I absolutely "get it." There is a primal beauty to pushing yourself to your limits. For me there's a joy in going faster than I've gone before. It will also make you a more efficient rider.

I started riding at around age 40 and got to the point of doing a 20 mi. ride (mix of hills and flats) on a 25 lb. bike with friction shifters in an hour. Then at age 51 I got off the bike and didn't get back on until around age 58. By then I had gained 25 lbs and was as out of shape as I've ever been. That first year back I didn't lose a lot of weight and was riding most routes in the 13-14 mph range. Around age 60 my gf and I joined a local club and I got to the point of doing 15 mph on 40 mi. rides. (This is in eastern CT so there are hills on every route.) At around that time I added a 15 mi. TT to my riding. By the end of that year, at age 63, I did that TT at 17.4 mph. The next year I rode less and didn't do as well but last year at age 65 I got close to 18 mph. Again, I wasn't riding as much as I should. We had stopped riding with the club and I was only averaging about 70 mi. a week. But, always riding that TT every week. My take away from this is basically that there are three basic things I have to do to get faster....ride hard at least 1Xweek (this is how Pete Pensyres set the RAAM mph record back in 1986), ride more and lose weight. That's my goal for this year. It might work for you too.