Originally Posted by
Gerryattrick
I'm 68 and have just started riding a road bike after years on flat bars and it is noticeable that the lower riding position does make it easier to ride fast.
Having said that, I have managed to keep up with a couple of road-bike friends on my narrow-tyre hybrid at 25 mph for very short distances. I'm only talking around 400 metres straight flat road here (and I was absolutely knackered after it) but I am no athlete and if someone is fitter and/or a few years younger than I then I would have thought it perfectly feasible to average a couple of miles at 25mph on a flat bar bike.
It is a difference in terminology. For most road bike riders average speed is from the beginning of a ride to the end. That includes city sign sprints, climbs and long pace-lines. 400 meters might be peak speed like, "I did a 30 mile ride with a 19 MPH average and a 32 MPH top speed." Many of us have more than one bike, Road, Cross, MTB, Flat bar and Cruiser. We know the effort it takes to push each one to top speed and keep it there. Using Strava linked to a GPS unit like Garmin or Smart Phone We get graphs, charts and comparisons every ride. So some might look askance when someone posts their speeds on a Hybrid or MTB that exceed the PRs and KOMs they have been seeing on their, or people they follow, of Garmin Connect or Strava. We are not calling someone a fibber we are simply asking for a clarification.