 150 miles. As I said, I'm not a speed demon, but I can get a decent sustained effort on the bike.

I bought both of these bikes new in 2010 when both my 1995 year old Raleigh rigid M-60 mountain bike and 1985 Raleigh Team USA road bike needed replacement. For the hybrid, I basically bought the bike without a test ride. For the road bike I rode eight bikes in the same price/component range, both aluminum and carbon frames.